All styles are good except the boring kind.
Where these words come from
- 60% sureLots of sources credit Voltaire with this, and they agree with each other. The book or the speech it first came from hasn't turned up yet.
- L'Enfant prodigue, Preface (1736): "Tous les genres sont bons, hors le genre ennuyeux." No single named English translator located for this standard rendering; French original + primary work/year confirmed.
- L'Enfant prodigue
- 1736
More from Voltaire
See allMore on creativity
A thing of beauty is a joy forever.
John KeatsThe more the marble wastes, the more the statue grows.
MichelangeloMelody is the essence of music.
Wolfgang Amadeus MozartMusic must never offend the ear, even in most horrendous situations, but must always be pleasing.
Wolfgang Amadeus MozartMelody and harmony should be simply tools in the hands of the artist, with which he creates music.
Giuseppe VerdiFiction is to the grown man what play is to the child; it is there that he changes the atmosphere and tenor of his life.
Robert Louis Stevenson
John KeatsThe more the marble wastes, the more the statue grows.
MichelangeloMelody is the essence of music.
Wolfgang Amadeus MozartMusic must never offend the ear, even in most horrendous situations, but must always be pleasing.
Wolfgang Amadeus MozartMelody and harmony should be simply tools in the hands of the artist, with which he creates music.
Giuseppe VerdiFiction is to the grown man what play is to the child; it is there that he changes the atmosphere and tenor of his life.
Robert Louis Stevenson