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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
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Words are the physicians of a mind diseased.—AESCHYLUS, Prometheus
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What things have we seen
Done at the Mermaid! heard words that have been
So nimble and so full of subtile flame
As if that every one from whence they came
Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest,
And resolved to live a fool the rest
Of his dull life.—FRANCIS BEAUMONT, Letter to Ben Jonson
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How forcible are right words!—Bible, Job 6:25
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A word spoken in due season, how good is it!—Bible, Proverbs 15:23
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A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.—Bible, Proverbs 25:11
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Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.—Bible, Matthew 24:35
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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.—Bible, John 1:1
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And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.—Bible, Colossians 2:4
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Tender pauses speak
The overflow of gladness, when words are all too weak.—BRYANT, The Damsel of Peru
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There are a lot of words in this world, and many of them are lying around loose.—WHIT BURNETT, The Literary Life & the Hell With It
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But words are things, and a small drop of ink
Falling like dew upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.—BYRON, Don Juan
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Be not the slave of Words.—CARLYLE, Sartor Resartus
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"When I use a word," Humpty-Dumpty said, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."—LEWIS CARROLL, Through the Looking-Glass
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Words are but empty thanks.—COLLEY CIBBER, Woman's Wit
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Polysyllabic (or what the common people call, dictionary) words.—COLERIDGE,
Biographia Literaria
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Thou art a Retailer of Phrases, and dost deal in Remnants of Remnants.—CONGREVE, The Way of the World
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Although words exist for the most part for the transmission of ideas, there are some which produce such violent disturbance in our f eelings that the role they play in the transmission of ideas is lost in the background.—EINSTEIN
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And don't confound the language of the nation
With long-tailed words in osity and ation.—J. H. FRERE, The Monks and the Giants
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Words are wise men's counters,—they do but reckon by them; but they are the money of fools.—THOMAS HOBBES, Leviathan
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But words once spoke can never be recall'd.—HORACE, Ars Poetica
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Men ever had, and ever will have, leave
To coin new words well suited to the age,
Words are like leaves, some wither ev'ry year,
And ev'ry year a younger race succeeds.—HORACE, Ars Poetica
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Dictionaries are like watches; the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.—SAMUEL JOHNSON
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How many honest words have suffered corruption since Chaucer's days!—THOMAS MIDDLETON, No Wit, no Help, Like a Woman's
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His words, like so many nimble and airy servitors, trip about him at command.—MILTON, Apology for Smectymnuus
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His words, replete with guile,
Into her heart too easy entrance won.—MILTON, Paradise Lost
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Democritus said, words are but the shadows of actions.—PLUTARCH
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Words are like leaves; and where they most abound,
Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.—POPE, Essay on Criticism
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Deliver your words not by number but by weight.—Proverb
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Ill words are bellows to a slackening fire.—Proverb
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Good words are worth much, and cost little.—Proverb
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An acute word cuts deeper than a sharp weapon.—Proverb
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Oh, many a shaft at random sent
Finds mark the archer little meant!
And many a word, at random spoken,
May soothe or wound a heart that's broken!—SCOTT, The Lord of the Isles
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Syllables govern the world.—JOHN SELDEN, Table Talk
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Whose words all ears took captive.—SHAKESPEARE, All's Well that Ends Well
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Answer me in one word.—SHAKESPEARE, As You Like It
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Polonius: What do you read, my lord?
Hamlet: Words, words, words.—SHAKESPEARE, Hamlet
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Men of few words are the best men.—SHAKESPEARE, Henry V
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'Tis well said again;
And 'tis a kind of good deed to say well:
And yet words are no deeds.—SHAKESPEARE, Henry VIII
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Zounds! I was never so bethump'd with words
Since I first call'd my brother's father dad.—SHAKESPEARE, King John
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Here are a few of the unpleasant'st words
That ever blotted paper!—SHAKESPEARE, The Merchant of Venice
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Charm ache with air, and agony with words.—SHAKESPEARE, Much Ado About Nothing
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I understand a fury in your words,
But not the words.—SHAKESPEARE, Othello
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How long a time lies in one little word!—SHAKESPEARE, Richard II
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A word and a blow.—SHAKESPEARE, Romeo and Juliet
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These words are razors to my wounded heart.—SHAKESPEARE, Titus Andronicus
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Words pay no debts.—SHAKESPEARE, Troilus and Cressida
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For deeds doe die, how ever noblie donne,
And thoughts of men do as themselves decay,
But wise wordes taught in numbers for to runne,
Recorded by the Muses, live for ay.—EDMUND SPENSER, The Ruines of Time
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Large divine and comfortable words.—TENNYSON, Idylls of the King
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A powerful agent is the right word. Whenever we come upon one of those intensely right words in a book or a newspaper the resulting effect is physical as well as spiritual, and electrically prompt.—MARK TWAIN, Essay on William Dean Howells
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They spell it Vinci and pronounce it Vinchy; foreigners always spell better than they pronounce.—MARK TWAIN, The Innocents Abroad
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Many a treasure besides Ali
Baba's is unlocked with a verbal key.—HENRY VAN DYKE
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If any words of mine,
Through right of life divine,
Remain, what matters it
Whose hand the message writ?—WHITTIER, An Autograph
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Honied words like bees,
Gilded and sticky, with a little sting.—ELINOR WYLIE, Pretty Words
