Quotes about wording
page 17

“Siry answered with one simple, shattering word. "Veelox.”

Source: The Pilgrims of Rayne

“I burned through all of my extra lives in a matter of minutes, and my two least-favorite words appeared on the screen: GAME OVER.”

Ernest Cline book Ready Player One

Source: Ready Player One

Game, Appearance

“What is your favorite word?”
“And. It is so hopeful.”

Margaret Atwood (1939) Canadian writer

Hope

“Art's cruel. You can get away with murder with words. But a picture is like a window straight through to your inmost heart.”

John Fowles book The Collector

Source: The Collector

Art, Heart

“She knew words no one had ever heard of, and she used words every day that had been mainly dead or sleeping for hundreds of years.”

Mark Helprin (1947) US author, journalist, commentator

Sleep, Dead

“But silence is not a natural environment for stories. They need words. Without them they grown pale, sicken and die. And then they haunt you.”

Diane Setterfield book The Thirteenth Tale

Source: The Thirteenth Tale

Nature, Silence

“It is those who are successful, in other words, who are most likely to be given the kinds of special opportunities that lead to further success.”

Malcolm Gladwell (1963) journalist and science writer

Source: Outliers: The Story of Success

Success

“The words. Why did they have to exist? Without them, there wouldn’t be any of this. Without words, the Führer was nothing. There would be no limping prisoners, no need for consolation or wordly tricks to make us feel better. What good were the words?”

Markus Zusak book The Book Thief

Source: The Book Thief

Feeling

“Actions speak louder than words, and a smile says, ‘I like you. You make me happy. I am glad to see you.”

Dale Carnegie How to Win Friends and Influence People

Source: How to Win Friends and Influence People

Happiness, Smile, Happy

“Nobleness was one word for making a fuss about the trivial inevitabilities of life, but there were others.”

Douglas Adams The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

Source: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

Life

“Then he raised her enough to whisper in her ear, and while his voice was tender, his words were savage. "You're my woman, and no man or God or ghost will ever take you from me.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Where Dreams Begin

God

“Harry: The most beautiful words in the English language aren't "I love you" but "it's benign."”

Woody Allen (1935) American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician

Deconstructing Harry (1997)

Love, Beauty

“First you must have the images, then come the words.”

Robert James Waller The Bridges of Madison County

Source: The Bridges of Madison County

“I liked those ladies! They were helpers, and they danced.' These are the words I want on my gravestone: that I was a helper, and that I danced.”

Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist

Source: Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith

Dance

“Oh dear, all those words again," thought Milo as he climbed into the wagon with Tock and the cabinet members. "How are you going to make it move? It doesn't have a--" "Be very quiet," advised the duke, "for it goes without saying.”

Norton Juster (1929) American children's writer, academic, and architect

“My best Acquaintances are those
With Whom I spoke no Word”

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) American poet

“Written on the mirror, revealed by the steam, were the words, I love you, Jane.”

Jessica Bird book Lover Unbound

Source: Lover Unbound

Love

“Owen meany who rarely wasted words and who had the conversation-stopping habit of dropping remarks like coins into a deep pool of water… remarks that sank, like truth, to the bottom of the pool where they would remain untouchable.”

John Irving book A Prayer for Owen Meany

Source: A Prayer for Owen Meany

Truth, Water

“God is obviouslt God, and Heaven obviously exsists, and every word spoken here on earth turns heads up there.”

Ted Dekker (1962) American writer

God

“We all just took the bookstore at its word, because if you couldn't trust a bookstore, what could you trust?”

Rachel Cohn (1968) American writer

Source: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

“Who knows what true loneliness is — not the conventional word, but the naked terror? To the lonely themselves it wears a mask. The most miserable outcast hugs some memory or some illusion.”

Joseph Conrad book Under Western Eyes

Pt. I, ch. 2
Under Western Eyes (1911)

Memory, Loneliness

“Tell me you love me," I pleaded"
"Gideon's eyes met mine. "You know I do"
"Imagine if I i ever said the words to you. If you never heard them from me"
"His chest expanded on a deep breath. "Crossfire”

Sylvia Day (1973) American writer

Source: Entwined with You

Love, Imagination

“That word is 'willing.' It's an attitude and spirit of cooperation that should permeate our conversations. It's like a palm tree by the ocean that endures the greatest winds because it knows how to gracefully bend.”

Stephen Kendrick book The Love Dare

Source: The Love Dare

Tree

“If you have the words, there's always a chance that you'll find the way.”

Seamus Heaney (1939–2013) Irish poet, playwright, translator, lecturer

Source: Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney

Way, Chance

“Sometimes, when it is going badly, she wonders if what she believes to be a love of the written word is really just a fetish for stationary.”

David Nicholls book One Day

Source: One Day

Love

“The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis.' One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger--but recognize the opportunity.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

“Hey," he said. "It's someday." He said the last word in Greek.”

Ann Brashares book Sisterhood Everlasting

Source: Sisterhood Everlasting

“How strange that the world should change because of words, and words change because of the world”

Louis De Bernières book Birds Without Wings

Source: Birds Without Wings

World, Change

“They weren't nice words he said. He could've lived a good life and died never having made a person feel rubbed down to bones and too sad to hold together.”

Shannon Hale book Book of a Thousand Days

Source: Book of a Thousand Days

Life, Sadness, Feeling, Personality

“There is a time for many words and there is a time also for sleep.”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

XI. 379 (tr. A. T. Murray).
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)
Source: The Odyssey

Sleep, Time, Good Night

“What difference does it make if the Gospel is mostly a lie? It's an engrossing story and the words of its hero are excellent words to live by, even today.”

Tom Robbins (1932) American writer

Lie

“That was all he said, except for "Aaaeerrgghhh." Which is not really a word. But the reason that he screamed "Aaaeerrgghhh" was that Franco had bitten him savegly on the wrist.”

Eoin Colfer book The Wish List

Source: The Wish List

“If they substituted the word 'Lust' for 'Love' in the popular songs it would come nearer the truth.”

Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer

Source: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

Love, Truth

“When the day shall come, that we do part," he said softly, and turned to look at me, "if my last words are not 'I love you'—ye'll ken it was because I didna have time.”

Diana Gabaldon book The Fiery Cross

Variant: When the day shall come that we do part," he said softly, and turned to look at me, "if my last words are not 'I love you'-ye'll ken it was because I didna have time.
Source: The Fiery Cross

Love, Time, Parting

“He wanted to cry quietly but not for himself: for the words, so beautiful and sad, like music.”

James Joyce book A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Source: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Sadness, Beauty, Music, Cry

“Meditation needs no results. Meditation can have itself as an end, I meditate without words and on nothingness. What tangles my life is writing.”

Hélène Cixous (1937) French philosopher and writer

Source: Coming to Writing and Other Essays

Life

“words have the power o change us”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess

Change

“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.”

Amy Tan (1952) American novelist

Feeling

“Never start a sentence with the words 'No offense.”

Gretchen Rubin (1966) American writer

Source: The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

“I’m about to make a wild, extreme, and severe relationship rule: the word “busy” is a load of crap and is most often used by assholes.”

Greg Behrendt (1963) American comedian

Business

“Why do you need to fly so much?” she asked.
“If I don’t, it’ll catch up with me.” The words just came out.
“What will?”
I took my hands from my face, panting. I stared out at the storm.
“Unhappiness.”

Kenneth Oppel book Airborn

Source: Airborn

Flying

“Dubh is do?" I was incredulous. It was no wonder I hadn't been able to find the stupid word. "Should I be
calling pubs poos?"
"Dubh is Gaelic, Ms. Lane. Pub is not.”

Karen Marie Moning book Darkfever

Source: Darkfever

Stupidity

“Listen carefully, I’m going to say three words.”
“I love you?”

Lisa Scottoline (1955) American writer

Source: Every Fifteen Minutes

Love

“Justice. I've heard that word. I tried it out. I wrote it down. I wrote it down several times and always it looked like a damn cold lie to me. There is no justice.”

Jean Rhys book Wide Sargasso Sea

Source: Wide Sargasso Sea

Lie, Justice, Time

“I would have told her then she was the only thing that I could
love in this dying world but the simple word "love" itself already died and went away.”

Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer

Love, World

“All my life I've looked at words as though I were seeing them for the first time.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

Letter (9 April 1945); published in Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters 1917–1961 (1981) edited by Carlos Baker

Life, Time

“Scrabble was invented by Nazis to piss off kids with dyslexia. This is true, they proved this one. The word dyslexia was invented by Nazis to piss off kids with dyslexia.”

Eddie Izzard (1962) British stand-up comedian, actor and writer

Stripped (2009)

“To be, in a word, unborable…. It is the key to modern life. If you are immune to boredom, there is literally nothing you cannot accomplish”

David Foster Wallace book The Pale King

Source: The Pale King

Life

“Words strain,
Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,
Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,
Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place,
Will not stay still.”

T.S. Eliot (1888–1965) 20th century English author

“A word to the wise is infuriating.”

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

“Socrates and Jesus, two teachers of virtue and love, were executed because of the unsettling, threatening power of their souls, which was revealed in their personal lives and in their words.”

Thomas Moore (1779–1852) Irish poet, singer and songwriter

Source: Care of the Soul: A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life

Love, Soul, Teachers, Personality

“I have no word of yours to assure me that our brief friendship held for you the same significance it held for me, but I must go on believing so. Every hope of the future is meaningless unless I have faith that you and I will share it together.”

Elizabeth George Speare book Calico Captive

Source: Calico Captive

Friendship, Faith, Hope, Future

“The white cracker who wrote the National Anthem knew what he was doing. He set the word "free" to a note so high nobody could reach it. That was deliberate.”

Tony Kushner (1956) American playwright and screenwriter

Source: Angels in America, Part Two: Perestroika

“The spoken word converts individual knowledge into mutual knowledge, and there is no way back once you've gone over that cliff. Saying nothing was more amendable, and over time I'd come to see that it was usually your best course of action.”

Karen Joy Fowler book We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

Source: We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

Way, Knowledge, Time

“Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service.”

Wilkie Collins book The Woman in White

Source: The Woman in White

“It's only words… unless they're true.”

David Mamet (1947) American playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and film director

“Do you want your blood to stay where it is sochar-lar?"
Tavi lifted both eyebrows at the unfamiliar word, and glanced at Varg.
"Monkey," Varg supplied, in Aleran. "And male-child."
"He called me monkey boy?" Tavi asked.”

Jim Butcher Captain's Fury

Source: Captain's Fury

Boy

“The word “future” and females is a dangerous combination.”

Chetan Bhagat book 2 States: The Story of My Marriage

Source: 2 States: The Story of My Marriage

Future

“She loved her mother and depended on her mother, and yet every single word her mother said annoyed her.”

Ann Brashares book Sisterhood Everlasting

Source: Sisterhood Everlasting

Love, Dependency

“Falsehood is never in words; it is in things.”

Italo Calvino book Invisible Cities

Source: Invisible Cities

“I thought that a man can be an enemy of other men, of the moments of other men, but not of a country: not of fireflies, words, gardens, streams of water, sunsets.”

Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, and a key figure in Spanish language literature

The Garden of Forking Paths (1942), The Garden of Forking Paths

Men, Water, Country

“Words are not that important when you recognize intentions.”

Isabel Allende book City of the Beasts

Source: City of the Beasts

“Words are like eggs dropped from great heights; you can no more call them back than ignore the mess they leave when they fall.”

Jodi Picoult Salem Falls

Source: Salem Falls

“I loved most when his eyelashes twitched and he blinked, and suddenly happiness was there inside his eyes. Unmistakable. Like a single word printed on a clean white page.”

Augusten Burroughs book You Better Not Cry: Stories for Christmas

Source: You Better Not Cry: Stories for Christmas

Love, Happiness

“A man said to a Dervish: “Why do I not see you more often?” The Dervish replied, “Because the words ‘Why have you not been to see me?’ are sweeter to my ear than the words ‘Why have you come again?”

Robert Greene book The 48 Laws of Power

Source: The 48 Laws of Power

“What if all everybody needed in the world was to be sure of one friend? What if you were the one, and you refused to say those simple words?”

Richard Russo Empire Falls

Source: Empire Falls

World

“Soulmates. That was the word. Maggie could sense what it meant. Two people connected, bound to each other forever, soul to soul, in a way that even death couldn't break. Two souls that were destined for each other.”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Source: Night World, No. 3

Death, People, Way, Soul

“.

I believe your exact words were: "You're getting too emotional.”

David Levithan The Lover's Dictionary

Source: The Lover's Dictionary

“The secret of joy in work is contained in one word — excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.”

Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American writer

The Joy of Children (1966)

Secret, Joy, Motivational

“… as long as there are movement and harmony, there are words.”

Shannon Hale (1974) American fantasy novelist

“Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.”

Melissa Bank book The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing

Source: The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing

Freedom

“Eating words has never given me indigestion.”

Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

“I'm very depressed how in this country you can be told "That's offensive" as though those two words constitute an argument.”

Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011) British American author and journalist

Country

“He could tell her he loved her. He ached to shout it out loud for the gods and everyone to hear. Little good it would do. Better to trust in the moon's promises than in the word of the Thief of Eddis. He was famous in three countries for his lies.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Queen of Attolia

Source: The Queen of Attolia

Love, God, Country

“What was that thing that could make two people promise one another to spend every day of the rest of their lives together? Ah, I found it. It was a thing called love. A small simple word.”

Cecelia Ahern book Thanks for the Memories

Source: Thanks for the Memories

Love, People

“Word by word, the language of women so often begins with a whisper.”

Terry Tempest Williams (1955) American writer

Source: When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice

Women

“This was the reason there was music, he realized. There were some feelings that didn't have words big enough to describe them.”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Variant: This is why there was music. There were some feelings that just didn't have words big enough to describe them.
Source: Between the Lines

Music, Feeling

“A man fell in love with Jeanne, and she tried to love him. But she complained that he uttered such ordinary words, that he could never say the magic phrase which would open her being.”

Anaïs Nin book Under a Glass Bell

Source: Under a Glass Bell

Love

“He played of love and loss and years of silence, words unsaid and vows unspoken, and all the spaces between his heart and theirs…”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

Love, Silence, Loss, Heart

“… what words could you use which would give another the experience of sunshine?”

Lois Lowry book The Giver

Source: The Giver

“Dedicated to: You.
There will never be another like you.
For me… you are the one.
Yeah, I don't have enough words for this….”

Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist

Source: Lover Awakened

“Thanks for putting me up for it…." As V's eyes flared, Butch said, "Yeah, I looked up what the word meant. 'Beloved Friend' fits you perfect as far as I'm concerned."

V Flushed. Cleared his throat. "Good Deal, cop. Good… deal.”

Jessica Bird book Lover Revealed

Source: Lover Revealed

Perfection

“Sophie said a bad word. In the dim light she had stubbed her toe on one of the many dusty bricks piled around the place.
Naughty-naughty" Twinkle said.
Oh shut up!" Sophie said, standing on one leg to hold her toe. "Why don't you grow up?”

Diana Wynne Jones House of Many Ways

Source: House of Many Ways

Light

“The problem with the French is that they don't have a word for "entrepreneur."”

George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States

Shirley Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby, described this as a remark to Tony Blair in a discussion of the French economy during the G8 Summit, according to Jack Malvern (9 July 2002), "Bush and Blair, The Times. Alastair Campbell, Blair's director of communications, later said that Blair never heard Bush say this and never told Baroness Williams that he said it. See Lloyd Grove (2002-07-10) "The Reliable Source," Washington Post.
Attributed, Disputed

Problem