“Words rose above the intolerably laden dumb oxen plodding through the mud. Words without meaning - wonderful words.”

—  Virginia Woolf , book Between the Acts

Between the Acts (1941)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 27, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Words rose above the intolerably laden dumb oxen plodding through the mud. Words without meaning - wonderful words." by Virginia Woolf?
Virginia Woolf photo
Virginia Woolf 382
English writer 1882–1941

Related quotes

Dejan Stojanovic photo

“Through words to the meaning of thoughts with no words.”

Dejan Stojanovic (1959) poet, writer, and businessman

“Hidden Words,” p. 58
The Sun Watches the Sun (1999), Sequence: “A Stone and a Word”

Patañjali photo

“Through the sounding of the Word and through reflection upon its meaning, the Way is found.”

Patañjali (-200–-150 BC) ancient Indian scholar(s) of grammar and linguistics, of yoga, of medical treatises

The Light of the Soul: Its Science and Effect : a paraphrase of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, with commentary by Alice A. Bailey, (1927)

Anders Chydenius photo

“…Fatherland without freedom and merit is a large word with little meaning.”

Anders Chydenius (1729–1803) Swedish politician

For What Reason do so Many Swedes Emigrate Every Year?, 1765.

Ludwig Wittgenstein photo

“Your questions refer to words; so I have to talk about words.
You say: The point isn't the word, but its meaning, and you think of the meaning as a thing of the same kind as the word, though also different from the word. Here the word, there the meaning.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein book Philosophical Investigations

§ 120
Philosophical Investigations (1953)

Cassandra Clare photo

“Are you, monsieur, a man of your word?"
"It really depends upon the word," Magnus said. "There are so many wonderful words…”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: The Runaway Queen

T.S. Eliot photo

“Signs are taken for wonders. “We would see a sign!”
The word within a word, unable to speak a word,
Swaddled with darkness.”

T.S. Eliot book Poems

"Gerontion"
Poems (1920)

Robert A. Heinlein photo

“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.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Stranger in a Strange Land

Source: Stranger in a Strange Land

Robert G. Ingersoll photo

“Music expresses feeling and thought, without language; it was below and before speech, and it is above and beyond all words.”

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer
Michael Elmore-Meegan photo

“Words take their meaning from the original word.”

Michael Elmore-Meegan (1959) British humanitarian

All Will be Well (2004)

Anthony de Mello photo

“This is what Wisdom means: To be changed without the slightest effort on your part, to be transformed, believe it or not, merely by waking to the reality that is not words, that lies beyond the reach of words.”

Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer

Introduction
One Minute Wisdom (1989)
Context: This is what Wisdom means: To be changed without the slightest effort on your part, to be transformed, believe it or not, merely by waking to the reality that is not words, that lies beyond the reach of words. If you are fortunate enough to be Awakened thus, you will know why the finest language is the one that is not spoken, the finest action is the one that is not done and the finest change is the one that is not willed.

Related topics