A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day.Emily Dickinson,
Letters of Emily Dickinson
All words are pegs to hang ideas on.Henry Ward Beecher (1813–1887),
Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit
The Word of God addresses everyone clearly: the
dumb, the deaf, the blind; yes, unreasoning animals,
indeed, leaf and grass, stone and wood, heaven
and earth, and all that is therein, in order that
they might hear and do his will.Johannes Denck (1495–1527),
Whether God Is the Cause of Evil
The divine and creative Word was not uttered
once and for all, but it receives perpetual utterance
in the radiation of light, in the movement of
the stars, in the development of life, in the reason
and conscience of man.William Temple (1881–1944), Daily Readings
I can know myself as a person only where I feel
my existence grounded in responsibility, and that
means where I know myself to be created by and
in the Word of God.Emil Brunner (1889–1966),
The Word and the World
Nature is the word of God — “He spake and it
was done”; science is the commentary on this revelation.Charles Edward Garman (1850–1907),
Lectures, Letters, and Addresses
of Charles Edward Garman
A word is not a crystal, transparent and
unchanged, it is the skin of a living thought and
may vary greatly in color and content according
to the circumstances and the time in which it is
used.Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes,
Towne v. Eisner, 245 U.S. 425 (1918)
There are some who only employ words for the
purpose of disguising their thoughts.
Voltaire
Nature’s self, which is the breath of God,
Or His pure Word by miracle revealed.William Wordsworth (1770–1850), The Prelude
Herod showed himself much more competent
and realistic than Pilate or Caiphas. He grasped
the principle that if you are to destroy the Word,
you must do it before it has time to communicate
itself. Crucifixion gets there too late.Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957),
The Mind of the Maker
An honest and an honorable word is like unto a
tree blessed by God whose trunk is rooted firmly
in the earth and whose branches push up boldly
into the sky.
Koran, xvi, 24 |
Morning has broken like the first morning,
Blackbird has spoken like the first bird.
Praise for the singing! Praise for the morning!
Praise for them springing
Fresh from the Word!
Eleanor Farjeon (1881–1965),
English author of stories and poems
Wherever we see the Word of God purely
preached and heard, there a church of God exists,
even if it swarms with many faults.
John Calvin, 1509–1564
A word has power in and of itself. It comes from
nothing into sound and meaning; it gives origin
to all things. By means of the word can man deal
with the world on equal terms. And the word is
sacred.
N. Scott Momaday, 1934–,
Kiowa poet and author,
The Way to Rainy Mountain, 1969
He said, “Prophesy over these bones. Say, ‘Dry
bones, hear the word of Yahweh. The Lord
Yahweh says this to these bones: I am now going
to make breath enter you, and you will live.’” Ezekiel 37:4–5 NJB
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in his excellent Word. Hymn lyrics attributed to George Keith,
How Firm a Foundation
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and
sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even
to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of
the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 KJV
The Word of God is not a sounding but a piercing
word, not pronounceable by the tongue but
efficacious in the mind, not sensible to the ear
but fascinating to the affection. St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153)
Sermons on the Canticles
Of old, God wrote a book by which in many
words one Word was uttered. Today he has
opened a book for us in which by one word many
words are said. This is the book which has for its
pages and for writing the word of the Father.
The greatest of all books is the incarnate Son.
Because just as through writing words are joined
to a page, so by assuming a human nature the
Word of God is joined to flesh. Rupert of Deutz (c. 1070–1129),
trans. by Geoffrey Preston, O.P., in
Hallowing the Time: Meditations on the Cycle
of the Christian Liturgy
The miracle of Creation, however it may teem
with images, is best described with little diffusion
of language: He spake the word, and they were
made. Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709–1784),
The Lives of the English Poet
One does not live by bread alone, but by every
word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Deuteronomy 8:3
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