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QUOTES ON WORDS

Although they are
only breath, words
which I command
are immortal

SAPPHO, Words

Something unfathomable lies behind every thought ... something for which there aren't any words.

PETER WEISS, The Tower

Desires and words go hand in hand ... they are moved by the same intention to join together, to communicate, to establish bridges between people, whether they are spoken or written.

LAURA ESQUIVEL, Swift as Desire

The poet cannot invent new words every time, of course. He uses the words of the tribe. But the handling of the word, the accent, a new articulation, renew them.

EUGENE IONESCO, Present Past / Past Present

Oaths are but words, and words but wind.

SAMUEL BUTLER, Hudibras

What so wild as words are?

ROBERT BROWNING, A Woman's Last Word

Words are only painted fire; a look is the fire itself.

MARK TWAIN, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns, as it were, instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink.

GEORGE ORWELL, The Lion and the Unicorn

Words are like butter
Rolling off my lips
Cut like a knife
And now I'm sinking battleships

GERI HALLIWELL, Passion

Words are mere sound and smoke, dimming the heavenly light.

GOETHE, Faust

The views of men can only be known, or guessed at, by their words or actions.

GEORGE WASHINGTON, letter to Patrick Henry, Jan. 15, 1799

Articulate words are a harsh clamor and dissonance. When man arrives at his highest perfection, he will again be dumb! for I suppose he was dumb at the Creation, and must go round an entire circle in order to return to that blessed state.

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, American Note-Books, Apr. 1841

Words travel as swiftly as desire, so it is possible to send a message of love without them.

LAURA ESQUIVEL, Swift as Desire

How truly language must be regarded as a hindrance to thought, though the necessary instrument of it, we shall clearly perceive on remembering the comparative force with which simple ideas are communicated by signs. To say, "Leave the room," is less expressive than to point to the door. Place a finger on the lips is more forcible than whispering, "Do not speak." A beck of the hand is better than, "Come here." No phrase can convey the idea of surprise so vividly as opening the eyes and raising the eyebrows. A shrug of the shoulders would lose much by translation into words.

HERBERT SPENCER, The Philosophy of Style

You take many words to say simple things.

LILLIAN HELLMAN, The Autumn Garden

Such simple words! But words are mighty things;
They cast us down, or lift us up to rest;
They charm and strengthen, till our angel sings
The last of all the life-songs, and the best.

SARAH DOUDNEY, Some Words

No man weighs his words who has but a moment to live.

PHILIP MOELLER, Helena's Husband

Of what use are good words to an evil heart?

LOUIS BECKE, "Solepa," By Rock and Pool on an Austral Shore and Other Stories

Words once spoke can never be recall'd.

WENTWORTH DILLON, Art of Poetry

Language is an impure medium. Speech is public property and words are the soiled products, not of nature, but of society, which circulates and uses them for a thousand different ends.

EDWARD HIRSCH, How to Read a Poem

Words have a magical power. They can bring either the greatest happiness or deepest despair; they can transfer knowledge from teacher to student; words enable the orator to sway his audience and dictate its decisions. Words are capable of arousing the strongest emotions and prompting all men's actions.

SIGMUND FREUD, The Educator's Book of Quotes

What a pity it is that there are so many words! Whenever one wants to say anything, three or four ways of saying it run into one's head together; and one can't tell which to choose. It is as troublesome and puzzling as choosing a ribbon ... or a husband.

JULIUS CHARLES HARE, Guesses at Truth

When you doubt between two words, choose the plainest, the commonest, the most idiomatic. Eschew fine words as you would rouge: love simple ones, as you would native roses on your cheeks.

JULIUS CHARLES HARE, Guesses at Truth

Words are soldiers of fortune
Hired by different ideas.

MAXWELL BODENHEIM, "Impulsive Dialogue"

In silence you can't hide anything ... as you can in words.

AUGUST STRINDBERG, The Ghost Sonata


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