“Words were power, words tried to change you, to shape bridges of longing that no one could ever really cross.”

“Words to me were magic. You could say a word and it could conjure up all kinds of images or feelings or a chilly sensation or whatever. It was amazing to me that words had this power.”

“Long human words (the longer the better) were easy, unmistakable, and rarely changed their meanings… but short words were slippery, unpredictable, changing their meanings without any pattern.”

“one word could change the whole world”

“Twenty men crossing a bridge,
Into a village,
Are twenty men crossing twenty bridges,
Into twenty villages,
Or one man
Crossing a single bridge into a village.”

“She was fascinated with words. To her, words were things of beauty, each like a magical powder or potion that could be combined with other words to create powerful spells.”

“Words were shapes and sounds to him. He saw them, as if he were listening to an unknown language, in shapes.”

“Those words, that voice, had more power over me than any phantom ever could.”

“Words and magic were in the beginning one and the same thing, and even today words retain much of their magical power.”

“Not one word, not one gesture of yours shall I, could I, ever forget…”