“Alone. Yes, that's the key word, the most awful word in the English tongue. Murder doesn't hold a candle to it and hell is only a poor synonym.”

— Stephen King , book 'Salem's Lot

Variant: Alone. Yes, that’s the key word, the most awful word in the English tongue. Murder doesn’t hold a candle to it and hell is only a poor synonym…
Source: 'Salem's Lot

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Stephen King 733

American author 1947

Donald Miller book Blue Like Jazz: nonreligious thoughts on Christian spirituality

Blue Like Jazz (2003, Nelson Books)

“Is there another word for synonym?”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

“[H]e who has the most imagination should be regarded as having the most intelligence or genius, for all these words are synonymous…”

Julien Offray de La Mettrie book Man a Machine

p, 125
Man a Machine (1747)

“The two most beautiful words in the English language are 'cheque enclosed.”

Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist

“The four most expensive words in the English language are "this time it’s different."”

John Marks Templeton (1912–2008) stock investor, businessman and philanthropist

As quoted in The Four Pillars of Investing : Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio (2002) by William Bernstein

“When Demaratus was asked whether he held his tongue because he was a fool or for want of words, he replied, "A fool cannot hold his tongue."”

Plutarch (46–127) ancient Greek historian and philosopher

Of Demaratus
Laconic Apophthegms

“The English language may hold a more disagreeable combination of words than "The doctor will see you now."”

Robert Benchley (1889–1945) American comedian

"The Tooth, the Whole Tooth, and Nothing but the Tooth", in Love Conquers All (1922)
Context: The English language may hold a more disagreeable combination of words than "The doctor will see you now." I am willing to concede something to the phrase "Have you anything to say before the current is turned on?" That may be worse for the moment, but it doesn't last so long. For continued, unmitigating depression, I know nothing to equal "The doctor will see you now." But I'm not narrow-minded about it. I'm willing to consider other possibilities.