quote · Words worth keeping
Words... They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good any more... I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little or make a poem which children will speak for you when you're dead.
Words... They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good any more... I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little or make a poem which children will speak for you when you're dead.
Approximate author period: c. 1981 AD · modern
Meaning not yet available
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- Author or tradition
- Tom Stoppard
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate author period: c. 1981 AD · modern
Approximate author-period anchor from life dates 1937 to 2025; Wikidata Q294773, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q294773 (accessed 2026-10-08). Not a quotation composition date.
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 297894; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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