Usage Quotes - Page 8

• If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can't allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative.

  Elmore Leonard

  Writing, May, Narrative

  "Seven deadly sins" by Robert McCrum, www.theguardian.com. July 21, 2001.

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• Language is more fashion than science, and matters of usage, spelling and pronunciation tend to wander around like hemlines.

  Bill Bryson

  Fashion, Writing, Matter

  Bill Bryson (1990). “The Mother Tongue”, William Morrow Paperbacks

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• Many expressions that are in common usage, and sometimes the structure of language itself, reveal the fact that people don't know who they are. You say: "He lost his life" or "my life," as if life were something that you can possess or lose. The truth is: you don't have a life, you are life. The One Life, the one consciousness that pervades the entire universe and takes temporary form to experience itself as a stone or blade of grass, as an animal, a person, a star or a galaxy. Can you sense deep within that you already know that? Can you sense that you already are That?

  Eckhart Tolle

  Stars, Animal, Expression

  Eckhart Tolle (2010). “Stillness Speaks”, p.53, New World Library

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• I believe we should use any and all means necessary to take out people who pose a threat to us and our friends around the world. And it’s widely reported that drones are being used in drone strikes, and I support that and entirely, and feel the president was right to up the usage of that technology, and believe that we should continue to use it, to continue to go after the people that represent a threat to this nation and to our friends.

  Mitt Romney

  Believe, Mean, Technology

  Presidential debate on foreign policy at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida, www.foxnews.com. October 22, 2012.

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• There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others.

  Harry J. Anslinger

  Weed, Women, Marijuana

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• Girls who put out are tramps. Girls who don't are ladies. This is, however, a rather archaic usage of the word. Should one of you boys happen upon a girl who doesn't put out, do not jump to the conclusion that you have found a lady. What you have probably found is a Lesbian.

  Fran Lebowitz

  Girl, Women, Gay

  FaceBook post by Fran Lebowitz from Sep 23, 2011

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• The Theatre of the Oppressed is theatre in this most archaic application of the word. In this usage, all human beings are Actors (they act!) and Spectators (they observe!).

  Augusto Boal

  Theatre, Actors, Spectators

  Augusto Boal (2005). “Games for Actors and Non-Actors”, p.15, Routledge

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• Usage is like oxygen for ideas. You can never fully anticipate how an audience is going to react to something you've created until it's out there.

  Matt Mullenweg

  Oxygen, Ideas, Audience

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• An optimist is neither naive, nor blind to the facts, nor in denial of grim reality. An optimist believes in the optimal usage of all options available, no matter how limited. As such, an optimist always sees the big picture. How else to keep track of all that’s out there? An optimist is simply a proactive realist.

  Vera Nazarian

  Believe, Reality, Track

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• If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought. A bad usage can spread by tradition and imitation even among people who should and do know better.

  George Orwell

  People, Language, Tradition

  George Orwell, Keith Gessen (2009). “All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays”, p.282, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• There is a third silent party to all our bargains. The nature and soul of things takes on itself the guaranty of the fulfillment of every contract, so that honest service cannot come to loss. If you serve an ungrateful master, serve him the more. Put God in your debt. Every stroke shall be repaid. The longer the payment is withholden, the better for you; for compound interest on compound interest is the rate and usage of this exchequer.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Party, Loss, Ungrateful

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1808). “Select Essays and Poems”, p.21

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