“Good prose should be transparent, like a window pane.”

— George Orwell

Last update Sept. 30, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Good prose should be transparent, like a window pane." by George Orwell?

George Orwell photo

George Orwell473

English author and journalist 1903–1950

Related quotes

“Style should be like window-glass, perfectly transparent, and with very little sash.”

Nathaniel Emmons (1745–1840) American clergy

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 481.

“There was nothing separate about her days. Like drops on the window-pane, they ran together and trickled away.”

Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist

“Even through the shut window pane, the world looked cold.”

George Orwell book 1984

Source: 1984

“Now you get to watch her leave out the window, Guess that's why they call it 'window pane.”

Eminem (1972) American rapper and actor

Love The Way You Lie
2010s, Recovery (2010)

“A face at the window,
A tap on the pane;
Who is it that wants me
To-night in the rain?”

Richard Henry Stoddard (1825–1903) American poet

The Messenger at Night.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“Are we not wasps who spend all day in a fruitless attempt to traverse a window-pane — while the other half of the window is wide open?”

Wei Wu Wei (1895–1986) writer

Fingers Pointing Towards The Moon (1958)

“The cold blast at the casement beats;
The window-panes are white;
The snow whirls through the empty streets;
It is a dreary night!”

Epes Sargent (1813–1880) American editor, poet and playwright

The Heart's Summer, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

“The witchlight made his skin paler, his eyes more intently blue. They were the color of the water in the North Atlantic, where the ice drifted on its blue-black surface like the snow clinging to the dark glass pane of a window.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

“Adversity draws men together and produces beauty and harmony in life's relationships, just as the cold of winter produces ice-flowers on the window-panes, which vanish with the warmth.”

Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism

“About one-fifth of all the heat that enters the average house comes through windows. …external shading is by far the most efficient method for controlling interior heat build-up. The air-wash between the shading screen and the window is also very effective. The screen should have a light-colored finish… Insulation boards placed next to the window pane at night, will help prevent heat losses through glazed openings. Overhangs and horizontal sunshades placed above south-facing windows serve effectively as heat reducers.”

Ken Kern American writer

The Owner Built Home: A How-to-do-it Book (1972)

Related topics