Henry David Thoreau Quotes

It’s not what you say; it’s what people hear.

You know, two people can say exactly the same words, saying the same story, and it would mean something entirely different.

My use of language is part and parcel of my message.

If we are to look only at the words, then we inquire, not what this man meant, but what those words would mean in the mouth of a normal speaker.

Tone is everything.

The words that are coming out of my mouth and how I mean them, it's so much different.

Hey can mean anything. It can mean yes, it can mean maybe, it could mean no, it could mean next week. Hey, the bottom line is you have to understand me to understand hey.

I like delivering a message, but what I find interesting is providing those details in a different context. Then the readers can make up their minds what it means.

Words must be taken according to the matter whereof they are uttered.

There's what people say, and there's what people mean, and I like to explore the difference between the two.

Words are not pebbles in alien juxtaposition.

The trouble with words is that you never know whose mouths they have been in.

Something's that written out is okay, but it's not always a clear indication of what a person means.

Language is a tool adequate to provide any degree of precision relevant to a particular situation.

You see young people, or kids, and they're fascinated by the way people talk. And that's great. But eventually you get to the point where you think, 'You know what? I don't care how you talk, I'm just listening to what you're saying.'

How I say it has as much of an impact on what people think of me as what I say.

All speech, written or spoken, is a dead language, until it finds a willing and prepared hearer.

Thus, we see that one of the obvious origins of human disagreement lies in the use of noises for words.

I have never had a problem with people not being able to understand the words and the meanings in Titus.

Tone is up for grabs in what we do - what's the tone of the scene.

Write what he means, not what he says.

Words are also actions, and actions are a kind of words.

It's the intent, not the word, that makes something harsh.

The surest way to make a monkey of a man is to quote him. That remark in itself wouldn’t make any sense if quoted as it stands. The average man ought to be allowed a quotation of no less than three sentences, one to make his statement and two to explain what he meant. Ralph Waldo Emerson was about the only one who could stand having his utterances broken up into sentence quotations, and every once in a while even he doesn’t sound so sensible in short snatches.

In a world of more brilliance words don't mean anything.