Words are the only things that last forever; they are more durable than the eternal hills
William Hazlitt, essayist (1778-1830)
Any idea how many words you use in the average day? No, nor have I. We don’t count them because they are free. If we were charged one cent for every word we used we’d count them all the time. Strange, isn’t it, because words are incredibly powerful. Think of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream”. What would any of us give to say, just once in our lifetimes, something as moving as that? Say it to yourself when nobody else can hear you, or perhaps when you have a terrific view in front of you, or perhaps when you want to inspire someone. It bristles your bones and massages your mind. Four words that inspired a whole new ethnicity of life.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) made it clear when he said “Words are but the signs of ideas”. Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) put it another way: “Words form the thread on which we string our experience”. Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) was lucid about the lesson he had learnt. He said “It is never my custom to use words lightly. If twenty-seven years in prison have done anything to us, it was to use the silence of solitude to make us understand how precious words are and how real speech is in its impact on the way people live and die”.
To use words carelessly after hearing that would be to deny truth in all its forms.
The difficulty is that we all use words to communicate what we want to say when we should be using them to communicate what we want others to hear. The two things are quite different. A simple example: If an Iranian speaks to me in Farsi I won’t understand it. He will be saying what he wants to say, for sure, but I don’t know his language. That applies even when we both speak the same tongue. Here’s another mystery. Does Trump really believe some of the more outrageous things he utters? I doubt it, but I am sure he wants his followers to hear them. Inciting people to violence and aggression – or rabble-rousing, as we call it – is a form of politics. A very dangerous and dishonest one, too.
André Maurois (1885-1967) made the point tellingly: “To reason with poorly chosen words is like using a pair of scales with inaccurate weights”. And inaccurate weights are theft. You may ask why I use difficult words sometimes in my Daily Paradox articles. It is quite deliberate. One of the many joys I have had is learning to use words. I have a musical ear, bequeathed to me by my mother who was a concert pianist, and I love inflections and sounds of different words. I want everyone to share that.
So I try to write rhythmically but challengingly. Kahlil Gibran, who died the year before I was born, expressed my feelings enchantingly: “All our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind”. I would like everyone to enjoy the feast of the mind as much as I do. It is the open door to thinking about who we are and why we are here. Many do this through their religious beliefs which is excellent. But, as Shakespeare pointed out in Hamlet when Claudius admits his poor quality praying “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: Words without thoughts never to heaven go”.
‘Words without thoughts.’ That’s something to ponder on, isn’t it? In a very real sense all our words are prayers whatever our belief or lack of one. That’s why we should cherish them, care for them and mean them. Revel in your words that others may love them and you.
And always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
Good morning
John Bittleston
We welcome new words, or old words restored. If you have any please let us share them at [email protected]. Thank you.
14 July 2024
