“Full oft
Our thoughts drown speech, like to a foaming force
Which thunders down the echo it creates;
Words are like the sea-shells on the shore; they show
Where the mind ends, and not how far it has been.”
Notwithstanding all this, however, there is truth in the lines of Boileau:
“Selon que notre idée est plus ou moins obscure,
L’expression la suit, ou moins nette, ou plus pure;
Ce que l’on concoit bien s’énonce clairement,