Some people draw a comforting distinction between "force" and "violence." ... I refuse to cloud the issue by such word-play.... Th...e power which establishes a state is violence; the power which maintains it is violence; the power which eventually overthrows it is violence.... Call an elephant a rabbit only if it gives you comfort to feel that you are about to be trampled to death by a rabbit.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
What of the heart without her? Nay, poor heart, Of thee what word remains ere speech be still?... A wayfarer by barren ways and chill, Steep ways and weary, without her thou art, Where the long cloud, the long wood's counterpart, Sheds doubled darkness up the labouring hill.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I begin, then, with some remarks about 'the meaning of a word.' I think many persons now see all or part of what I shall say: but ...not all do, and there is a tendency to forget, or to get it slightly wrong. In so far as I am merely flogging the converted, I apologize to them.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Between a sign and the thing it signifies there is the fixed, determined relationship of cause and effect. We see this in the case... of the footprint in the sand, the tear on the eyelash, or the trademark of a commercial product. But no matter how closely tied a symbol is to the thing symbolized, the relation is variable, flexible, and free. It is in poetry, however, that the symbolic value of words reaches its apex. The cross has become the symbol of Christianity not because of its form but because the Christians, following St. Paul, at a definite moment in their history, decided to adopt the instrument of Christ's torture as their emblem. Similarly, the relation between a word and its meaning depends on its origin, its history, and its usage.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It cannot in the opinion of His Majesty's Government be classified as slavery in the extreme acceptance of the word without some r...isk of terminological inexactitude.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
There is never finality in the display terminal's screen, but an irresponsible whimsicality, as words, sentences, and paragraphs a...re negated at the touch of a key. The significance of the past, as expressed in the manuscript by a deleted word or an inserted correction, is annulled in idle gusts of electronic massacre.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Look at this poet William Carlos Williams: he is primitive and native, and his roots are in raw forest and violent places; he is w...ord-sick and place-crazy. He admires strength, but for what? Violence! This is the cult of the frontier mind.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »