He who wants to know whether he has written what he wishes to say, and as he ought to have say it, let him read it aloud to himself. Even his own voice will seem as apart from him as that of an auditor. Or let him do as the shrewd Moliere did, read his composition to his cook, if no one else is at hand – read it to anyone who will listen – and the reader will at once become sensible of redundancies, omissions, irrelevancies and incongruities, of which his own wit will never make him sensible. Even stupidity as an auditor will improve style.
George Jacob Holyoake 13.4.1817 - 22.1.1906
As quoted in a booklet:
HELPFUL HINTS on WRITING and READING
Compiled by Grenville Kleiser (Copyright 1911)
Printed in the USA by FUNK & WAGNALLS Company.
New York and London
for the exclusive use of GRENVILLE KLEISNER's Correspondence Course Students
Personal note. If you can find these booklets, do get them.
They are a set and a gold mine of information on writing.
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