In reality they all lived in a kind of hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs.
~
The Age of Innocence
by
Edith Wharton
"Ah, good conversation—there's nothing like it, is there? The air of ideas is the only air worth breathing."
~
The Age of Innocence
by
Edith Wharton
Her husband had archaic ideas about jewels; a man bought them for his wife in acknowledgment of things he could not gracefully utter.
~
A Lost Lady
by
Willa Cather
"Old men only lie in wait for people to ask them to talk. Then they rattle on like a rusty elevator wheezing up a shaft."
~
Dandelion Wine
by
Ray Bradbury
Often I must speak other than I think. That is called diplomacy.
~
Dune Messiah
by
Frank Herbert
It may, indeed, be assumed that a man who loses his temper while he is speaking is endeavouring to speak the truth such as he believes it to be, and again it may be assumed that a man who speaks constantly without losing his temper is not always entitled to the same implicit faith.
~
Phineas Redux
by
Anthony Trollope
He was not witty, nor did he deal in anecdotes.
~
Phineas Redux
by
Anthony Trollope
"With no intention to take offence, I deny your right to put words into my mouth."
~
Treasure Island
by
Robert Louis Stevenson
Men who think much want to speak often.
~
Phineas Finn
by
Anthony Trollope
Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service.
~
The Woman in White
by
Wilkie Collins