WORDS QUOTES IV

quotations about words

Last words are only words.

CORMAC MCCARTHY

Suttree

Tags: Cormac McCarthy


Words come in many varieties. They show actions and feelings; they demonstrate obtuse or abstract ideas or they express concrete notions. Often we divide words into simple words, everyday language, and complicated or complex words, and words that should express subtleties. Often we use words not to be clear but to obfuscate our intentions and hide our real meanings. These are the words that at first sound wonderful but upon examining, we come to realize that they are veils hiding truth and vehicles of confusion.

PETER TARLOW

"What words can really mean in life", The Eagle, February 6, 2016


No one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous.

HENRY ADAMS

The Education of Henry Adams

Tags: Henry Adams


I am increasingly afflicted by vertigo where words mean nothing.

DORIS LESSING

The Golden Notebook


You know, without my telling you, how sometimes a word or name eludes you, and you seek it through running ghosts of shadow -- leaping at it, lying in wait for it to spring upon it, spreading faint snares for it of sense or sound: until, of a sudden, as if in a phantom forest, you hear it, see it flash among the branches, and scarcely knowing how, suddenly have it.

CONRAD AIKEN

The House of Dust

Tags: Conrad Aiken


The proof of battle is action, proof of words, debate.

HOMER

The Iliad

Tags: Homer


Behind every word a whole world is hidden that must be imagined. Actually, every word has a great burden of memories, not only just of one person but of all mankind. Take a word such as bread, or war; take a word such as chair, or bed or Heaven. Behind every word is a whole world. I'm afraid that most people use words as something to throw away without sensing the burden that lies in a word.

HEINRICH BÖLL

The Paris Review, spring 1983

Tags: Heinrich Böll


I suppose that people, using themselves and each other so much by words, are at least consistent in attributing wisdom to a still tongue.

WILLIAM FAULKNER

The Sound and the Fury

Tags: William Faulkner


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

HORACE MANN

Thoughts

Tags: Horace Mann


All knowledge which ends in words will die as quickly as it came to life.

LEONARDO DA VINCI

Thoughts on Art and Life

Tags: Leonardo da Vinci


All of life in its complexity and beauty is forever minted in the gold of words.

YEVGENY ZAMYATIN

We

Tags: Yevgeny Zamyatin


Words are powerful. They have the ability to build someone up or tear him down. And that someone includes you too. The words you say to yourself can either motivate you toward your goals, seriously hinder or stall your progress, or prevent you from even starting on your journey.

RACHEL GRICE

"7 Words to Stop Saying Right Now", Yahoo Health, January 24, 2016


Whether they are growls of anger, the laughter of happiness or cries of sadness, humans pay more attention when an emotion is expressed through vocalisations than we do when the same emotion is expressed in speech. It takes just one-tenth of a second for our brains to begin to recognise emotions conveyed by vocalisations, a study said. The researchers believe that the speed with which the brain 'tags' these vocalisations and the preference given to them compared to language, is due to the potentially crucial role that decoding vocal sounds has played in human survival.

EDITOR

"We are better at detecting laughter than words", Z News, January 19, 2016


Words can only hurt you if you try to read them. Don't play their game!

BEN STILLER

Zoolander


Kind words don't wear out the tongue.

DANISH PROVERB


What so wild as words are?

ROBERT BROWNING

A Woman's Last Word

Tags: Robert Browning


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


A word in earnest is as good as a speech.

CHARLES DICKENS

Bleak House

Tags: Charles Dickens


Words are powerful, especially when they become actions.

PETE WILSON

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


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

JOSÉ SARAMAGO

Death with Interruptions

Tags: José Saramago