Quotes About Words

I would rather decline two drinks than one German adjective.

The pause - that impressive silence, that eloquent silence, that geometrically progressive silence which often achieves a desired effect where no combination of words, howsoever felicitous, could accomplish it.

No narrative that tells the facts of a man's life in the man's own words can be uninteresting.

Some German words are so long that they have a perspective.

The difference between the ALMOST right word and the RIGHT word is really quite a large matter. It's the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning.

Mein Herz ist voller Dankbarkeit, aber meine Armut an deutschen Worten zwingt mich zu großer Sparsamkeit des Ausdruckes.

Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words. -Mark Twain

the quality of certain scraps of verse which take hold of us and stay in our memories, we do not understand why, at first: all the words being the right words, none of them is conspicuous, and so they all seem inconspicuous, therefore we wonder what it is about them that makes their message take hold.

The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter - 'tis the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning.

They was strong words but they was said and I let them stay said.

Schreiben ist leicht, man muss nur die falschen Worte weglassen.

Fifthly, I would do away with those great long compounded words; or require the speaker to deliver them in sections, with intermissions for refreshments. To wholly do away with them would be best, for ideas are more easily received and digested when they come one at a time than when they come in bulk. Intellectual food is like any other; it is pleasanter and more beneficial to take it with a spoon than with a shovel.

The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter--it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.- Mark Twain (Letter to George Bainton, 10/15/1888)

La diferencia entre la palabra acertada y la palabra casi acertada es la que hay entre la luz de un rayo y una luciérnaga.

I went right along, not fixing up any particular plan, but just trusting to Providence to put the right words in my mouth when the time come; for I'd noticed that Providence always did put the right words in my mouth if I left it alone.

My hands resemble some ancient tree: the roots that bind up the earth, the rock and the ceaselessly nibbling wordms.

Words will heal your heart. If you ever come to disregard everything I've told you, believe at least this much: your words and only your words will heal your heart.

get thee to a dictionary and be relentless about your visits there. p. 591

dozens of hours just blinking by, lost in the twist of so many dangerous sentences.

But here it is. All that's left. Incoherent scrap. Too bad so much of his life had to slip between the lines of even his own words.

Somewhere inside her were the souls of words. They climbed out and stood beside her.

I want words at my funeral. But I guess that means you need life in your life.

I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race - that rarely do I even simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant...I AM HAUNTED BY HUMANS.

It's a small story really, about, among other things: * A girl * Some words * An accordionist * Some fanatical Germans * A Jewish fist fighter * And quite a lot of thievery