Euphemism Quotes

• The Good Book - one of the most remarkable euphemisms ever coined.

  Ashley Montagu

  Book, Good Book, Remarkable

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• Women's fashion is a euphemism for fashion created by men for women.

  Andrea Dworkin

  Fashion, Women, Men

  Andrea Dworkin (1989). “Pornography: men possessing women”, Plume

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• Euphemisms are unpleasant truths wearing diplomatic cologne.

  Quentin Crisp

  Truth, Communication, Diplomatic Relations

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• Negotiations are a euphemism for capitulation if the shadow of power is not cast across the bargaining table.

  George P. Shultz

  Shadow, Tables, Negotiation

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• Any euphemism ceases to be euphemistic after a time and the true meaning begins to show through. It's a losing game, but we keep on trying.

  Joseph Wood Krutch

  Games, Trying, Losing

  Joseph Wood Krutch (1964). “If You Don't Mind My Saying So ...: Essays on Man and Nature”

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• The more syllables a euphemism has, the further divorced from reality it is.

  George Carlin

  Reality, Divorced, Syllables

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• in terms of the biology of the planet, development is a euphemism for destruction.

  Helen Caldicott

  Development, Earth, Biology

  Helen Caldicott (2009). “If You Love This Planet: A Plan to Save the Earth (Revised and updated)”, p.51, W. W. Norton & Company

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• Frankness is usually a euphemism for rudeness.

  Muriel Spark

  Rudeness, Frankness

  Muriel Spark (2014). “Loitering with Intent”, p.42, New Directions Publishing

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• A composite is a euphemism for a lie. It's disorderly. It's dishonest and it's not journalism.

  Fred W. Friendly

  Lying, Journalism, Composites

  "The Interplay of Influence: Mass Media and Their Publics in News, Advertising, Politics (Wadsworth series in mass communication)". Book by Kathleen Hall Jamieson and‎ Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, 1982.

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• Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on Simplicity.

  Plato

  Beauty, Inspirational Life, Simple

  Plato (2012). “The Republic and Other Works”, p.89, Anchor

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• Euphemism is a human device to conceal the horrors of reality.

  Paul Johnson

  Reality, Horror, Devices

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• Euphemisms are not, as many young people think, useless verbiage for that which can and should be said bluntly; they are like secret agents on a delicate mission, they must airily pass by a stinking mess with barely so much as a nod of the head, make their point of constructive criticism and continue on in calm forbearance. Euphemisms are unpleasant truths wearing diplomatic cologne.

  Quentin Crisp

  Thinking, People, Secret

  51 Copy quote

• Gratitude is a euphemism for resentment.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Gratitude, Resentment

  Robert A. Heinlein (1987). “Stranger in a Strange Land”, p.105, Penguin

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• Faith is a euphemism for prejudice and religion is a euphemism for superstition.

  Paul Kenneth Keller

  Religion, Prejudice, Superstitions

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• Though intelligence is powerless to modify character, it is a dab hand at finding euphemisms for its weaknesses.

  Quentin Crisp

  Character, Power, Hands

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• The language of the younger generation has the brutality of the city and an assertion of threatening power at hand, not to come. It is military, theatrical, and at its most coherent probably a lasting repudiation of empty courtesy and bureaucratic euphemism.

  Elizabeth Hardwick

  Military, Hands, Cities

  Elizabeth Hardwick (1984). “Bartleby in Manhattan, and Other Essays”, Vintage

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• The company calls it 'downsizing' or 'rightsizing.' My own informal "Name the Layoff" contest produced some other euphemisms: Retroactive Hiring Freeze, Resume Revision Days, Amway Opportunity Time, and Corporation Lite.

  Dale Dauten

  Opportunity, Names, Insightful

  6 Copy quote

• Sleeping together is a euphemism for people, but tantamount to marriage with cats.

  Marge Piercy

  Sleep, Cat, People

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• As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action.

  Gore Vidal

  Election Time, Action, Language

  Gore Vidal (2004). “Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of Amnesia”, p.52, CLAIRVIEW BOOKS

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• Patrimonial capitalism's legacy is that many people see reform as a euphemism for corruption and self-dealing.

  James Surowiecki

  Self, People, Reform

  "The Tyrant Tax". www.newyorker.com. March 7, 2011.

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• To use a Southern euphemism, our space program has been snake-bit.

  Al Gore

  Moon, Space, Snakes

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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• When I went to medical school, I was taught about two basic kinds of diabetes: juvenile onset and adult onset. From the time I did my training in medical school to the end of my residency we were already seeing the transformation of adult onset diabetes into Type II, which is what we call it now, which from my perspective is a euphemism we have draped over this condition to conceal the fact that what was a chronic disease in midlife is now epidemic in children. Frankly, Type II diabetes in a seven year old is adult onset diabetes. We just don't want to confront that unpleasant fact.

  David Katz

  Children, School, Perspective

  Source: bigthink.com

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• In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible... Thus, political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging, and sheer cloudy vagueness... Political language [is] designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable.

  George Orwell

  Lying, Writing, Political Language

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• When we shrink from the sight of something, when we shroud it in euphemism, that is usually a sign of inner conflict, of unsettled hearts, a sign that something has gone wrong in our moral reasoning.

  Matthew Scully

  Heart, Sight, Gone

  Matthew Scully (2011). “Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy”, p.320, Souvenir Press

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• We want to create a sort of linguistic Lourdes, where evil and misfortune are dispelled by a dip in the waters of euphemism

  Robert Hughes

  Wisdom, Australia, Evil

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