WORDS QUOTES III

quotations about words

Words once sequenced into phrases were never done with but recycled themselves in perpetuity.

WILLIAM GAY

Provinces of Night


After all is said and done, more is said than done.

AESOP

Aesop's Fables

Tags: Aesop


In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold;
Alike fantastic, if too new, or old:
Be not the first by whom the new are tried,
Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.

ALEXANDER POPE

An Essay on Criticism

Tags: Alexander Pope


Talk is never just words.

BERNARD BECKETT

Genesis

Tags: Bernard Beckett


A word in earnest is as good as a speech.

CHARLES DICKENS

Bleak House

Tags: Charles Dickens


Last words are only words.

CORMAC MCCARTHY

Suttree

Tags: Cormac McCarthy


Kind words don't wear out the tongue.

DANISH PROVERB


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 which enlighten some darken others.

EDWARD COUNSEL

Maxims


Words are but the shining garments of Thought.

EDWIN LEIBFREED

"The Song of the Soul"

Tags: Edwin Leibfreed


Words are sometimes signs of ideas; sometimes of the want of them.

ELIZA COOK

Diamond Dust

Tags: Eliza Cook


Concerning speech and words, the consideration of them hath produced the science of grammar. For man still striveth to reintegrate himself in those benedictions, from which by his fault he hath been deprived; and as he hath striven against the first general curse by the invention of all other arts, so hath he sought to come forth of the second general curse (which was the confusion of tongues) by the art of grammar.

FRANCIS BACON

The Advancement of Learning

Tags: Francis Bacon


Words can carry any burden we wish. All that's required is agreement and a tradition upon which to build.

FRANK HERBERT

God Emperor of Dune


Words are acoustical signs for concepts; concepts, however, are more or less definite image signs for often recurring and associated sensations, for groups of sensations. To understand one another, it is not enough that one use the same words; one also has to use the same words for the same species of inner experiences; in the end one has to have one's experiences in common.

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

Beyond Good and Evil


I am not for imposing any sense on your words: you are at liberty to explain them as you please. Only, I beseech you, make me understand something by them.

GEORGE BERKELEY

Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous

Tags: George Berkeley


Fair words never hurt the tongue.

GEORGE CHAPMAN

Eastward Ho

Tags: George Chapman


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


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


Words are a pretty fuzzy substitute for mathematical equations.

ISAAC ASIMOV

Foundation and Empire

Tags: Isaac Asimov


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

JEANETTE WINTERSON

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

Tags: Jeanette Winterson