Diction Quotes

“Jen and I were accustomed to our father's last-will-and-testament diction, and were at times free to interrupt Atticus for a translation when it was beyond our understanding.”
― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

“Most Eugenists are Euphemists. I mean merely that short words startle them, while long words soothe them. And they are utterly incapable of translating the one into the other, however obviously they mean the same thing. Say to them "The persuasive and even coercive powers of the citizen should enable him to make sure that the burden of longevity in the previous generation does not become disproportionate and intolerable, especially to the females"; say this to them and they will sway slightly to and fro like babies sent to sleep in cradles. Say to them "Murder your mother," and they sit up quite suddenly. Yet the two sentences, in cold logic, are exactly the same. Say to them "It is not improbable that a period may arrive when the narrow if once useful distinction between the anthropoid homo and the other
animals, which has been modified on so many moral points, may be modified also even in regard to the important question of the extension of human diet"; say this to them, and beauty born of murmuring sound will pass into their face. But say to them, in a simple, manly, hearty way "Let's eat a man!" and their surprise is quite surprising. Yet the sentences say just the same thing.”
― G.K. Chesterton, Eugenics and Other Evils : An Argument Against the Scientifically Organized State

“Science is history arranged according to the superstition and taste of the moment. The vocabulary of scholars has no wit, no salt. These heavy tomes have no soul, they are filled with distress...”
― Blaise Cendrars, Moravagine

“The parts of our bodies we share with another person are called ‘private,’ while the ones we keep entirely to ourselves remain unlabeled; perhaps those are the truly private parts, and the so-called ‘private parts’ should instead be called ‘sharable parts’; English, it seems, delights in contradiction.”
― Suman Pokhrel

“Short words are best, and old words when short are best of all.”
― Winston Churchill

“Vocabulary for aggravation is large. Vocabulary for transcendence is elusive.”
― Jennifer Senior, All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood

“Our choice of words often reveal the depth of our knowledge … or ignorance … or that of our desire to be deemed knowledgeable.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“A writer need not be bound by flat statement like "It was a rough sea," when verbs like tumble and roil and seethe wait to spell from her pen.”
― Rebecca McClanahan, Word Painting: A Guide to Writing More Descriptively

“It’s the Queen’s English now,’ observed Peter mildly.

‘Is there a difference?’ asked Oundle rhetorically. ‘I fervently hope not.’

‘There will be in time,’ said Peter.

‘That will be deplorable,’ replied Oudle. ‘I shall not myself deviate by a syllable from correct usage.’

‘My language is foul, and yours is Fowler?’ said Peter, and added one of his sudden quirky smiles, ‘or know your Onions.’

This quip crossed the barrier of the table, because the man sitting nearly opposite Peter laughed.

‘Onions?’ said Oudle.

‘C.T. Onions, I imagine,’ said the man opposite. ‘Editor of the Oxford English Dictionary.’

‘Oh, I see,’ said Oudle. ‘Very droll.”
― Jill Paton Walsh, The Late Scholar

“Florid language frequently leads to merry lovemaking when accompanied by the correct diction, syntax, and timing.”
― Stewart Stafford

“If being a Guru is Tapasya .... Do please get me an equally powerful word in any other language! Would you accept its English translation as Austerity as a meaning? There is no parallel of the word Tapasya ”
― Sandeep Sahajpal, The Twelfth Preamble: To all the authors to be!

“He used a minimum of words and no inflection whatsoever. It was a policeman's manner of speaking, direct and unadorned.”
― Davis Bunn, Lion of Babylon

“Lincoln on a desire to hear Horace Greeley speak: "In print, every one of his words seems to weigh about a ton.”
― Harold Holzer, Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public Opinion

“Sorry, I needed another word for "crisis," and when I entered the word "crisis" into Thesaurus.com, it suggested "hot potato" as a synonym. I could not write this book without letting you know but Thesaurus.com lists "hot potato" as a synonym for "crisis." "Hey, did you hear about what's happening with Israel and Palestine? It's becoming a real hot potato.”
― Aziz Ansari, Modern Romance

“This unfortunate phenomenon happened throughout the professor’s career—the students, who could not bear natural interest in the lectures, profited off O’Hare’s passion. They rested their fangs on her neck and used her original elixir for their needs. If they did it unconsciously, then another phenomenon would occur. The students imitated their teachers. And it was the largest robbery of education.

By using the vocabulary of their passionate elders, young, ambitious minds convinced themselves and the world of something they did not believe in. Articulation was so personal. It was the result of countless experiences, people, readings, and reflections. When expressing an authentic belief, some ears were fooled by the speaker’s passion, which was like a contagious trance. So those ears applied others’ articulation as their own. By seeing O’Hare speak enthusiastically about a topic, one, with enough attention, could easily think they loved the topic, too.”
― Karl Kristian Flores, A Happy Ghost

“Even today it remains a moot point among the critics whether the very first extant poet of our Western civilization has ever been surpassed for the grandeur and sublimity of his diction.”
― Owen Barfield, Poetic Diction. A Study in Meaning

“The fear stutterers have is not the fear of speaking, but the fear of others knowing that they stutter.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson, Stamerenophobia

“Mr Hobbes, in the preface to his own bald translation of the "Ilias," (studying poetry as he did mathematics, when it was too late,) Mr Hobbes, I say, begins the praise of Homer where he should have ended it. He tells us, that the first beauty of an epic poem consists in diction; that is, in the choice of words, and harmony of numbers. Now the words are the colouring of the work, which, in the order of nature, is last to be considered; the design, the disposition, the manners, and the thoughts, are all before it: where any of those are wanting or imperfect, so much wants or is imperfect in the imitation of human life, which is in the very definition of a poem. Words, indeed, like glaring colours, are the first beauties that arise, and strike the sight; but, if the draught be false or lame, the figures ill disposed, the manners obscure or inconsistent, or the thoughts unnatural, then the finest colours are but daubing, and the piece is a beautiful monster at the best. Neither Virgil nor Homer were deficient in any of the former beauties; but in this last, which is expression, the Roman poet is at least equal to the Grecian, as I have said elsewhere: supplying the poverty of his language by his musical ear, and by his diligence.”
― John Dryden, Dryden