Adverbs Quotes

• I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops.

  Stephen King

  Believe, Writing, Rooftops

  Stephen King (2002). “On Writing”, p.118, Simon and Schuster

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• The road to hell is paved with adverbs.

  Stephen King

  Movie, Writing, Sisterhood

  FaceBook post by Stephen King from Feb 06, 2013

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• Adjectives are the sugar of literature and adverbs the salt.

  Henry James

  Adjectives, Literature, Sugar

  Henry James (2016). “Henry James: Autobiographies: A Small Boy and Others / Notes of a Son and Brother / The Middle Years / Other Writings: Library of America #274”, p.1142, Library of America

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• If you are using an adverb, you have got the verb wrong.

  Kingsley Amis

  Verbs, Ifs

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• I adore adverbs; they are the only qualifications I really much respect.

  Henry James

  Literature, Adore, Qualifications

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• Frankly, I wonder who Frank was, and why he has an adverb all to himself.

  Jodi Picoult

  Wonder, Frank

  Jodi Picoult (2010). “House Rules: A Novel”, p.117, Simon and Schuster

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• The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word, every adverb that carries the same meaning that’s already in the verb, every passive construction that leaves the reader unsure of who is doing what—these are the thousand and one adulterants that weaken the strength of a sentence. And they usually occur in proportion to the education and rank.

  William Zinsser

  Writing, Long, Secret

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• Cross out as many adjectives and adverbs as you can. ... It is comprehensible when I write: "The man sat on the grass," because it is clear and does not detain one's attention. On the other hand, it is difficult to figure out and hard on the brain if I write: "The tall, narrow-chested man of medium height and with a red beard sat down on the green grass that had already been trampled down by the pedestrians, sat down silently, looking around timidly and fearfully." The brain can't grasp all that at once, and art must be grasped at once, instantaneously.

  Anton Chekhov

  Art, Writing, Men

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• Adverbs are a sign that you've used the wrong verb.

  Annie Dillard

  Writing, Verbs, Used

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• The miracle is the adverbs, the way things are done.

  Daniel Handler

  Miracle, Done, Way

  Daniel Handler (2009). “Adverbs: A Novel”, Harper Collins

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• Empty your knapsack of all adjectives, adverbs and clauses that slo your stride and weaken your pace. Travel light. Remember the most memorable sentences in the English language are also the shortest: "The King is dead" and "Jesus wept."

  Bill Moyers

  Jesus, Kings, Memorable

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• I am dead to adverbs; they cannot excite me. To misplace an adverb is a thing which I am able to do with frozen indifference; it can never give me a pang. There are subtleties which I cannot master at all - they confuse me, they mean absolutely nothing to me - and this adverb plague is one of them.

  Mark Twain

  Mean, Giving, Frozen

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• Never use an adverb to modify the verb 'said' . . . he admonished gravely. To use an adverb this way (or almost any way) is a mortal sin. The writer is now exposing himself in earnest, using a word that distracts and can interrupt the rhythm of the exchange.

  Elmore Leonard

  Writing, Verbs, Use

  "Elmore Leonard's rules for writer" by Elmore Leonard, www.theguardian.com. February 24, 2010.

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• Surely: the adverb of a man without an argument.

  Edward St Aubyn

  Men, Argument

  Edward St Aubyn (2016). “The Patrick Melrose Novels: Picador Classic”, p.190, Pan Macmillan

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• All I ask is that you do as well as you can, and remember that, while to write adverbs is human, to write he said or she said is divine.

  Stephen King

  Writing, Remember, Divine

  Stephen King (2002). “On Writing”, p.122, Simon and Schuster

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• All people in the world - who are not hermits or mutes - speak words. They speak different languages, but they speak words. They say, "How are you" or "I'm not feeling well" all over the world. These common words - these common elements that we have between us - the writer has to take some verbs and nouns and pronouns and adjectives and adverbs and arrange them in a way that sound fresh.

  Maya Angelou

  People, Feelings, Sound

  Source: www.washingtoncitypaper.com

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• Every adjective and adverb is worth five cents. Every verb is worth fifty cents.

  Mary Oliver

  Adjectives And Adverbs, Fifty, Cents

  Mary Oliver (1994). “A Poetry Handbook”, p.90, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• There's enough adverbs in the world for you to start creating new ones.

  Christopher Owens

  Creating, World, Enough

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• Using adverbs is a mortal sin.

  Elmore Leonard

  Writing, Sin, Mortals

  "Elmore Leonard's rules for writers" by Elmore Leonard, www.theguardian.com. February 24, 2010.

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• The words I overuse are all adverbs.

  Sam Shepard

  Interview with Rosanna Greenstreet, www.theguardian.com. June 21, 2014.

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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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• The Hebrews have a saying that God is more delighted in adverbs than in nouns; it is not so much the matter that is done, but the matter how it is done, that God minds. Not how much, but how well! It is the well-doing that meets with a well-done. Let us therefore serve God, not nominally or verbally, but adverbially.

  Ralph Venning

  Mind, Done, Nouns

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• Probably the best way to describe my writing style is to refer you to "purple prose", which was a tag given to the early mass market magazine writers earning a half cent a word for their fiction. They had to use every adjective, verb and adverb in the English language to add word count to stories in order to feed and support families.

  Tom Johnson

  Writing, Order, Purple

  Source: ravenswoodpublishing.blogspot.com

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• A relativist is an individual who doesn't know the difference between an adjective and an adverb.

  Bill Gaede

  Differences, Adjectives, Individual

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• Find something you like, go into a room, close the door and read it aloud. Read it aloud. Everybody in the world who likes dance can see dance, or hear music, or see art, or admire architecture - but everybody in the world uses words who is not a recluse or mute. But the writer has to take these most common things, more common than musical notes or dance positions, a writer has to take some adverbs, and verbs and nouns and ball them up together and make them bounce.

  Maya Angelou

  Art, Doors, Musical

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

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