Isidore Twersky: Introduction to the Code of Maimonides, Yale University Press, 1980) p. 517.
…the influence of this rich and resonant work was, in fact, unusually widespread and multifaceted, both specific and general; its impact – direct and indirect – on later odes was massive, even if not decisive in the strict Maimonidean sense, which it also crucially and creatively impinged upon other genres of halachic writing (commentary, response, novella) as well as many cognate disciplines ( e.g. Biblical exegesis, aggadah commentary, homilies, and ethical works). The very idiom of halachic writing – style, syntax, allusions – showed Maimonides’ imprint. His work in effect, changed the entire landscape of Rabbinic literature. Ongoing preoccupation with the Mishneh Torah – and it was used in an amazing variety of ways – reinforced thee recognition that it constituted an unparalleled achievement, hence it was increasingly tread as an inexhaustible, treasure, yielding practical religious guidance, intellectual stimulus, and edifying insight. The tightly structured and multidimensional work, unmistakably marked by vastness of erudition, subtlety of discernment, delicacy of interpretation, fastidiousness of classification, and sensitivity of formulation, became rather rapidly a prism through which passed practically all reflection and analysis of Talmudic study. There is hardly a major literary development nt he broad field of Rabbinic literature which does not relate in some way to the Mishneh Torah. Its influence is mirrored and echoed through many works in various genres by a steady succession of authors. .. Regardless of whether one accepted Maimonides’ premises and goals, aspirations and projections, whether one rejected or endorsed his ideological positions and commentatorial presuppositions, the Code became a universal frame of reference for all kinds of study (Mishnah, Tosefta, Talmud, Geonica), for criticism, innovation, or summation. Practically every subsequent treatment of a problem whether theoretical or practical, casuistic or normative, was approached through the concepts and formulations of the Mishneh Torah, which displayed all the qualities and strengths of a class: timely yet timeless, clear yet suggestive, firm yet endlessly stimulating for ongoing interpretation.