| We have natural & justifiable distrust
of talky men who make a sounding & ostentatious pretense of saying a
thing & yet don’t say it after all -- men who hide a mustard-seed
of an idea in a kaleidoscope of words, so that the more you turn the thing
the more you can’t quite capture that elusive little idea, because
it always takes refuge, just in time, behind a new & bewitching rainbow-explosion
of fine language. - letter to unidentified friend, written between 24 – 30 September 1876 |
 |
| A powerful agent is the right word. Whenever
we come upon one of those intensely right words in a book or a newspaper
the resulting effect is physical as well as spiritual, and electrically
prompt: it tingles exquisitely around through the walls of the mouth and
tastes as tart and crisp and good as the autumn-butter that creams the sumac-berry. - "William Dean Howells" |
 AI image created by Barbara Schmidt |
|
The difference between the almost right word & the
right word is really a large matter--it's the difference between the lightning
bug and the lightning.
- Letter to George Bainton, 15 Oct 1888 |
 AI image created by Barbara Schmidt |
 Illustration by Herbert E. Clamp from DALLAS MORNING NEWS, Nov. 25, 1900 |
Words realize nothing, verify nothing to you, unless you have suffered
in your own person the thing which the words try to describe. It is always the way; words will answer as long as it is only a person's
neighbor who is in trouble, but when that person gets into trouble himself,
it is time that the King rise up and do something. Words are only painted fire; a look is the fire itself. |
|
Portrait of Clemens by Gaston Fay |
You have seen that kind of people who will never let on that they don't
know the meaning of a new big word. The more ignorant they are, the more
pitifully certain they are to pretend you haven't shot over their heads. The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as
a rightly timed pause. A Rajah is better than a prince because you couldn't mistake what Rajah
meant, and Prince has become so much associated with dogs. I wouldn't
mind being a gay young dog, but I would object most certainly to being
considered the household variety, and as you can't rely on people's judgment,
it is better to be plain about your meanings. |
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