But the concentration which this requires cannot be attained in a moment or even quickly.
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[2]
Again, this practice will not merely
secure the proper arrangement of our matter without
any recourse to writing, which in itself is no small
achievement, but will also set the words which we
are going to use in their proper order, and bring the
general texture of our speech to such a stage of
completion that nothing further is required beyond
the finishing touches. And as a rule the memory is
more retentive of thoughts when the attention has
not been relaxed by the fancied security which
results from committing them to writing.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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