Linguistic Effect Quotes

For words are magical formulae. They leave finger marks be hind on the brain, which in the twinkling of an eye become the footprints of history. One ought to watch one' s every word.

Metaphors hide in plain sight, and their influence is largely unconscious. We should mind our metaphors, though, because metaphors make up our minds.

If language did not affect behavior, it could have no meaning.

Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.

One must know and recognize not merely the direct but the secret power of the word.

Every word is a messenger. Some have wings; some are filled with fire; some are filled with death.

Language is the mother, not the handmaiden, of thought; words will tell you things you never thought or felt before.

What a different result one gets by changing the metaphor!

The most emphatic place in a clause or sentence is the end. This is the climax; and, during the momentary pause that follows, that last word continues, as it were, to reverberate in the reader's mind. It has, in fact, the last word.

Music moves me - duh - and that is like having a window opening on a heightened reality, but the effect is fleeting: When the music ends, the magic, the uplifting, vanishes and the window slams shut. Words, on the other hand, by the nature of how they work, emotions evoked by dint of carefully laid out thoughts, have a more lingering effect.

When you speak in another accent, it affects you. You can't help but be changed by it.

I say something bad every day, but I like to swear sparingly because it has more impact.