Language Precision Quotes

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.

The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter - 'tis the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning.

I'd rather fiddle with my phone for precious seconds than neglect an apostrophe; I'd rather insert a word laboriously keyed out than resort to predictive texting for a - acceptable to some - synonym.

Good writing ... involves the agony of turning profoundly difficult thoughts into lucid form, then forcing them into the tight-fitting uniform of language, making them visible and clear.

See it all. See it fairly. Be truthful, be sensible and be careful with language. When nothing depends on man, everything depends on him.

We don't murder, we kill.... You don't murder animals, you kill them.

Words should be only the clothes, carefully custom-made to fit the thought.

Words have to be crafted, not sprayed. They need to be fitted together with infinite care.

We're trying to be very careful and precise in our use of language, because I think the language we use and the images we project really do have resonance. It's the reason why I don't use the term jihadist to refer to terrorists. It gives them the religious legitimacy they so desperately seek, but I ain't gonna give it to them.

Use the right word, not its second cousin.

Nauseous. Nauseated. The first means "sickening to contemplate"; the second means "sick at the stomach." Do not, therefore, say "I feel nauseous," unless you are sure you have that effect on others.

I do not like this word, bomb. It is not a bomb; it is a device which is exploding.

If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not what is meant, then what must be done remains undone; if this remains undone, morals and art will deteriorate; if justice goes astray, the people will stand about in helpless confusion. Hence there must be no arbitrariness in what is said. This matters above everything.

We have a language that is full of ambiguities; we have a way of expressing ourselves that is often complex and elusive, poetic and modulated; all our thoughts can be rendered with absolute clarity if we bother to put the right dots and squiggles between the words in the right places. Proper punctuation is both the sign and the cause of clear thinking. If it goes, the degree of intellectual impoverishment we face is unimaginable.

Words are the coins making up the currency of sentences, and there are always too many small coins.

You know what would help the instruction form? Verbs! Verbs would be nice! Because they help you get to the end of a thought!

Every word you add dilutes the sentence.

The ability to speak exactly is intimately related to the ability to know exactly.

I'd given up Catholicism in my teens but something of it stays with me. I try to create the perfect sentence - that's as close to godliness as I can get.

Fair and unfair are among the most influential words in English and must be delicately used.

The poets are the standard bearers of language. Their work lives or dies word by word. When I write and can hear a clunky sentence, I try to write up to the poetry that I have recited beforehand.

"Very" is the most useless word in the English language and can always come out. More than useless, it is treacherous because it invariably weakens what it is intended to strengthen. For example, would you rather hear the mincing shallowness of "I love you very much" or the heart-slamming intensity of "I love you"?

To find a new word that is accurate and different, you have to be alert for it.

People in power have to be careful about what comes out of their mouth. They have to find exactly the right word that can't be attacked.

Commas in The New Yorker fall with the precision of knives in a circus act, outlining the victim.