How strangely do we diminish a thing as soon as we try to express it in words.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Words are a pretty blunt instrument. There's always going to be slippage between the words and the infinite complexities of a thought. As a writer, I find that frustrating, but as a social animal, I wouldn't have it any other way.
I'm a teacher and a writer; my life is words. When I see the denigration of language, it hurts me, and it's easy to denigrate a word by trivializing it.
When you use words loosely, without care and consideration, you erode trust in yourself and in what you're saying. When you squander words, you diminish your power.
I discover what I mean as I write. That can be both terrifically exciting and very dangerous, because when you look at your words later, you wonder, 'Did I really mean that, or am I just making verbal patterns?'
If words are doing their job, then their novelty will not be the most noticeable thing about them.
My writing tends to become very dense, so I have to keep some cushion. Sometimes, words that seem superfluous are actually essential for the overall effect.
It took me years to understand that words are often as important as experience, because words make experience last.
Words are how people think. When you misuse words, you diminish your ability to think clearly and truthfully.
In the hands of a great poet, words have ways of affecting us in ways we don't understand.
When I write something, every word of it is meant. I can't say it enough.