“To have good sense, is the first principle and fountain of writing well.”
Source: Ars Poetica, or The Epistle to the Pisones (c. 18 BC), Line 309
Original
Scribendi recte sapere est et principium et fons.
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Horace 92
Roman lyric poet -65–-8 BCRelated quotes
“The first principle of good barn design is flexibility of space.”
p, 125
The Owner-Built Homestead (1977)

“The first principle of child-rearing is to choose a good mother.”

“Here is my first principle of foreign policy: good government at home.”
Speech in West Calder, Scotland (27 November 1879), quoted in W. E. Gladstone, Midlothian Speeches 1879 (Leicester University Press, 1971), p. 115.
1870s
Context: Here is my first principle of foreign policy: good government at home. My second principle of foreign policy is this—that its aim ought to be to preserve to the nations of the world—and especially, were it but for shame, when we recollect the sacred name we bear as Christians, especially to the Christian nations of the world—the blessings of peace. That is my second principle.

“Science when well digested is nothing but good sense and reason.”
No. 43.
Maxims and Moral Sentences

“Tomorrow, is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.”