WORDS QUOTES VI

quotations about words

You can attach connotations or anything you want to a word, but, at the end of the day, it still means the same thing.

RUTH MWANGOMO

"Words' gray area: Reappropriation", The Shorthorn, March 29, 2017


The beautiful word begets the beautiful deed.

THOMAS MANN

The Magic Mountain

Tags: Thomas Mann


Truly speech has wonderful strength and power, that through a mere word, proceeding out of the mouth of a poor human creature, the devil, that so proud and powerful spirit, should be driven away, shamed and confounded.

MARTIN LUTHER

"Of God's Word", Table Talk

Tags: Martin Luther


Today it is even more important to acknowledge that words should matter and are very important. That importance, however, stems from them being the only game in town. That is, they are, for most of us, the only tool we have to communicate. While this is true I must also say that today no one should worship words, because on close inspection they do not hold up to scrutiny.

DAVID BUCIENSKI

"How much do words really matter?", Southgate News Herald, March 9, 2017


My God! The English language is a form of communication! Conversation isn't just crossfire where you shoot and get shot at! Where you've got to duck for your life and aim to kill! Words aren't only bombs and bullets -- no, they're little gifts, containing meanings!

PHILIP ROTH

Portnoy's Complaint

Tags: Philip Roth


Words in the head are like voices underwater. They are distorted.

JEANETTE WINTERSON

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

Tags: Jeanette Winterson


One mild word ... will quench more heat than a bucket of water.

JOHN THORNTON

Maxims and Directions for Youth

Tags: John Thornton


Words of the jargon sound as if they said something higher than what they mean.

THEODOR W. ADORNO

Jargon of Authenticity


Words are the only bullets in truth's bandolier. And poets are the snipers.

DAN SIMMONS

Hyperion

Tags: Dan Simmons


Flaubert's famous search for the "mot juste" was not a search for words that glow alone, but for words so precisely placed that in combination with other words, also precisely placed, they carve out a shape in space and time.

STANLEY FISH

How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One

Tags: Gustave Flaubert


Words don't tell you what people are thinking. Rarely do we use words to really tell. We use words to sell people or to convince people or to make them admire us. It's all disguise. It's all hidden -- a secret language.

ROBERT ALTMAN

Esquire, March 2004

Tags: Robert Altman


The gift of words is the gift of deception and illusion.

FRANK HERBERT

Children of Dune


Though I do keep lists of words that catch my attention for a variety of reasons, they rarely make it into poems, not infrequently because I lose the lists.

WALTER BARGEN

"An Interview with Walter Bargen", BkMk Press

Tags: Walter Bargen


If you can express yourself so as to be perfectly understood in ten words, never use a dozen.

HORACE MANN

Thoughts

Tags: Horace Mann


Words can sometimes, in moments of grace, attain the quality of deeds.

ELIE WIESEL

attributed, The Little Book of Romanian Wisdom

Tags: Elie Wiesel


Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning.

MAYA ANGELOU

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Tags: Maya Angelou


One cannot be too careful with words, they change their minds just as people do.

JOSÉ SARAMAGO

Death with Interruptions

Tags: José Saramago


Words are powerful, especially when they become actions.

PETE WILSON

"Words are powerful, especially when they become actions", Brazil Times, March 5, 2017


Words are soldiers of fortune
Hired by different ideas.

MAXWELL BODENHEIM

"Impulsive Dialogue"

Tags: Maxwell Bodenheim


Broadly speaking, short words are best, and the old words, when short, are best of all.

WINSTON CHURCHILL

speech on receiving the London Times Literary Award, November 2, 1949

Tags: Winston Churchill