You write with ease to show your breeding,

But easy writing's curst hard reading.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816): Clio's Protest. Life of Sheridan (Moore). Vol. i. p. 155.

A Poet, Naturalist, and Historian,

Who left scarcely any style of writing untouched,

And touched nothing that he did not adorn.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784): Epitaph on Goldsmith.

True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,

As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance.

'T is not enough no harshness gives offence,—

The sound must seem an echo to the sense.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Criticism. Part ii. Line 162.

Of all those arts in which the wise excel,

Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well.

Sheffield, Duke Of Buckinghamshire (1649-1720): Essay on Poetry.