New-York tribune., 1900-08-04
QUOTATIONS..
THE PLEASURE OF MAKING THEM AND
HEARING THEM MADE

From The Saturday Review.
Most of us probably aware-whether we
have commented en- the fact or no-of a tend
ency in ourselves. or in some or many of our
friends, to express thoughts in what
is avowedly the phraseology Of others. clas-
SiCal example of this tendency is TO be found In
the immortal Sam Weller, especially in his ref
erence, a witness to what the soldier said
when they ordered him three hundred lashes."
But it is, need hardly say, not confined to
ccnversa ation We find it with equal frequency
in certain kinds of literature The most remark
able literary example of it is Burton's Anatomy
Of Melancholy" which from beginning to end is
a mosaic of recondite and whimsical quotations
set, like tosserR, in the cement of the writer's
own caustic prose 1t would, no doubt, nave
considerably astoEished Mr.. Weller had ne been
told that his own easy conversational method re-
sembled the literary method of of the most
learned of English authors but such is never
theleSs the In the cockney repartees of
the one and in the scholarly pages of the other
the magic OF quotation plays precisely the same
part. and communicates to each certain pecul-
lar charm.
In what then, does the charm which quota
ton gives reside? The uses of quotation are in
many cases, of course obvious. In controversial
works it is essential; sometimes in order to sup
port the views of the writer himself, sometimes
in order to convey to his readers a precise idea
of the views which he is engaged in refuting.
1t has sometimes in controversy another func-
ton also, in which the useful is united with the
peasurable, and which. from the point of view
of the controversialist, whether he is writer
orator, makes argument the most eXhilarating
and delightful exercise in the world. This oc-
ours on those choice, those supreme occasions
MS antagonist, with the result of making his
antagonist contradict his own assertions and
thus placing him absurdy and hOpelessly in the
wrong. The pleasure thus produced, indeed, is
far from being selfish it may seem. 1t is
not confined to the victorious controversialist
himself, but it is shared-as the experience of
the House Of Commons shows us-by every
member Of the party to which he belongs, and
not infrequently by many belonging to the party
that Is opposed to him; true is the saying of
the great Due de la Rochefoucauld, that there is
always something which does not displease US
IN the misfortunes of our friends
But let us turn from quotation, as we are
most familiar with it in books, TO quotation as
we are most familiar with it in our friends con-
store of traditional sayings which are entirely
cryptic to the profane world at large. but which
members of the family constantly employ in
preference to the language which they would
naturally use themselves. The family is blessed
with recollections of a choleric uncle. by whom
any man obnoxious to him was called "a ID
unpleasant fellow; and his nephews and nieces
TO their male, but also their femalea aCquantances
habitually hide them under this privately his
toricai formula. Al. ancient Scotch great grand
mother talked about changing our feet when
she meant changing shoes. Her descendants
do the same not because il is their natural
dom, but because it is not-because while ex-
pressing their meaning it at the same time dis
guises it, In addition to family sayings, there
are others of semi-pubc character-sayings
uttered by, or attributed to- certain we'll known
members of society. a lady. we'll known
in the fashionable world of London, was cele-
other people only think. She was accustomed,
in the matter of entertaining, only TO ask those
TO dine with her who had asked her to dine with
lneIn, or VINO might be reasonably expected to
do so; and she summed up her principle in the
phrase "cutet for outlet" She had also from
long experience, learned the important truth
that a pleasant ball can be given in spacious
rooms only; that rooms also essential in
which dowagers can rest at ease: and a large
enough number of supper tables to allow OF
their sitting befor~ a quail for three-quarters
OF an hour at least, without feeling that they
This wisdom the lady in question summed up
in the pithy statement, Il never go to a ball in
tWo-roomed house Both these sayings have
since become proverbal; and are used by peo-
pie in the happy consciousness that they are
quotations, who would never think of uttering
them original observations of their own
There is yet another kind of quotation which
in conversation is more frequent still. This is
quotation by persons of a superior class of
even slightly inferiC~. Thus some people after
dinner, if they want another glass of sherry,
are impelled by some subtle influence to ask
for some sherry wine" Others, if they want
to say that a watering place has become fash
ionabe, will say that it has become what the
newspapers would call aristocratic" while if
woman wishes to insinuate that the dearest
Of her friends is dowdy. she will say that "she
is not exactly what the maids call stylish"
Again there is the word ''genteel' the serious
of which has long become vulgarsm; but
which as a quotation from the vulgar has re-
covered something of it's lost station and made
its appearance again in the language of polite
society with its meaning changed only by carry
Now what is the significance of quotation as
employed thus in daily intercourse WHY
do constantly seek to clothe our meaning
in garment Of expression which admittedly
not made for it? The is not in all
cases, the same. Sometimes we express our
thoughts in the phraseOogy Of other people
because there is something in them of which
though desire to express il. are ut the
same time half ashamed: as when. for example
we use the phrase "cutlet for outlet" and de-
clare that never will go to ball in a two
rooned house. We know that the sentiment is
wise, yet do not wholly approve of it, and
consequently anxious to throw the re-
sponSihilitY of il another person and to
suggest that ideally superior to it. though
at the same time it guides our actions In other
cases we make of quotation because we are
the victims of a certain kind of shyness, and de-
sire. while avOwing our opinions. to do so in
form that will enable to disaVoW any part
of them that will not commend itself to our
audience. Quotation. in fact. in conversation,
when il is not a species of wit q species of IL
lustration a species of social satire is
fidence hides itself. Dfhdence in itself is a
hindrance to agreeable and polite intercourse
The conventional habit of quotation there
fore. may be welcomed on two grounds-frstly
because ii vindicates the nobility of human ma
ture by showing that ashamed Of many
Of the sentiments that express and secondly
because ii invests many sentiments which we
shrink from utteTing with semblance or a
reality of wit which excuses for having ut
tered them and enables our friends to applaud
what they otherwise would have been CON
strained to condemn.
TOLSTOJ and THE CZAR
From The Forum.