William Somerset Maugham. Summing up (№ 152051)

Simplicity is not so obvious advantage is clarity. I always aspired to it, because I have no talent for pomp of language. To a certain extent I admire the splendor of other writers, although in large doses I difficult to digest. One page of Ruskin I read with pleasure, but after twenty feel tired. A smooth period; dignified epithet; the word, rich in poetic associations; the subordinate, which offer gains weight and solemnity; the stately rhythm as wave after wave in the open sea, - all this, of course, there is something uplifting. Words connected in this way, affect the ear as music. The impression is rather sensual than intellectual, the beauty of the sounds seemed to be exempt from the need to think about the meaning. But the words of the great despots, they exist because of their meaning, and distracted from the sense, distracted from the text at all. Thoughts begin to scatter. This style of writing requires a befitting her theme. It is impossible to write in a lofty style about nothing.