“Don’t appear so scholarly, pray. Humanize your talk, and speak to be understood.” — School for Wives, Moliere
We’re three weeks away from rehearsals for Tartuffe, so while doing some research I happened upon this quote.
Good advice for almost every situation!
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I understand humanizing your talk and speaking to be understood and agree that it’s good advice. The whole point of speaking is to communicate, after all.
But why “Don’t appear so scholarly”? Did Moliere think scholarly people were too intimidating or unapproachable? Or did he only disapprove of women appearing scholarly?
No, he equally disapproved of men “appearing” scholarly — it’s the faux scholarly “I’m better than you” type of speech that he’s disapproving of. I think Moliere wanted educated people to speak in educated ways, but not in “hyper-scholar” mode so that they were distancing themselves from others.