I don’t think of poetry as a ‘rational’ activity but as an aural one. My poems usually begin with words or phrases which appeal more because of their sound than their meaning, and the movement and phrasing of a poem are very important to me.
Life is full of trade-offs. At different phrases in your life, you’re able to do certain things that you can’t do at other phases. And you make choices.
Pick a theme for your material, and stick to it for the entirety of the piece. The repetition of certain key phrases, however irritating they may sound, will give your set rhythm, and the illusion of structure.
The test of an author is not to be found merely in the number of his phrases that pass current in the corner of newspapers… but in the number of passages that have really taken root in younger minds.
Plenty of casual daters will throw you off with maddening phrases like ‘I’m just enjoying having fun with you.’ This doesn’t make them a bad person, but it’s your call now how to respond. Just don’t assume ‘having fun’ or any such cliche means they’re going to suddenly decide they want a relationship next week.
Originally, I thought English was more my home. But Spanish is so much more romantic. I’ve had to learn new phrases. I’ve had to learn to be more secure about singing in Spanish. But I’m working on it.
I understand that a lot of people who use phrases like #resistance have found my work valuable. But my job is to look at difficult problems of national security in ways that may be useful to policymakers and the public.
‘Ever closer union’ is one of the totemically controversial phrases in the European Union’s Treaties. It seems to give weight to the view that the scheme is designed to end in a single state and that those who agreed the texts have long know this, even if they have been unwilling to admit it to the British people.
Shakespeare had found language for the agony of living with one’s own mistakes. There were words for finding yourself isolated with your failures. Phrases for discovering that you were wrong, all, all wrong, wrong, wrong.
The poet is the voice of the people. And when the poet presents certain ideas, two phrases in one poem can alter a generation’s view. So poets have always been feared – and controlled and jailed.
I’m visually stimulated, so I watch TV, movies, even Pinterest. A song could come from something as simple as being words splashed across a billboard or changing everyday turns of phrases.
Think up your own way of speaking. When we repeat the same words and phrases that appear in the daily media, we accept the absence of a larger framework.
Emotionally, I was affected a lot by Rage Against the Machine, not specifically the literal intention of the words or what it was about, but the feel, the sound, those phrases that got me.
Little do such men know the toil, the pains, the daily, nightly racking of the brains, to range the thoughts, the matter to digest, to cull fit phrases, and reject the rest.
The ‘Patriot Act,’ ‘Enhancing domestic security,’ and ‘Protect America’ all sound great – until you realize that they’re catch phrases for programs that contain roving wire taps without a warrant and the collection and sale of your personal information to the U.S. government.
The readership of Victorian novels, when they were published, was much less diverse. People were probably white, and had enough money to be literate. Very often, there are phrases in Italian, German and French that are left untranslated.
Ric Flair is one of the most entertaining guys to sit down with and by entertaining I don’t mean he has catchy phrases, but that he’s been through so much and his experiences are so genuine I could listen to him talk all day.
Some writers are curiously unmusical. I don’t get it. I don’t get them. For me, music is essential. I always have music on when I’m doing well. Writing and music are two different mediums, but musical phrases can give you sentences that you didn’t think you ever had.
Two phrases I hate in reference to female characters are ‘strong’ and ‘feisty.’ They really annoy me. It’s the most condescending thing. You say that about a three-year-old. It infantilises women.
I believe that writers have a responsibility to evolve the language, whether by introducing new words or new usages. Shakespeare alone is responsible for something like 3400 words and phrases.
People have a good time with all the catch phrases.
We should quit using phrases like ‘turning points’ and ‘tipping points.’ There’s been multiple turning points, multiple tipping points.
We all know that little words or phrases can mean a lot, yet so few of us know just what to say. Phrases, such as ‘chin up,’ or ‘it could be worse,’ usually have the opposite effect; they feel tired and impersonal, even dismissive.
All living languages are promiscuous. We promiscuous speakers shamelessly shoplift words, plucking bons mots and phrases from any tempting language. We wear these words when we wish to be more formal, more elegant, more mysterious, worldly, precise, vague.
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