Verbs Quotes - Page 3

• Poetry is all nouns and verbs.

  Marianne Moore

  Poetry, Nouns, Language

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• If you go through any newspaper or magazine and look for active, kicking verbs in the sentences, you will realize that this lack of well used verbs is the main trouble with modern English writing. Almost all nonfiction nowadays is written in a sort of pale, colorless sauce of passives and infinitives, motionless and flat as paper.

  Rudolf Flesch

  Writing, Editing, Kicking

  Rudolf Flesch (1946). “The Art of Plain Talk”

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• A mind can be overthrown by words; that's the point. What is happening to the brain of a person who uses the passive, who writes, 'Delay should not be allowed to take place' instead of 'Hurry'? The user of the passive verb doesn't want a universe in which responsible agents do their acts. You see? Bad language ultimately is IMMORAL.

  Richard Mitchell

  Writing, Brain, Mind

  9 Copy quote

• Honesty is an active verb, not a passive noun. Go out of your way to be truthful, beginning with the things that you say to yourself.

  Joe Tye

  Honesty, Nouns, Way

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• When one crosses over from an activity, or the verb, of writing or doing, and becomes a noun, like "a writer" I think that is an act of supreme self-consciousness that I've never, in effect, made. I write, but I don't like to think of myself as a writer. I think it's somewhat self-aggrandizing and pretentious. Now, I am a teacher.

  Joyce Carol Oates

  Teacher, Writing, Thinking

  Source: www.achievement.org

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• Nice writing isn't enough. It isn't enough to have smooth and pretty language. You have to surprise the reader frequently, you can't just be nice all the time. Provoke the reader. Astonish the reader. Writing that has no surprises is as bland as oatmeal. Surprise the reader with the unexpected verb or adjective. Use one startling adjective per page.

  Anne Bernays

  Nice, Writing, Oatmeal

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• I’m convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing. Dumbo got airborne with the help of a magic feather; you may feel the urge to grasp a passive verb or one of those nasty adverbs for the same reason. Just remember before you do that Dumbo didn’t need the feather; the magic was in him.

  Stephen King

  Writing, Roots, Magic

  Stephen King (2002). “On Writing”, p.121, Simon and Schuster

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

  Lewis Black

  Nice, Would Be, Helping

  "Lewis Black: Taxed Beyond Belief". Documentary, Short, Comedy, 2002.

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• You must hear the birds song without attempting to render it into nouns and verbs.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Song, Bird, Nouns

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2015). “Ralph Waldo Emerson”, p.794, Harvard University Press

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• The Psalms wrap nouns and verbs around our pain better than any other book.

  Joni Eareckson Tada

  Pain, Book, Nouns

  Joni Eareckson Tada (2012). “Anger”, p.12, Rose Publishing Inc

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• Interesting verbs are seldom very interesting.

  Jonathan Franzen

  Writing, Interesting, Very Interesting

  "Ten rules for writing fiction" by Jonathan Franzen, www.theguardian.com. February 19, 2010.

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• parenting isn't a noun but a verb--an ongoing process instead of an accomplishment. And that no matter how many years you put into the job, the learning curve is, well, fairly flat.

  Jodi Picoult

  Jobs, Curves, Years

  Jodi Picoult (2010). “House Rules: A Novel”, p.139, Simon and Schuster

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• Autumn teaches us that fruition is also death; that ripeness is a form of decay. The willows, having stood for so long near water, begin to rust. Leaves are verbs that conjugate the seasons.

  Gretel Ehrlich

  Autumn, Long, Water

  Gretel Ehrlich (1986). “The Solace of Open Spaces”, Penguin Group USA

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• If you can remember all the accessories that go with your best outfit, the contents of your purse, the starting lineup of the New York Yankees or the Houston Oilers, or what label "Hang On Sloopy" by The McCoys was on, you are capable of remembering the differences between a gerund (verb form used as a noun) and a participle (verb form used as an adjective).

  Stephen King

  New York, Writing, Yankees

  Stephen King (2002). “On Writing”, p.112, Simon and Schuster

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• This is why you must love life: one day you're offering up your social security number to the Russian Mafia; two weeks later you're using the word calve as a verb.

  Maria Semple

  Love Life, Offering, Two

  Maria Semple (2012). “Where'd You Go, Bernadette”, p.241, Hachette UK

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• To me, Faith is not just a noun but also a verb

  Jimmy Carter

  Nouns

  Jimmy Carter (2011). “Living Faith”, p.4, Three Rivers Press

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• Poetry is perfect verbs hunting for elusive nouns.

  J. Patrick Lewis

  Writing, Hunting, Perfect

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• Here is what I'm trying to tell you: Adult isn't a noun, it's a verb. It's the act of making correctly those small decisions that fill our day. It is one that you can practice, and that can be done in concrete steps. And if you slip up and have Diet Coke for breakfast, no one busts in and snatches away your Adult card. Just move forward and have milk tomorrow.

  Kelly Williams Brown

  Moving, Practice, Decision

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• I'm more relaxed. I know I have difficulties with some verbs. But if they get me, they get me. And if they don't understand me, they don't understand me.

  Thalia

  Difficulty, Understand Me, Relaxed

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• In these cases, where there is an unjust aggression, I can only say that it is licit to stop the unjust aggressor. I emphasize the word: "stop". I'm not saying drop bombs, make war, but stop the aggressor. The means used to stop him would have to be evaluated.

  Pope Francis

  War, Mean, Bombs

  "Apostolic Journey Of His Holiness Pope Francis To The Republic Of Korea On The Occasion Of The 6th Asian Youth Day". In-flight Press Conference, w2.vatican.va. August 18, 2014.

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• The All of Things is an infinite conjugation of the verb To do .

  Thomas Carlyle

  Infinite

  Thomas Carlyle (1851). “The French Revolution: A History”, p.383

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• The time is right to mix sentences with dirt and the sun with punctuation and rain with verbs.

  Richard Brautigan

  Rain, Dirt, Sun

  1968 Please Plant This Book,'Squash'.

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• Never use 'submit' as a verb for sending work to magazine or book publishers; say 'offer,' and never, ever submit. Keep your knees unbent. Be brave.

  Frederick Busch

  Book, Brave, Use

  4 Copy quote

• The secret of force in writing lies not so much in the pedigree of nouns and adjectives and verbs, as in having something that you believe in to say, and making the parts of speech vividly conscious of it.

  James Russell Lowell

  Lying, Believe, Writing

  James Russell Lowell (1870). “Among my Books, etc”, p.162

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• Green is a process, not a status. We need to think of 'green' as a verb, not an adjective.

  Daniel Goleman

  Thinking, Needs, Adjectives

  Daniel Goleman (2009). “Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything”, p.28, Crown Business

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