William Hazlitt

    The proper force of words lies not in the words themselves, but in their application. A word may be a find-sounding word, of an unusual length, and very imposing from its learning and novelty, and yet in the connexion in which it is introduced may be quite pointless and irrelevant. It is not pomp or pretension, but the adaptation of the expression to the idea, that clenches a writer’s meaning:—as it is not the size or glossiness of the materials, but their being fitted each to its place, that gives strength to the arch; or as the pegs and nails are as necessary to the support of the building as the larger timbers, and more so than the mere showy, unsubstantial ornaments.

    I hate anything that occupies more space than it is worth. I hate to see a load of bandboxes go along the street, and I hate to see a parcel of big words without anything in them. A person who does not deliberately dispose of all his thoughts alike in cumbrous draperies and flimsy disguises may strike out twenty varieties of familiar everyday language, each coming somewhat nearer to the feeling he wants to convey, and at last not hit upon that particular and only one which may be said to be identical with the exact impression in his mind.
   
    赫兹里特

    词汇的力量不在词汇本身，而在词汇的应用。一个音节嘹亮的长字，就其本身的学术性和新奇感来说，可能是令人叹赏的，然而，把它放在某句上下文之中，说不定倒会牛头不对马嘴。这是因为要确切表达作者的意思，关键不在文辞是否华丽，堂皇，而在于文辞是否切合内容；正像在建筑中，要使拱门坚固，关键不在于材料的大小和光泽，而在于它们用在那里是否恰好严丝合缝。因此，在建筑物中，竹头木钉有时竟与大件木材同等重要，而其支撑作用肯定远远胜过那些徒有其表、不切实用的装饰部件。

    我最见不得那些白占地位的东西，见不得一大堆空纸盒装在车上招摇过市，也见不得那些写在纸面上的大而无当的字眼。一个人写文章，只要他不是立志要把自己的真意用重重锦绣帐幔、层层多余伪装完全遮掩起来，他总会从熟悉的日常用语中想出一二种说法，一个比一个接近他所要表达的情感，只怕到了最后，他竟会打不定主意要用哪一种说法才能恰如其分地表达自己的心意哩！
   
    威廉·赫兹里特（1778-1830），代表作《莎士比亚戏剧中的人物》《伊丽莎白时代的戏剧文学》《时代的精神》《座谈》
   
知识链接
   
    Essay

    Analytic, interpretative, or critical literary composition, usually dealing with its subject from a limited and often personal point of view. The assay could have a detached, playful, earnest, or bitter tone.

    ——Britannica
   
    散文

    解析、说明或批评式的文学作品，通常从一个有限的和个人的角度出发对主题进行处理。语调可超然，可嬉笑，可真挚，亦可苦闷。

    ——《大英百科全书》