"When the imagination sleeps, words are emptied of their meaning: a deaf population absent-mindedly registers the condemnation of a man. … there is no other solution but to speak out and show the obscenity hidden under the verbal cloak."

"Nay, gentlemen, do not quarrel about words."

"He says one thing, but he does another; it seems to me to be common sense to look at what is done, and not to what is said."

"Qiue ad unumfinem loqunta sunt, non debent ad alium detorqueri: Those words which are spoken to one end, ought not to be perverted to another."

"We must judge of men's intentions by their acts, and not by expressions in letters, which are contrary to their acts."

"Words are transient, and vanish in the air as soon as spoken, and there can be no tenor of them . . . but when a thing is written, though every omission of a letter may not make a variance, yet, if such omission makes a word of another signification, it is fatal."

"Fair words enough a man shall find, They be good cheap: they cost right nought, Their substance is but only wind."

"There is no magic in words."

"Three sleepless nights I passed in sounding on, Through words and things, a dim and perilous way."

"Most of the disputes in the world arise from words."

"You phrase tormenting fantastic chorus, With strangest words at your beck and call."

"For of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: "It might have been!""

"Rather commend yourself by your actions, than your expressions; one good action is worth twenty good expressions."

"Would you repeat that again, sir, for it soun's sae sonorous that the words droon the ideas?"

"Deep in my heart subsides the infrequent word, And there dies slowly throbbing like a wounded bird."

"Hold fast the form of sound words."

"As the last bell struck, a peculiar sweet smile shone over his face, and he lifted up his head a little, and quickly said, "Adsum!" and fell back. It was the word we used at school, when names were called; and lo, he, whose heart was as that of a little child, had answered to his name, and stood in the presence of The Master."

"As shadows attend substances, so words follow upon things."

"I sometimes hold it half a sin To put in words the grief I feel; For words, like Nature, half reveal And half conceal the Soul within. * * * * * In words, like weeds, I'll wrap me o'er, Like coarsest clothes against the cold; But that large grief which these enfold Is given in outline and no more."

"You [Pindar] who possessed the talent of speaking much without saying anything."

"Words pass from men lightly."

"Dictum sapienti sat est."

"So all my best is dressing old words new."

"The arts Babblative and Scriblative."

"We know not what we do When we speak words."

"The artillery of words."

"Satis eloquentiæ sapientiæ parum."

"Schnell fertig ist die Jugend mit dem Wort."

"But from sharp words and wits men pluck no fruit; And gathering thorns they shake the tree at root; For words divide and rend, But silence is most noble till the end."

"O! many a shaft, at random sent, Finds mark the archer little meant! And many a word, at random spoken, May soothe or wound a heart that's broken!"

"Inanis verborum torrens."

"Souvent d'un grand dessein un mot nous fait juger."

"The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords."

"He that useth many words for the explaining any subject, doth, like the cuttle fish, hide himself for the most part in his own ink."

"One of our defects as a nation is a tendency to use what have been called "weasel words." When a weasel sucks eggs the meat is sucked out of the egg. If you use a "weasel word" after another there is nothing left of the other."

"I have not skill From such a sharp and waspish word as "No" To pluck the sting."

"The words are like Jack in a Box, and nobody knows what to make of them."

"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver."

"Le monde se paye de paroles; peu approfondissement les choses."

"In pertusum ingerimus dicta dolium, operam ludimus."

"Non opus est verbis, credite rebus."

"Words will build no walls."

"The word impossible is not in my dictionary."

"Things were first made, then words."

"Each word-catcher, that lives on syllables."

"Hei mihi, quam facile est (quamvis hic contigit omnes), Alterius lucta fortia verba loqui!"

"And to bring in a new word by the head and shoulders, they leave out the old one."

"How many quarrels, and how important, has the doubt as to the meaning of this syllable "Hoc" produced for the world!"

"His words, * * * like so many nimble and airy servitors, trip about him at command."

"Words repeated again have as another sound, so another sense."