Wordcraft Home Page    Wordcraft Community Home Page    Forums  Hop To Forum Categories  The Written Word    Sardonic thoughts about words
Go
New
Find
Notify
Tools
Reply
  
Sardonic thoughts about words Login/Join
 
Member
Picture of shufitz
posted
An recent and otherwise-excellent piece by a national columnist began, "Words are 'the money of fools,' Thomas Hobbes claimed."

That struck me as uncharacteristic of Hobbes, and when I looked it up the full quotation was quite different. Still, the columnist's version caused me to wonder whether there might be some interesting quotations commenting negatively on "words".
 
Posts: 2666 | Location: Chicago, IL USAReply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of Hic et ubique
posted Hide Post
This isn't word-related, but I just couldn't resist. Just what are you folks doing out there in Oregon, Asa?
quote:
Gay sheep that mate only with other rams have different brain structures from “straight” sheep, ... the team at Oregon Health Sciences University said.
 
Posts: 1204Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of C J Strolin
posted Hide Post
Quoted elsewhere: "No, not THERE!"
 
Posts: 1517 | Location: Illinois, USAReply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of arnie
posted Hide Post
We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.
-- Abigail Adams

Words calculated to catch everyone may catch no one.
-- Adlai Stevenson

A man thinks that by mouthing hard words he understands hard things.
-- Herman Melville

The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand.
-- Lewis Thomas

Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
-- Lily Tomlin

Do not accustom yourself to use big words for little matters.
-- Samuel Johnson
 
Posts: 10940 | Location: LondonReply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
posted Hide Post
"Words, words, words! They shut one off from the universe. Three quarters of the time one’s never in contact with things, only with the beastly words that stand for them."
-- Aldous Huxley

"Truthful words are not beautiful; beautiful words are not truthful. Good words are not persuasive; persuasive words are not good."
-- Lao-Tzu
 
Posts: 1412 | Location: Buffalo, NY, United StatesReply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of BobHale
posted Hide Post
Slightly off topic but I was reminded by that last one of the remark attributed to Samuel Johnson

Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original and the part that is original is not good.

Quid quid latine dictum sit, altum viditur

Read all about my travels around the world here.
 
Posts: 9421 | Location: EnglandReply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
posted Hide Post
Words whispered on Earth are heard in Heaven like thunder; evil done in dark places the gods see like lightning. ~~ Chinese proverb
 
Posts: 142Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Junior Member
posted Hide Post
"George Bush's lips are where words go to die"
-Garrison Keilor-
 
Posts: 5 | Location: Charlotte, NCReply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
posted Hide Post
"Words out through the lips like toads!
And if there is a pearl among them
she will surely get lost in the confusion."

~~Anne Sexton (1928–1974), U.S. poet.
 
Posts: 1412 | Location: Buffalo, NY, United StatesReply With QuoteReport This Post
  Powered by Social Strata  
 

Wordcraft Home Page    Wordcraft Community Home Page    Forums  Hop To Forum Categories  The Written Word    Sardonic thoughts about words

Copyright © 2002-12