The chief virtue that language can have is clearness, and nothing detracts from it so much as the use of unfamiliar words.
The moral imperative of life is to live a life that detracts not at all from the lives available to those who will follow us into this world.
. . . often analysis seems to be based on the assumption that future economic output is almost entirely determined by inexorable economic forces independently of government policy so that devoting more resources to one use inevitably detracts from availability for another.
The only difficulty is that I'm playing to two audiences, and it's too bad the noise detracts from the show, because it's a great show. I've seen my own self out there, and it's a very good musical show. Sometimes the show gets lost in the hysteria and sometimes it doesn't.
All that is obvious detracts completely from all that is not.
Acting doesn't bring anything to a text. On the contrary, it detracts from it.
The daily activity that contributes most to happiness is having dinner with friends. The daily activity that detracts most from happiness is commuting. Eat more. Commute less.
