<!-- bryant-content-generator:start --> # My philosophy of textual reuse comes as much from... > My philosophy of textual reuse comes as much from programming as from literature. Good software does not repeat one behavior in a dozen files and then hope every copy remains synchronized. It creates a trustworthy source and projects that capability wherever it is needed. I wanted the same economy for writing: one canonical sentence inside one canonical paragraph inside one canonical work, with every legitimate public form generated from that source. {{Maximum reuse begins by refusing to create a second truth merely because a second format is needed.}} **Source:** [[projects/The Argument in Miniature - How I Write Quotations, Paragraphs, and Reusable Prose|The Argument in Miniature: How I Write Quotations, Paragraphs, and Reusable Prose]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “My philosophy of textual reuse comes as much from programming as from literature. Good software does not repeat one behavior in a dozen files and then hope every copy remains synchronized. It creates a trustworthy source and projects that capability wherever it is needed. I wanted the same economy for writing: one canonical sentence inside one canonical paragraph inside one canonical work, with every legitimate public form generated from that source. Maximum reuse begins by refusing to create a second truth merely because a second format is needed.” — Bryant McGill https://bryantmcgill.com/passages/passages-philosophy-textual-reuse-second-format-needed ``` <!-- bryant-content-generator:end -->