Quotes about wording
page 15

“Why are you still wearing…?" Aya began. "Oh, that's not smart plastic? You're really an ugly?"
David rolled his eyes and Shay said quietly, "David's never had any surge at all. But I wouldn't use the word ugly… Tally might eat you.”

Scott Westerfeld book Extras

Source: Extras

“I don't like the word 'alcoholic'. I like to think of myself as an advanced drinker.”

Chelsea Handler (1975) American comedian, actress, author and talk show host

Source: My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands

Alcohol, Thinking

“Or in other words, it's the substance you've got when you start that determines the outcome.”

Jodi Picoult book Handle With Care

Source: Handle with Care

“If only. Those must be the two saddest words in the world.”

Mercedes Lackey (1950) American novelist and short story writer

World

“At the word witch, we imagine the horrible old crones from Macbeth. But the cruel trials witches suffered teach us the opposite. Many perished precisely because they were young and beautiful.”

André Breton book Anthology of Black Humor

Source: Anthology of Black Humor

Beauty, Imagination, Suffering

“Trust. Such an easy word. Such an impossible quality.”

Christine Feehan book Dark Destiny

Source: Dark Destiny

“Spencer, you do not need to know any more big words. You're already scary enough to anyone under 50.”

Sara Shepard (1973) Author

“You say my name like a lover, so soft, so sweet. I want to lick the word from your lips, sip the exhaled breath from your mouth. I want to possess you utterly. Right now. Right here.”

Elizabeth Hoyt (1970) American writer

Source: Notorious Pleasures

Lovers

“Hebrew word for "charity" tzedakah, simply means "justice" and as this suggests, for Jews, giving to the poor is no optional extra but an essential part of living a just life.”

Peter Singer (1946) Australian philosopher

Source: The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty

Life, Justice, Parting

“I never knew words could be so confusing," Milo said to Tock as he bent down to scratch the dog's ear.
"Only when you use a lot to say a little," answered Tock.
Milo thought this was quite the wisest thing he'd heard all day.”

Norton Juster book The Phantom Tollbooth

Source: The Phantom Tollbooth

Dogs

“Words deserted him immediately. He could only speak when he was not asked to.”

E.M. Forster book Maurice

Source: Maurice

“Faith is only a word, embroidered.”

Margaret Atwood book The Handmaid's Tale

Source: The Handmaid's Tale

Faith

“Never say you know the last word about any human heart.”

Henry James (1843–1916) American novelist, short story author, and literary critic

Heart

“I've forgotten the words with which to tell you. I knew them once, but I've forgotten them, and now I'm talking to you without them.”

Marguerite Duras book Emily L.

Source: Emily L.

“The truth always carries the ambiguity of the words used to express it.”

Frank Herbert book God Emperor of Dune

Source: God Emperor of Dune

Truth

“Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

Men, Tear, Light, Heart

“Words are small shapes in the gorgeous chaos of the world.”

Diane Ackerman book A Natural History of the Senses

Source: A Natural History of the Senses

World

“stop now before i kill you
a word to the wise from your friend
PENNYWISE”

Stephen King book It

Source: It

“Sometimes I would open my eyes when we were kissing, I would watch him and I could see it. I could actually see LOVE - not words, not an emotion, not an abstract concept or a subjective state of mind, but a living, breathing thing.”

Tiffanie DeBartolo (1970) American writer

Source: How to Kill a Rock Star

Love, Kiss

“I wondered if she was trying to convey something to me, something she could not put into words - something prior to words that she could not grasp within herself and which therefore had no hope of ever turning into words.”

Haruki Murakami book Norwegian Wood

Source: Norwegian Wood

Hope

“I don't wanta hear all your word descriptions of words words words you made up all winter, man I wanta be enlightened by actions.”

Jack Kerouac book The Dharma Bums

Source: The Dharma Bums

Winter

“Like “love,” “hope” is one of those ridiculously disproportional words that by all rights should be a lot longer.”

Jim Butcher Turn Coat

Source: Turn Coat

Love, Hope

“The words given voice inside the mind are not always clear, however; they can be gentle and elliptical, what the prophets call the, the daughter of the voice of God, she who speaks in whispers and half-seen images.”

Laurie R. King book The Beekeeper's Apprentice

Source: The Beekeeper's Apprentice

God, Daughters

“How ravished one could be without ever being touched. Ravished by dead words become obscene and dead ideas become obsessions.”

D.H. Lawrence book Lady Chatterley's Lover

Source: Lady Chatterley's Lover

Idea, Dead

“When I erase a word with a pencil, where does it go?”

Steven Wright (1955) American actor and author

“Every word was a singing sparrow, a magic trick, a truffle for me. The words made me laugh in delight.”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love

Source: Eat, Pray, Love

Singing

“If you talk bad about country music, it's like saying bad things about my momma. Them's fightin' words”

Dolly Parton (1946) American singer-songwriter and actress

Music, Country

“In other words, crew deaths are a feature, not a bug," Cassaway said, dryly.”

John Scalzi book Redshirts

Source: Redshirts

Death

“I suppose that people, using themselves and each other so much by words, are at least consistent in attributing wisdom to a still tongue…”

William Faulkner book The Sound and the Fury

Source: The Sound and the Fury

Wisdom, People

“Next to ‘God’, ‘love’ is the word most mangled in every language.”

Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer

Source: The Bridge Across Forever: A True Love Story

Love, God

“one should always talk well about oneself! The word spreads around and in the end, noone remembers where it started”

Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager and filmmaker

“Sometimes people say terrible things when they're scared. They don't mean to, but they can't help it. They lash out because if they can see that their words hurt someone else, it makes them feel as if they aren't completely powerless.”

Jonathan Maberry book Dust & Decay

Source: Dust & Decay

People, Feeling, Help, Hurt

“Yelling at living things does tend to kill the spirit in them. Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words will break our hearts.”

Robert Fulghum book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten (1986)

Heart

“Many words have been granted me, and some are wise, and some are false, but only three are holy: "I will it!”

Ayn Rand book Anthem

Source: Anthem

Falseness

“Sticks and stones and small caliber bullets may break my bones… Words will never, et cetera.”

Jim Butcher book White Night

Source: White Night

“There's a light in a woman's eyes that speaks louder than words.”

Arthur Conan Doyle book The Hound of the Baskervilles

Source: The Hound of the Baskervilles

Light

“Apparently, word of the chicken man incident hadn’t spread quite yet.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

“There are many words and definitions I have never lost. But some I am only just beginning to truly understand.”

Mary E. Pearson book The Adoration of Jenna Fox

Source: The Adoration of Jenna Fox

Understanding

“Sometimes I think that maybe we are just stories. Like we may as well just be words on a page, because we're only what we've done and what we are going to do.”

Jodi Lynn Anderson American children's writer

Source: Tiger Lily

Thinking

“At one magical instant in your early childhood, the page of a book—that string of confused, alien ciphers—shivered into meaning. Words spoke to you, gave up their secrets; at that moment, whole universes opened. You became, irrevocably, a reader.”

Alberto Manguel (1948) writer

Source: A History of Reading

Secret, Books, Universe, Childhood

“For everyone is pained by the thought of disappearing, unheard and unseen, into an indifferent universe, and because of that everyone wants, while there is still time, to turn himself into a universe of words.”

Milan Kundera (1929–2023) Czech author of Czech and French literature

Pain, Universe, Time, Indifference

“Everybody knew that books were dangerous. Read the wrong book, it was said, and the words crawled around your brain on black legs and drove you mad, wicked mad.”

Frances Hardinge book Fly by Night

Source: Fly by Night

Books, Reading, Madness

“I am not a person to say the words out loud / I think them strongly, or let them hunger from the page.”

Keri Hulme (1947) New Zealand writer

Hunger, Thinking, Personality

“Every sentence, every word, was new to them and they listened to what he said like bright-eyed ravens, trembling in their eagerness to catch & interpret every sound in the universe.”

Toni Morrison book Song of Solomon

Source: Song of Solomon

Universe

“No doubt I shall go on writing, stumbling across tundras of unmeaning, planting words like bloody flags in my wake….”

Alexander Trocchi (1925–1984) Scottish writer

“Words, words, words, a million million words circle in my head like hawks, waiting to dive onto the page to rend and tear the only two words I want to write.

Why me?”

Christopher Moore book Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

Source: Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

Tear, Waiting

“She kept watching the words.”

Markus Zusak book The Book Thief

Source: The Book Thief

“Anyway, how are you and Ramona doing?'

Uh… you know. Pretty good.'

Have you said the L-Word yet?'

The L-Word? You mean? Lesbian?'
Uh… No. The other L-Word.'

?'

Okay. Uh, It's "love." I wasn't trying to trick you or anything.”

Bryan Lee O'Malley (1979) Artist

Source: Scott Pilgrim, Volume 4: Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together

Love

“Once you experience enormity, it lingers everywhere you look, and want to be every word you say.”

David Levithan book Every Day

Source: Every Day

“She knew few words and believed in none.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald book Tender Is the Night

Source: Tender Is the Night

“• Dan: I love you.
• Alice: Where?
• Dan: What?
• Alice: Show me. Where is this 'love'? I can't see it, I can't touch it, I can't feel it. I can hear it, I can hear some words but I can't do anything with your easy words.”

Patrick Marber Closer

Source: Closer

Love, Feeling

“He buried his face in my throat. “Love you.” Tears stung my eyes. He said the words so rarely. “Tell me again,” I begged, holding on to him. His mouth found mine. “I love you . . .”

Sylvia Day (1973) American writer

Source: Captivated by You

Love, Tear

“Intuition is like reading a word without having to spell it out. A child can't do that because it has had so little experience. A grown-up person knows the word because they've seen it often before.”

Agatha Christie Murder at the Vicarage

Source: Murder at the Vicarage

Reading, Personality

“The words were unexpected, but so incisively true. So much of prayer is like that - an encounter with a truth that has sunk to the bottom of the heart, that wants to be found, wants to be spoken, wants to be elevated into the realm of sacredness.”

Sue Monk Kidd (1948) Novelist

Source: Traveling With Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story

Truth, Heart

“Her silence was the blank space between the words.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Source: The Witch Of Portobello

Silence

“If the communication is perfect, the words have life, and that is all there is to good writing, putting down on the paper words which dance and weep and make love and fight and kiss and perform miracles.”

Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American art collector and experimental writer of novels, poetry and plays

Love, Life, Making love, Communication

“I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”

Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice

Source: Pride and Prejudice

Romantic, Wedding

“Our language has wisely sensed these two sides of man’s being alone. It has created the word “loneliness” to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word “solitude” to express the glory of being alone.”

Paul Tillich (1886–1965) German-American theologian and philosopher

Source: The Eternal Now

Pain, Sense, Solitude, Loneliness

“Wealth, my son, should never be your goal in life. Your words are eloquent but they are mere words. True wealth is of the heart, not of the purse.”

Og Mandino book The Greatest Salesman in the World

Source: The Greatest Salesman in the World

Life, Heart, Wealth

“Rem tene, verba sequentur: grasp the subject, and the words will follow. This, I believe, is the opposite of what happens with poetry, which is more a case of verba tene, res sequenter: grasp the words, and the subject will follow.”

Umberto Eco (1932–2016) Italian semiotician, essayist, philosopher, literary critic, and novelist

Source: Postscript to the Name of the Rose

“Success is a finished book, a stack of pages each of which is filled with words. If you reach that point, you have won a victory over yourself no less impressive than sailing single-handed around the world.”

Tom Clancy (1947–2013) American author

Books, World, Success, Victory

“And don’t worry about the bits you can’t understand. Sit back and allow the words to wash around you, like music.”

Roald Dahl book Matilda

Source: Matilda

Music, Understanding

“sometimes words are not big enough to contain all the feelings you are trying to pour into them.”

Jodi Picoult book The Storyteller

Source: The Storyteller

Feeling

“Words should wander and meander. They should fly like owls and flicker like bats and slip like cats. They should murmur and scream and dance and sing.”

David Almond book My Name Is Mina

Source: My Name Is Mina

Cats, Singing, Dance, Flying

“He even listened to more than her sounds, because Tiger Lily was a girl of few words. He listened with his eyes, watched her facial expressions, judged body language, and therefore read Tiger Lily better than anyone else.”

Jodi Lynn Anderson American children's writer

Source: Tiger Lily

Girl, Reading

“When you hurt people, they begin to love you less. That's what careless words do. They make people love you a little less.”

Arundhati Roy (1961) Indian novelist, essayist

Love, People, Hurt

“They had behind them, to my mind, the terrific suggestiveness of words heard in dreams, of phrases spoken in nightmares.”

Joseph Conrad book Heart of Darkness

Source: Heart of Darkness

Dreams

“Ah, this is fine," he cried triumphantly, holding up a small medallion on a chain. He dusted it off, and engraved on one side were the words "WHY NOT?" "That's a good reason for almost anything - a bit used perhaps, but still quite serviceable.”

Norton Juster book The Phantom Tollbooth

Source: The Phantom Tollbooth

“What the hell kind of revolution have you got just tossing out big words that working-class people can't understand?”

Haruki Murakami book Norwegian Wood

Source: Norwegian Wood

People, Hell, Understanding

“Lying is done with words, and also with silence.”

Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) American poet, essayist and feminist

Source: Women and Honor: Some Notes on Lying

Lying, Silence

“How wonderful it is to be able to write someone a letter! To feel like conveying your thoughts to a person, to sit at your desk and pick up a pen, to put your thoughts into words like this is truly marvelous.”

Haruki Murakami book Norwegian Wood

Source: Norwegian Wood

Feeling, Personality

“Derek? Derek!-Chole
Chole! what are you doing out here? i said we will check it out later. key word WE-Derek
oh, yeah I decided to come out on my own. thats why i was calling your name repeatively- Chole”

Kelley Armstrong The Reckoning

Source: The Reckoning

“We never choose which words to use, for as long as they mean what they mean to mean, we don’t care if they make sense or nonsense.”

Norton Juster book The Phantom Tollbooth

Source: The Phantom Tollbooth

Sense

“Friend is a very small word,
A little sound we make,
For one who is true, one who will do,
Great deeds for friendship's sake.”

Brian Jacques book The Bellmaker

Source: The Bellmaker

Friendship

“Has that line ever worked for anyone?”
“I’m not feeding you lines. I mean every word.”
…
“Day One of my life was the day I met you.”
“Okay, that’s a winner. You can put it in.”

Sylvia Day (1973) American writer

Source: Entwined with You

Life

“Every word the right one and exactly where it should be. That's basically the highest compliment I can give.”

Gabrielle Zevin (1977) American writer

Source: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

“You can put anything into words, except your own life”

Max Frisch (1911–1991) Swiss playwright and novelist

Life

“Death! Strange that there should be such a word, and such a thing, and we ever forget it; that one should be living, warm and beautiful, full of hopes, desires and wants, one day, and the next be gone, utterly gone, and forever!”

Harriet Beecher Stowe book Uncle Tom's Cabin

Source: Uncle Tom's Cabin

Death, Beauty, Hope, Forgetting

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

Guy Gavriel Kay book Tigana

Source: Tigana (1990), Chapter 17 (p. 561)

Change

“At the same time, we both pulled back briefly still oh so close. Everything in the word rested on that moment.
"We can't…" He told me.
"I know," I agreed.
Then his mouth was on mine again, and this time I knew there would be no turning back.”

Richelle Mead Shadow Kiss

Source: Shadow Kiss

Time

“CPR dummy looked like him and had clearly been stabbed. Repeatedly. In the groin. He thought she might have used the dummy for target practice, and tried not to be offended. Key word: tried.”

Gena Showalter (1975) American writer

Source: The Darkest Secret

“I have no words. Sixteen languages, but no words.
-Vishous”

Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist

Source: Lover Unleashed

“Her old thoughts were going to come in handy now, but new words would have to be made and said to fit them.”

Zora Neale Hurston book Their Eyes Were Watching God

Source: Their Eyes Were Watching God

“Once the others were below, Hazel and Leo faced each other awkwardly. They were alone except for Coach Hedge, who was back on the quarterdeck singing thetheme song. The coach had changed the words to:, and Leo really didn’t want to know why.”

Rick Riordan The Mark of Athena

Source: The Mark of Athena

Change, Singing

“don't stop to think of the words when you do stop, just stop to think of the picture better-and let your mind off yourself in this work.”

Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) American writer

Source: Dr Sax

Thinking

“He liked to read with the silence and the golden color of the whiskey as his companions. He liked food, people, talk, but reading was an inexhaustible pleasure. What the joys of music were to others, words on a page were to him.”

James Salter (1925–2015) American novelist and short-story writer

Source: All That Is

People, Pleasure, Food, Music

“So release yourself from that. Don't be strategic or coy. Strategic and coy are for jackasses. Be brave. Be authentic. Practice saying the word 'love' to the people you love so when it matters the most to say it, you will.”

Cheryl Strayed book Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar

Source: Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar

Love, People

“Thus they went on living in a reality that was slipping away, momentarily captured by words, but which would escape irremediably when they forgot the values of the written letters.”

Gabriel García Márquez book One Hundred Years of Solitude

Source: One Hundred Years of Solitude

Reality

“Footfalls echo in the memory
down the passage we did not take
towards the door we never opened
into the rose garden. My words echo
thus, in your mind”

T.S. Eliot book Four Quartets

Variant: Footfalls echo in the memory, down the passage we did not take, towards the door we never opened, into the rose garden.
Source: Four Quartets

Memory

“Philosophy is common sense with big words.”

James Madison (1751–1836) 4th president of the United States (1809 to 1817)

Sense

“Black Court vampires. I just shortened it some."

Ebenezar tsked. "Blampires. That's the problem with you young people. Shortening all the words.”

Jim Butcher book Blood Rites

Source: Blood Rites

People, Problem

“We've no use for intellectuals in this outfit. What we need is chimpanzees. Let me give you a word of advice: never say a word to us about being intelligent. We will think for you, my friend. Don't forget it.”

Louis-ferdinand Céline book Journey to the End of the Night

Source: Journey to the End of the Night

Intelligence, Thinking, Forgetting

“It is true that success is the most boring thing, it is tinny and brittle, failure runs deeper. Success is dangerous. I have a very complicated relationship with that word.”

Arundhati Roy (1961) Indian novelist, essayist

Failure, Success

“If you've ever been homesick, or felt exiled from all the things and people that once defined you, you'll know how important welcoming words and friendly smiles can be.”

Stephen King book 11/22/63

Source: 11/22/63

People, Smile

“For women, the best aphrodisiacs are words. The G-spot is in the ears. He who looks for it below there is wasting his time.”

Isabel Allende Of Love and Shadows

Source: Of Love and Shadows

Women, Time

“If there wasn't a word for it, would we realize our masochism as much?”

David Levithan The Lover's Dictionary

Source: The Lover's Dictionary

“Without a word or hesitation, Pain took the mop from Nick. Suffering moved to pick up glass.
"Wow. Where have you two been all my life?"
Pain quirked and eyebrow as he mopped the floor.
"Walking hand in hand with you. Haven't you noticed?”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Invincible

Life, Pain, Suffering

“Godliness is more easily feigned in words than in actions”

Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) Christian preacher, philosopher, and theologian

Source: The Religious Affections

“Always remember the words of Descartes: The reading of all good books is like conversion with the finest men of the past centuries.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Ink and Bone

Men, Books, Reading, Past

“Words were all he knew; they possessed and overwhelmed him, as if they were a thousand white cats with whom he shared a one-room apartment.”

Mark Helprin (1947) US author, journalist, commentator

Cats

Quotes about wording page 15

Quotes about wording
page 15