man of letters

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

He was Scotland's last freelance man of letters, equally and happily at home between the covers of books and the pages of newspapers, able to turn his hand, it seemed, to any commission.

From BBC • Feb. 3, 2026

“Literature nowadays is a trade,” Milvain insists: Putting aside men of genius, who may succeed by mere cosmic force, your successful man of letters is your skillful tradesman.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 14, 2025

Mallon, a distinguished man of letters, moved to Manhattan at 32, holding a PhD from Harvard and a dissertation that became his acclaimed 1984 book, “A Book of One’s Own.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 1, 2025

In his later years, though, he made one truly devoted disciple, an up-and-coming man of letters named Terence Ian Fytton Armstrong, who wrote poetry and edited anthologies as John Gawsworth.

From Washington Post • Oct. 6, 2022

Voltaire is said to have told his father when he left college, at the age of fifteen, “I wish to be a man of letters, and nothing else.”

From Voltaire: A Sketch of his Life and Works by Foote, G. W. (George William)