Dictionary Quotes - Page 6

• Few things build a person up like affirmation. According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, Third College Edition (Simon and Schuster, 1991), the word affirm comes from ad firmare, which means “to make firm.” So when you affirm people, you make firm within them the things you see about them. Do that often enough, and the belief that solidifies within them will become stronger than the doubts they have about themselves.

  John C. Maxwell

  Mean, College, People

  John C. Maxwell (2011). “The 360 Degree Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization”, p.115, Thomas Nelson Inc

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• Usually I try to be there by six. Everything has been taken off the walls so that there's nothing to arrest my sight. On the bed I have Roget's Thesaurus, a dictionary, a Bible, and a deck of playing cards.

  Toni Morrison

  Wall, Taken, Writing

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• 

  Don’t you love the Oxford Dictionary? When I first read it, I thought it was a really really long poem about everything.

  David Bowie

  Book, Reading, Oxford

  "FMO’s Final Interview With David Bowie". Interview with Johnnny, fmobserver.com. March 4, 2016.

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• The thing is, it's my own fault. I just can't put up with a person that won't go out of his way for me. And that's what a man is. Somebody that won't go out of his way for you. I bet it says that in the dictionary.

  Barbara Kingsolver

  Men, Way, Faults

  Barbara Kingsolver (2011). “Pigs in Heaven”, p.289, Faber & Faber

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• Might not hurt you to pick up a book, just as an experiment." Whatever. I looked up the definition for 'nerd' in the dictionary. Know what it said?" "I bet you'll tell me." " 'If you're reading this, you are one.' " You're a riot.

  Brandon Mull

  Hurt, Book, Reading

  Brandon Mull, Brandon Dorman (2009). “Grip of the Shadow Plague”, p.49, Simon and Schuster

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• If you look up the definition of greatness in the dictionary, it will say Michael Jordan.

  Elgin Baylor

  Basketball, Greatness, Jordan

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• Now that I can see it's the queen's new clothes Now that I can hear all your poison prose Now that I can talk with my tongue unfroze I'm not so sure of Santa or the buck tooth fairy There are no words for me inside your dictionary

  Andy Partridge

  Queens, Clothes, Teeth

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• Life is our dictionary.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Book, Life Is

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Illustrated)”, p.1107, Delphi Classics

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• Read the dictionary from A to Izzard today. Get a vocabulary. Brush up on your diction. See whether wisdom is just a lot of language.

  Carl Sandburg

  Vocabulary, Diction, Today

  Carl Sandburg (2015). “Honey and Salt”, p.45, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Wordplay hides a key to reality that the dictionary tries in vain to lock inside every free word.

  Julio Cortazar

  Reality, Keys, Trying

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• Nothing can astound an American. It has often been asserted that the word "impossible" is not a French one. People have evidently been deceived by the dictionary. In America, all is easy, all is simple; and as for mechanical difficulties, they are overcome before they arise.

  Jules Verne

  Simple, America, People

  Jules Verne (2015). “From the Earth to the moon (low cost). Limited edition”, p.20, Jules Verne

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• I've been in 'Who's Who' and I know what's what, but it'll be the first time I ever made the dictionary.

  Mae West

  Firsts, Made, First Time

  Goodness Had Nothing to DoWith It ch. 17 (1959)

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• A DEFINITION NOT FOUND IN THE DICTIONARY Not leaving: an act of trust and love, often deciphered by children

  Markus Zusak

  Love, Children, Leaving

  Markus Zusak (2016). “The Book Thief: 10th Anniversary Edition”, p.31, Random House

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• I need no dictionary of quotations to remind me that the eyes are the windows of the soul.

  Max Beerbohm

  Eye, Window To The Soul, Needs

  Max Beerbohm (2010). “Zuleika Dobson: An Oxford Love Story”, p.51, The Floating Press

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• Kids, she says. When they’re little, they believe everything you tell them about the world. As a mother, you’re the world almanac and the encyclopedia and the dictionary and the Bible, all rolled up together. But after they hit some magic age, it’s just the opposite. After that, you’re either a liar or a fool or a villain.

  Chuck Palahniuk

  Mother, Liars, Believe

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• Burns from dropped matches, Ms. Lane? Matches one might have dropped while flirting with a pernicious Fae, Ms. Lane? Have you any idea the value of this rug?” I didn’t think his nostrils could flare any wider. His eyes were black flame. “Pernicious? Good grief, is English your second language? Third?” Only someone who’d learned English from a dictionary would use such a word. “Fifth,” he snarled. “Answer me.

  Karen Marie Moning

  Grief, Eye, Flirting

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• Your friend's poetry is terrible," he said. Clary blinked, caught momentarily off guard. "What?" "I said his poetry was terrible. It sounds like he ate a dictionary and started vomiting up words at random.

  Cassandra Clare

  Sound, Vomiting, Caught

  Cassandra Clare (2009). “Sample of the CITYs”, p.36, Simon and Schuster

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• In the dictionary, next to the word stress, there is a picture of a midsize mutant stuck inside a dog crate, wondering if her destiny is to be killed or to save the world. Okay, not really. But there should be.

  James Patterson

  Dog, Stress, Destiny

  James Patterson (2005). “The Angel Experiment: A Maximum Ride Novel”, p.63, Hachette UK

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• At painful times, when composition is impossible and reading not enough, grammars and dictionaries are excellent for distraction.

  Elizabeth Barrett Browning

  Time, Pain, Reading

  "The Barretts at Hope End: the early diary of Elizabeth Barrett Browning".

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• Then idiots talk....of Energy. If there is a word in the dictionary under any letter from A to Z that I abominate, it is energy. It is such a conventional superstition, such parrot gabble! What the deuce!....But show me a good opportunity, show me something really worth being energetic about, and I'll show you energy.

  Charles Dickens

  Opportunity, Energy, Deuces

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• It might interest you to know that the 1828 Noah Webster Dictionary identifies the optimist in complimentary terms, but says nothing about the pessimist. The word 'pessimist' was not in our vocabulary at that time. It's a modern 'invention' which I believe we should 'dis-invent.'

  Zig Ziglar

  Believe, Vocabulary, Might

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• That does it," said Jace. "I'm going to get you a dictionary for Christmas this year." "Why?" Isabelle said. "So you can look up 'fun.' I'm not sure you know what it means.

  Cassandra Clare

  Fun, Humor, Mean

  Cassandra Clare (2009). “City of Ashes”, p.164, Simon and Schuster

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• We are becoming so accustomed to millions and billions of dollars that 'thousands' has almost passed out of the dictionary.

  Everett Dirksen

  Dollars, Becoming, Billions

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• I put a Phrygian cap on the old dictionary.

  Victor Hugo

  Caps

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• If you look up the definition of news in the dictionary, it isn't what you watch on TV.

  Val Kilmer

  Watches, Looks, News

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