The most precious things in speech are pauses.

The most precious things in speech are pauses.

I would sooner read a timetable or a catalog than nothing at all.

I would sooner read a timetable or a catalog than nothing at all.

It was greek to me.

It was greek to me.

And who in time knows whither we may vent
The treasure of our tongue? To what strange shores
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And who in time knows whither we may vent
The treasure of our tongue? To what strange shores
This gain of our best glory shall be sent,
T' enrich unknowing nations with our stores?
What worlds in th' yet unformed Occident
May come refin'd with th' accents that are ours?

Having been unpopular in high school is not just cause for book publications.

Having been unpopular in high school is not just cause for book publications.

Thanks to words, we have been able to rise above the brutes, and thanks to words, we have sunk to read more

Thanks to words, we have been able to rise above the brutes, and thanks to words, we have sunk to the level of the demons.

Quotation... A writer expresses himself in words that have been used before because they give his meaning better than he read more

Quotation... A writer expresses himself in words that have been used before because they give his meaning better than he can give it himself, or because they are beautiful or witty, or because he expects them to touch a cord of association in his reader, or because he wishes to show that he is learned and well read. Quotations due to the last motive are invariably ill-advised; the discerning reader detects it and is contemptuous; the undiscerning is perhaps impressed, but even then is at the same time repelled, pretentious quotations being the surest road to tedium.

Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.

Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.

All true language is incomprehensible, like the chatter of a beggar's teeth.

All true language is incomprehensible, like the chatter of a beggar's teeth.