The prevailing taste of the public for anecdote has been censured and ridiculed by critics, who aspire to the character of superior wisdom: but if we consider it in a proper point of view, this taste is an incontestible proof of the good sense and profoundly philosophic temper of the present times. Of the numbers who study, or at least who read history, how few derive any advantage from their labors! . Maria Edgeworth
About This Quote

This quote is an example of the kind of criticism that has been aimed at anecdote. It is an example of attacking the method of collecting stories, rather than the stories themselves. The idea that anecdotes are "silly" or "unimportant stories" is a common misconception. If someone does good, people want to hear about it. The more stories you have about success, the more likely it is that people will learn about the process of success and will become more successful themselves.

Source: Castle Rackrent

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More Quotes By Maria Edgeworth
  1. The prevailing taste of the public for anecdote has been censured and ridiculed by critics, who aspire to the character of superior wisdom: but if we consider it in a proper point of view, this taste is an incontestible proof of the good sense and...
  2. When people are warm, they cannot stand picking terms.
  3. First and foremost, they had the curses of the country: and Sir Murtagh Rackrent, the new heir, in the next place, on account of this affront to the body, refused to pay a shilling of the debts, in which he was countenanced by all the...
  4. In real friendship the judgment the genius the prudence of each party become the common property of both.
  5. The man who will not execute his resolutions when they are fresh upon him can have no hope from them afterwards they will be dissipated lost and perish in the hurry and scurry of the world or sunk in the slough of indolence.
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