Montesquieu Quote

Of all kind of authors there are none I despise more than compilers, who search every where for shreds of other men's works, which they join to their own, like so many pieces of green turf in a garden: they are not at all superior to compositors in a printing house, who range the types, which, collected together, make a book, towards which they contribute nothing but the labours of the hand. I would have original writers respected, and it seems to me a kind of profanation to take those pieces from the sanctuary in which they reside, and to expose them to a contempt they do not deserve. When a man hath nothing new to say, why does not he hold his tongue? What business have we with this double employment?


No. 66. - Lettres Persanes (1721)


Of all kind of authors there are none I despise more than compilers, who search every where for shreds of other men's works, which they join to their ...

Of all kind of authors there are none I despise more than compilers, who search every where for shreds of other men's works, which they join to their ...

Of all kind of authors there are none I despise more than compilers, who search every where for shreds of other men's works, which they join to their ...

Of all kind of authors there are none I despise more than compilers, who search every where for shreds of other men's works, which they join to their ...