Words are beautiful. They can express so much when written correctly. The following are famous quotations about words which may give you some inspiration when learning English as a second language.

Word Quotations For ESL Students

Glint Of Light – Anton Chekhov (Russian Writer)

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”

Drowning – John Lennon

“When you’re drowning you don’t think, I would be incredibly pleased if someone would notice I’m drowning and come and rescue me. You just scream.”

Beautiful Words – Henry James

“Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”

A Little Wild – John Maynard Keyne

“Words ought to be a little wild for they are the assaults of thought on the unthinking.”

The Right Place – Isaac Babel

“No iron can pierce a heart with such force as a period put just at the right place.”

Too Big – C.S. Lewis

“Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say ‘infinitely’ when you mean ‘very;’ otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.”

Quotes About Words

• John Greenleaf Whittier – “Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.”
• Rudyard Kipling – “Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.”
• Aldous Huxlev – “Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly — they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.”
• Italo Calvino – “A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.”
• S, Elliot – “For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice.”
• Michael Ondaatje – “She had always wanted words, she loved them; grew up on them. Words gave her clarity, brought reason, shape.”
• Steve Martin – “Some people have a way with words, and other people…oh, uh, not have way.”
• Annie Proulx – “You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different words on a page. Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.”
• Patrick Rothfuss – “Words are pale shadows of forgotten names. As names have power, words have power. Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can bring tears from the hardest hearts.”
• Arundhati Roy – “That’s what careless words do. They make people love you a little less.”
• Louisa May Alcott – “I like good strong words that mean something…”