Suit Is Best適合為上

By William Hazlitt

The proper force of words lies not in the words themselves, but in their application.

詞匯的力量不在于詞匯本身，而在于詞匯的應用。

A word may be a fine sounding word, of an unusual length, and very imposing from its learning and novelty, and yet in the connection in which it is introduced may be quite pointless and irrelevant.

一個詞也許聽起來音節(jié)嘹亮，長度不同凡響，其本身的學術性和新奇感也令人嘆賞，然而，把它放在某個句子中聯(lián)系上下文來看，說不定倒會牛頭不對馬嘴。

It is not pomp or pretension, but the adaptation of the expression to the idea, that clenches a writer’s meaning:

這是因為要確切表達作者的意思，關鍵并不在文辭的華麗和堂皇，而在于其是否切合內容;

as it is not the size or glossiness of the materials, but their being fitted each to its place, that gives strength to the arch;

就像在修建拱門時要使其堅固，關鍵不在于材料的大小和光澤，而在于它們用在那里是否恰好嚴絲合縫;

or as the pegs and nails are as necessary to the support of the building as the larger timbers, and more so than the mere showy, unsubstantial ornaments.

或者就像在建筑物中，木栓和釘子與大件木料同等重要，而其支撐作用更是遠遠勝過那些徒有其表、不切實用的裝飾物。