Infinitive Quotes

• When I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it stays split.

  Raymond Chandler

  Splits, Grammar, Damn

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• Spirituality is indeed the master-key of the Indian mind; the sense of the infinitive is native to it.

  Sri Aurobindo

  Spiritual, Keys, Sri Lanka

  "The Renaissance in India" by Sri Aurobindo in "Arya", intyoga.online.fr. August 1918 - November 1918.

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• Making English grammar conform to Latin rules is like asking people to play baseball using the rules of football.

  Bill Bryson

  Baseball, Football, Latin

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• And all dared to brave unknown terrors, to do mighty deeds, to boldly split infinitives that no man had split before--and thus was the Empire forged.

  Douglas Adams

  Men, Brave, Deeds

  Douglas Adams (2012). “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Trilogy of Five”, p.81, Pan Macmillan

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• Remember to never split an infinitive. The passive voice should never be used. Do not put statements in the negative form. Proofread carefully to see if you words out. And don't start a sentence with a conjugation.

  William Safire

  Passive Voice, Negative, Splits

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• English grammar is so complex and confusing for the one very simple reason that its rules and terminology are based on Latin - a language with which it has precious little in common. In Latin, to take one example, it is not possible to split an infinitive. So in English, the early authorities decided, it should not be possible to split an infinitive either. But there is no reason why we shouldn't, any more than we should forsake instant coffee and air travel because they weren't available to the Romans.

  Bill Bryson

  Latin, Coffee, Writing

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• There is no reason why we shouldn't be able to split an infinitive, any more than we should forsake instant coffee and air travel because they weren't available to the Romans.

  Bill Bryson

  Coffee, Air, Splits

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• Each time I see a split infinitive, an inconsistent tense structure or the unnecessary use of the passive voice, I blister.

  Sonia Sotomayor

  Passive Voice, Use, Splits

  "Sotomayoralities" by William Safire, www.nytimes.com. June 15, 2009.

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• I am the androgyne, I am the living mind you fail to describe in your dead language the lost noun, the verb surviving only in the infinitive the letters of my name are written under the lids of the newborn child

  Adrienne Rich

  Children, Newborn Child, Names

  Adrienne Rich (2013). “Diving into the Wreck: Poems 1971-1972”, p.22, W. W. Norton & Company

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• To boldly split infinitives that no man had split before.

  Douglas Adams

  Men, Splits, Grammar Humor

  Douglas Adams (2009). “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”, p.76, Pan Macmillan

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• Forcing modern speakers of English to not - whoops, not to split an infinitive because it isn't done in Latin makes about as much sense as forcing modern residents of England to wear laurels and togas.

  Steven Pinker

  Latin, Writing, Editing

  Steven Pinker (1994). “The Language Instinct”, William Morrow & Company

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• English grammar is so complex and confusing for the one very simple reason that its rules and terminology are based on Latin, a language with which it has precious little in common.

  Bill Bryson

  Latin, Simple, English Grammar

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• Would you convey my compliments to the purist who reads your proofs and tell him or her that I write in a sort of broken-down patois which is something like the way a Swiss waiter talks, and that when I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it will stay split, and when I interrupt the velvety smoothness of my more or less literate syntax with a few sudden words of bar-room vernacular, that is done with the eyes wide open and the mind relaxed but attentive.

  Raymond Chandler

  God, Writing, Eye

  Letter to Edward Weeks, 18 Jan. 1947, in F. MacShane Life of Raymond Chandler (1976) ch. 7

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• There is nothing finer in the world than the telling of tales. Split atoms if you wish, but splitting an infinitive-and getting away with it-is far nobler. Lance boils if you wish, but pricking pretensions is often cleaner and always more fun.

  Greg Bear

  Fun, Wish, Atoms

  Greg Bear (2014). “Sleepside: The Collected Fantasies”, p.26, Open Road Media

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• This was not the old Chichikov. This was some wreckage of the old Chichikov. The inner state of his soul might be compared to a demolished building, which has been demolished so that from it a new one could be built; but the new one has not been started yet, because the infinitive plan has not yet come from the architect and the workers are left in perplexity.

  Nikolai Gogol

  Soul, Might, Wreckage

  Nikolai Gogol (2011). “Dead Souls: A Novel”, p.390, Vintage

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• It is indeed acceptable practice to sometimes split an infinitive. If infinitive-splitting makes available just the shade of meaning you desire or if avoiding the separation creates a confusing ambiguity or patent artificiality, you are entitled to happily go ahead and split!

  Richard Lederer

  Writing, Practice, Confusing

  Richard Lederer (2012). “Lederer on Language: A Celebration of English, Good Grammar, and Wordplay”, p.58, Marion Street Press

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