“Words
- so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how
potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to
combine them.” ~Nathaniel Hawthorne
Such
a true statement. Words used for good can move people to action, can change
lives, or at the very least, the way we think. Positive words can gift people
with confidence and happiness, and most importantly, the right words have the
ability to give people hope.
And
hope is one of life’s most powerful emotions.
Conversely,
words used for evil can cut out hearts, start wars, fights, divorce, create
anger, or destroy a person’s self confidence.
And
for some, anger is more powerful than hope.
One
of the most important functions of writers is to learn how to pull emotions—like
hope and anger, love and hate, happiness and misery—out of our readers. But
this skill also tends to be helpful in our everyday lives. For everyone, not
just writers.
How
have someone else’s words affected you lately? How have your words affected
someone else?
3 comments:
Man, a post that makes me think at 5:30 am. :P I'm sure someone's words have affected me. I just can't remember what they are.
Words when used incorrectly can cause all kinds of trouble.
Love that quote. I was just released from the RS presidency. I hope my words in that capacity have done some good.
I'm constantly amazed at how even changing one word in a sentence in my manuscript can make all the difference. Such powerful little things!
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