““Words? Not really. Mankind is a good word.” She set down her glass with a thump. “Or humankind. I’m afraid we’ve spent a lot of feminist energy on meaningless symbols rather than essential functions.””

—  Sheri S. Tepper

Source: Gibbon's Decline & Fall (1996), Chapter 10 (p. 170)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "“Words? Not really. Mankind is a good word.” She set down her glass with a thump. “Or humankind. I’m afraid we’ve spent…" by Sheri S. Tepper?
Sheri S. Tepper photo
Sheri S. Tepper150
American fiction writer 1929–2016

Related quotes

“Words? Not really. Mankind is a good word.”

Sheri S. Tepper (1929–2016) American fiction writer

She set down her glass with a thump. “Or humankind. I’m afraid we’ve spent a lot of feminist energy on meaningless symbols rather than essential functions.”
Source: Gibbon's Decline & Fall (1996), Chapter 10, p. 170

Amartya Sen photo

“the identity of an individual is essentially a function of her choices, rather than the discovery of an immutable attribute”

Amartya Sen (1933) Indian economist

Source: The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity

Francois Rabelais photo

“Pantagruel was telling me that he believed the queen had given the symbolic word used among her subjects to denote sovereign good cheer, when she said to her tabachins, A panacea.”

Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel

Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Fifth Book (1564), Chapter 20 : How the Quintessence cured the sick with a song

Debbie Reynolds photo

“I’m not as intellectual as my daughter. She says bigger words than I … I don’t even know what they mean… But she’s so amusing to me and it’s wonderful to be around her.”

Debbie Reynolds (1932–2016) American actress, singer, and dancer

As quoted in "How Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher Reconciled After a Turbulent Past" By Mike Miller, in People (29 December 2016) http://people.com/movies/how-debbie-reynolds-and-carrie-fisher-reconciled-after-a-turbulent-past/

“Visible management attention, rather than management exhortation, gets things done. Action may start with the words, but it has to be backed by symbolic behavior that makes those words come alive.”

Robert H. Waterman (1950) American writer

Source: The Renewal Factor, 1987, p. 11

Charles Stross photo

“And she actually looks—well, I’m not sure how to describe her. Scary is such an inadequate word, don’t you think?”

Charles Stross The Laundry Files

Source: The Laundry Files, The Annihilation Score (2015), Chapter 11, “Battle Without Honor or Humanity” (p. 197)

Philip Larkin photo

“Rather than words comes the thought of high windows:
The sun-comprehending glass,
And beyond it, the deep blue air, that shows
Nothing, and is nowhere, and is endless.”

Philip Larkin book High Windows

Source: High Windows

Joseph Gordon-Levitt photo

“Most scripts are bad. I read a lot of them. Brick was a good script just to read. It was like, “Oh my God, these words feel so good in my mouth.” A lot of movies try to set up a world with cool sets, costumes, camera work. In Brick, the world is born from the words.”

Joseph Gordon-Levitt (1981) American actor, director, producer, and writer

Newsweek, March 31, 2006

Christopher Walken photo

“I have this theory about words: There’s a thousand ways to say "Pass the salt." It could mean, you know, "Can I have some salt?" or it could mean, "I love you." It could mean "I’m very annoyed with you" – really, the list could go on and on. Words are little bombs, and they have a lot of energy inside them.”

Christopher Walken (1943) American actor

Shout Magazine, in the issue from August, in the article "Cookin' with Christopher Walken" (2001)

Hunter S. Thompson photo

“I’m a word freak. I like words. I’ve always compared writing to music. That’s the way I feel about good paragraphs. When it really works, it’s like music.”

Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) American journalist and author

Related topics