Words are wise men’s counters, they do but reckon by them: but they are the money of fools.
—Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) English Political Philosopher
The teachings of elegant sayings
Should be collected when one can.
For the supreme gift of words of wisdom,
Any price will be paid.
—Nagarjuna (150–250) Indian Buddhist Monk-Philosopher
When I use a word, Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, it means just what I choose it to meanneither more nor less. The question is, said Alice, whether you can make words mean so many different things. The question is, said Humpty Dumpty, which is to be masterthats all.
—Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) (1832–98) British Anglican Author, Mathematician, Clergyman, Photographer, Logician
Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice.
—T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) American-born British Poet, Dramatist, Literary Critic
A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged, it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and the time in which it is used.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935) American Jurist, Author
Tsze-Kung asked, saying, “is there one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one’s life?” The Master said, “Is not Reciprocity such a word? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.”
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Words can be like baseball bats when used maliciously.
—Sidney Madwed (1926–2013) American Poet, Author
You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this world’s happiness now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely or discouraged. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author
Words are like leaves; and where they most abound, much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
Men suppose their reason has command over their words; still it happens that words in return exercise authority on reason.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
The true poem rests between the words.
—Vanna Bonta (1958–2014) Italian-American Novelist, Poet, Actress
The finest language is mostly made up of simple unimposing words.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night and a smooth road all the way to your door.
—Irish Blessing
Things are not all so comprehensible and expressible as one would mostly have us believe; most events are inexpressible, taking place in a realm which no word has ever entered, and more inexpressible than all else are works of art, mysterious existences, the life of which, while ours passes away, endures.
—Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) Austrian Poet
The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man’s inmost parts
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American Head of State, Military Leader
There’s a helluva distance between wisecracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wisecracking is simply calisthenics with words.
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American Humorist, Journalist
Learn the value of a man’s words and expressions, and you know him. Each man has a measure of his own for everything; this he offers you inadvertently in his words. He who has a superlative for everything wants a measure for the great or small.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
The two most beautiful words in the English language are: “Check Enclosed.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American Humorist, Journalist
Watch your thoughts, they become your words
Watch your words, they become your actions
Watch your actions, they become your habits
Watch your habits, they become your character
Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.
—Anonymous
Words are like eyeglasses they blur everything that they do not make clear.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.
—Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) South African Political leader
Where words fail, music speaks.
—Hans Christian Andersen (1805–75) Danish Author, Poet, Short Story Writer
I am a dreamer of words, of written words. I think I am reading; a word stops me. I leave the page. The syllables of the word begin to move around. Stressed accents begin to invert. The word abandons its meaning like an overload which is too heavy and prevents dreaming. Then words take on other meanings as if they had the right to be young. And the words wander away, looking in the nooks and crannies of vocabulary for new company, bad company.
—Gaston Bachelard (1884–1962) French Philosopher, Psychoanalyst, Poet
For words are magical formulae. They leave finger marks behind on the brain, which in the twinkling of an eye become the footprints of history. One ought to watch one’ s every word.
—Franz Kafka (1883–1924) Austrian Novelist, Short Story Writer
He that hath knowledge spareth his words.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
All my life I’ve looked at words as though I were seeing them for the first time.
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story Writer
Words are alive; cut them and they bleed.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Among my most prized possessions are words that I have never spoken.
—Orson Scott Card (b.1951) American Author
The wise weigh their words on a scale with gold.
—Indian Proverb
“Why” and “how” are words so important that they cannot be too often used.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
The words of the world want to make sentences.
—Gaston Bachelard (1884–1962) French Philosopher, Psychoanalyst, Poet
The volatile truth of our words should continually betray the inadequacy of the residual statement.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
The coldest word was once a glowing new metaphor
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
Words, as is well known, are the great foes of reality. I have been for many years a teacher of languages. It is an occupation which at length becomes fatal to whatever share of imagination, observation, and insight an ordinary person may be heir to. To a teacher of languages there comes a time when the world is but a place of many words and man appears a mere talking animal not much more wonderful than a parrot.
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) Polish-born British Novelist
Words are also actions, and actions are a kind of words
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The finest words in the world are only vain sounds, if you cannot comprehend them.
—Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist
Such little, puny things are words in rhyme: poor feeble loops and strokes as frail as hairs.
—Christopher Morley (1890–1957) American Novelist, Essayist
Words are the physicians of a mind diseased
—Aeschylus (525–456 BCE) Greek Poet
Blessed are they who have nothing to say and who cannot be persuaded to say it.
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
The world is satisfied with words, few care to dive beneath the surface.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
A word and a stone let go cannot be recalled
—Spanish Proverb
He who wants to persuade should put his trust not in the right argument, but in the right word. The power of sound has always been greater than the power of sense.
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) Polish-born British Novelist
The limits of my language are the limits of my mind. All I know is what I have words for.
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) Austrian-born British Philosopher
Eating words has never given me indigestion.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
How often misused words generate misleading thoughts.
—Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) English Polymath, Philosopher, Sociologist, Political Theorist
Words are the counters of wise men, and the money of fools.
—Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) English Political Philosopher
One great use of words is to hide our thoughts.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Our expression and our words never coincide, which is why the animals don’t understand us.
—Malcolm de Chazal (1902–81) Mauritian Writer, Painter, Visionary