Best Punctuation Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings Page 2

“Punctuation is biological. It is the physical indication of the body-rhythms which the reader is to acknowledge.”

Body Language Reader Rhythm Acknowledge Indication Punctuation

“I had a vision ... of being found on the pavement by some passerby, with a small punctuation mark ending my sentence of life.”

Found Vision Mark Sentences Pavement Punctuation Punctuation Marks Passerby

Author:Mary Roberts Rinehart

“I will use a form of punctuation of my own, which will be something like this - when one is beginning he takes a long breath, for this use a capital. When he stops for breath, a comma, and when it is all gone, a period. Don't know the use of a semi-colon, but expect it is when one thinks he is out of breath and isn't.”

Thinking Knows Long Use Form My Own Gone Periods Breaths Punctuation

Book:The Life of an Ordinary Woman

Source: The Life of an Ordinary Woman

“Doctors and nurses seemed to have been born and raised in the hospital, with only short punctuations of absenteeism for such things as schooling and marriage.”

Has Beens Born Doctors Raised Hospitals Nurse Schooling Punctuation Born And Raised Doctors And Nurses

Book:Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon

Source: Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon

“Suicide is the punctuation mark at the end of many artistic careers”

Ends Careers Mark Suicide Artistic Punctuation Punctuation Marks

Book:Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut

Source: Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut

“That's always been Guillermo's preference, is to have as much there practically as is humanly possible, and that digital graphic images are more a punctuation mark than they are a replacement.”

Mark Digital Preference Graphic Replacements Punctuation Punctuation Marks

Author:Ron Perlman

“I mean, full stops are quite important, aren't they? Yet by contrast to the versatile apostrophe, they are stolid little chaps, to say the least. In fact one might dare to say that while the full stop is the lumpen male of the punctuation world (do one job at a time; do it well; forget about it instantly), the apostrophe is the frantically multi-tasking female, dotting hither and yon, and succumbing to burn-out from all the thankless effort.”

World Wells Mean Littles Important Facts Might Jobs Forget Effort Female Males Dare Contrast Punctuation Burn Out Chaps Versatile Thankless Multi Tasking Succumbing

Author:Lynne Truss

“Life is tons of discipline. Your first discipline is your vocabulary; then your grammar and your punctuation”

Firsts Art Life Is Discipline Vocabulary Grammar Punctuation Exuberance

Author:Robert Frost

“Punctuation is a deeply conservative club. It hardly ever admits a new member.”

Members Conservative Clubs Punctuation

Book:Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen

Source: Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen

“One of the things I like about my job is that it draws on the entire person: not just your knowledge of grammar and punctuation and usage and foreign languages and literature but also your experience of travel, gardening, shipping, singing, plumbing, Catholicism, midwesternism, mozzarella, the A train, New Jersey. And in turn it feeds you more experience.”

Source: Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen

“Mr. Speaker. I said the honorable member was a liar it is true and I am sorry for it. The honorable member may place the punctuation where he pleases.”

May Said Humor Funny Please Members Sorry Liars Speakers Honorable Punctuation I Am Sorry Am Sorry

Author:Richard Brinsley Sheridan

“Everyone suffers; life is pain; and death is the final punctuation at the end of that sentence, so deal with it. I really think you can manage pain and suffering by living in fullness and being true to yourself and all those seemingly vapid platitudes.”

Thinking Ends Pain Life Is Suffering Deals Finals Sentences Being True Manage Fullness Be True To Yourself True To Yourself Punctuation Pain And Suffering Platitudes Vapid Life Is Pain

Author:Sufjan Stevens

“In lots of books I read, the writer seems to go haywire every time he reaches a high point. He’ll start leaving out punctuation and running his words together and babble about stars flashing and sinking into a deep dreamless sea. And you can’t figure out whether the hero’s laying his girl or a cornerstone. I guess that kind of crap is supposed to be pretty deep stuff—a lot of the book reviewers eat it up, I notice. But the way I see it is, the writer is just too goddam lazy to do his job. And I’m not lazy, whatever else I am. I’ll tell you everything.”

Source: Crime novels: American noir of the 1950s

“We never let go. Ever. Even with punctuation. It's frightening. I can't see anyone from any record company ever writing an email to Neil and not getting it back, with corrections.”

Writing I Can Company Records Letting Go Scary Frightening Email Corrections Record Companies Punctuation Never Let Go

Author:Chris Lowe

“Lexical variety, eccentric constructions and punctuation, variant spellings, archaisms, the ability to pile clause on clause, the effortless incorporation of words from other languages: flexibility, and inclusiveness, is what makes English great; and diversity is what keeps it healthy and growing, exuberantly regenerating itself with rich new forms and usages.”

Form Language Ability Rich Growing Healthy Diversity Variety Construction Flexibility Eccentric Spelling Usage Effortless Punctuation Clauses Inclusiveness Incorporation

Author:Donna Tartt

“It should come as no surprise that writers take an interest in punctuation. I have been told that the dying words of one famous 20th-century writer were, "I should have used fewer semicolons" - and although I have spent months fruitlessly trying to track down the chap responsible, I believe it none the less. If it turns out that no one actually did say this on their deathbed, I shall certainly save it up for my own.”

Ifs Should Trying Believe Has Beens Used Turns I Believe Interest My Own Century Dying Months Should Have Responsible Surprise Track Fewer 20th Century Deathbed Punctuation Chaps

Author:Lynne Truss

“Maximum sentence length: seventeen words. Minimum:one No semicolons. Semicolons indicate relationships that only idiots need defined by punctuation. Besides, they are ugly. Make sure each sentence is at least four words longer or shorter than the one before it.”

Needs Four Ugly Sentences Defined Idiot Length Minimum Maximum Seventeen Punctuation

Author:Richard Hugo

“Human beings are like timid punctuation marks sprinkled among the incomprehensible sentences of life.”

Humans Human Beings Mark Sentences Punctuation Punctuation Marks

Book:Three plays

Source: Three plays

“Use correct grammar and punctuation. Do not use net speak, like WOT, W-O-T or U. Those messages get a lot lower reply rate.”

Use Speak Messages Rate Grammar Punctuation Wot

Author:Christian Rudder

“If the semicolon is one of the neglected children in the family of punctuation marks these days, told to stay in its room and entertain itself, because mummy and daddy are busy, the apostrophe is the abused victim.”

Ifs Children Rooms Mark Victim Busy These Days Daddy Neglected Punctuation Mummy Punctuation Marks Neglected Child

Author:John Humphrys

“I do not worry or even think of spelling, grammar, paragraphing, or punctuation (except periods) at this point. . .In the early throes of an idea there is for me only grammar of the mind, which is a flow of thought, as natural and precise as the flow of a river to the sea.”

Thinking Mind Ideas Natural Worry Sea Periods Flow Rivers Precise Grammar Spelling Punctuation

Author:Mary O'Neill

“I bet when all the punctuation marks have a party, they quietly look at exclamation point's wife and think, that poor woman.”

Thinking Looks Poor Party Wife Mark Punctuation Exclamation Exclamation Points Punctuation Marks

Author:Dana Gould

“What I had thought were signs of a broken educational system - the seemingly random placement of commas, the spastic syntax, the obnoxious overuse of quotation marks, the goofy misspelling of 'Jouralism' - were actually signs of the New Instantaneousness. 'Instant Jouralists' cannot be concerned with punctuation and grammar and spelling. That stuff just 'slows you down.' To be an 'Instant Jouralist,' you have to write as if you were being pursued by a cheetah across the Serengeti.”

Ifs Writing Stuff Broken Concerned Mark Educational Instant Quotations Grammar Pursued Spelling Obnoxious Educational System Goofy Punctuation Syntax Placement Cheetahs Quotation Marks

Author:Nicholas G. Carr

“Writing a song is almost like cheating-writing because you don't have to finish your sentences, you don't have to use any punctuation, no one's going to edit your work. It's so wide open. People just grunt and that's a song. You can kind of do anything.”

People Writing Kind Use Song Sentences Wide Cheating Working It Edits Punctuation Grunt

Author:Mirah

“Now everybody's bloggin'. I heard somebody say, "Blogging is just graffiti with punctuation." Everyone's an authority so there's nobody in power, 'cause everyone thinks they're in power.”

Thinking Causes Heard Authority Blogging Graffiti Punctuation

Author:Ice T

“Most people have no idea how much goes into designing a typeface. Twenty-six letters in the alphabet, usually with two versions of each, upper and lower case. Punctuation and alternate characters and numbers - let's not forget numbers - can add another 40 or so.”

People Two Ideas Character Forget Numbers Cases Design Six Letters Twenties Add Versions No Idea Alphabet Punctuation Typefaces

Author:Michael Bierut

“The Biblical text does not have punctuation marks like periods and question marks. Where we end sentences is a matter of interpretation.”

Doe Ends Matter Periods Mark Sentences Interpretation Biblical Punctuation Question Mark Punctuation Marks

Author:Elie Wiesel

“You could figure out at least 80 percent of the context and meaning of a text if people used punctuation, and we wouldn't have had to write our sketch.”

People Ifs Writing Used Figures Percent Punctuation

Author:Keegan-Michael Key

“Every single aspect of a text requires very careful choices and rigorous evaluation. Style is employed - or deployed - for a reason. It's purposeful. Form and aesthetics are part of meaning-making. Ideally, a writer would have mastery over a wide variety of rhetorical gestures and tonalities, our lexicon and punctuation system, our grammar, and all the riches of a liberal and literary education.”

Reason Form Choices Style Aspect Careful Wide Riches Variety Mastery Gestures Employed Grammar Aesthetics Evaluation Punctuation Rhetorical Lexicon

Author:C.E. Morgan

“You know, you'd hide behind a Public Enemy or Ice Cube, or Bruce Springsteen, or U2, because they spoke for you. But now everybody's bloggin'. I heard somebody say, "Blogging is just graffiti with punctuation." Everyone's an authority so there's nobody in power, 'cause everyone thinks they're in power.”

Thinking Enemy Authority Graffiti Punctuation Springsteen

Author:Ice T

“Celebrity is absolutely preposterous. Entertainment seems to be inflating. It used to be the punctuation to your life, a film or a novel or a play, a way of celebrating a good week or month. Now it feels as if it's all punctuation.”

Ifs Way Feels Play Seems Film Used Novel Week Months Entertainment Used To Be Celebrate Punctuation Good Week

Author:Hugh Laurie

“The punctuation of anniversaries is terrible, like the closing of doors, one after another between you and what you want to hold on to.”

Want Doors Terrible What You Want Closing Anniversary Punctuation

Book:Locked rooms and open doors

Source: Locked rooms and open doors

“I am very aware that playwrights, particularly good ones, have a intention for everything they write. Language and punctuation is used specifically, and most of the time actors can find wonderful clues about character in the rhythm and cadence of the language used.”

Writing Character Used Actors Language Wonderful Intention Rhythm Clue Playwright Punctuation Cadence

Author:Laura Linney

“I'm tired of wasting letters when punctuation will do, period.”

Periods Letters Tired I'm Tired Punctuation

Author:Steve Martin

“Ladies, if you want to know the way to my heart... good spelling and good grammar, good punctuation, capitalize only where you are supposed to capitalize, it's done.”

Ifs Knows Way Want Heart Done My Heart Where You Are Grammar Spelling Punctuation

Author:John Mayer

“I come from an Italian family. One of the greatest and most profound expressions we would ever use in conversations or arguments was a slamming door. The slamming door was our punctuation mark.”

Use Doors Expression Conversation Argument Mark Profound Italian Punctuation Punctuation Marks Italian Family Slamming Doors

Author:Mario Batali

“My Aunt Minnie would always be punctual and never hold up production, but who would pay to see my Aunt Minnie?”

Pay Productions Aunt Punctuation Punctuality Punctual Minnie

Author:Billy Wilder

“Football combines the two worst things about America: it is violence punctuated by committee meetings.”

Two Inspiration America Violence Worst Football Meetings Nfl Committees Worst Things American Football Punctuation Sports Football Funny Sports Funny American Football

Author:George Will

“Thurber was asked by a correspondent: "Why did you have a comma in the sentence, 'After dinner, the men went into the living-room'?" And his answer was probably one of the loveliest things ever said about punctuation. "This particular comma," Thurber explained, "was Ross's way of giving the men time to push back their chairs and stand up.”

Men Way Giving Said Answers Rooms Particular Dinner Sentences Chairs Living Room Punctuation Thurber

Author:Lynne Truss

“A book is an arrangement of twenty-six phonetic symbols, ten numerals, and about eight punctuation marks, and people can cast their eyes over these and envision the eruption of Mount Vesuvius or the Battle of Waterloo.”

People Book Eye Battle Ten Six Mark Twenties Casts Eight Symbols Arrangements Punctuation Eruption Waterloo Punctuation Marks Numerals

Book:A Man Without a Country

Source: A Man Without a Country

“There are 500 reasons I write for children.... Children read books, not reviews. They don't give a hoot about the critics.... They don't read to free themselves of guilt, to quench their thirst for rebellion, or to get rid of alienation. They still believe in God, the family, angels, devils, witches, goblins, logic, clarity, punctuation, and other such obsolete stuff.... They don't expect their beloved writer to redeem humanity. Young as they are, they know that it is not in his power. Only the adults have such childish illusions.”

“Writers have no real area of expertise. They are merely generalists with a highly inflamed sense of punctuation.”

Writing Real Areas Expertise Punctuation Generalists

Author:Lorrie Moore

“The reason it's worth standing up for punctuation is not that it's an arbitrary system of notation known only to an over-sensitive elite who have attacks of the vapours when they see it misapplied. The reason to stand up for punctuation is that without it there is no reliable way of communicating meaning.”

Way Reason Known Standing Communicate Sensitive Elites Arbitrary Punctuation Vapour

Author:Lynne Truss

“Proper punctuation is both the sign and the cause of clear thinking.”

Thinking Causes Clear Punctuation Clear Thinking

Author:Lynne Truss

“In the face of the obscene, explicit malice of the jungle, which lacks only dinosaurs as punctuation, I feel like a half-finished, poorly expressed sentence in a cheap novel.”

Feels Faces Half Novel Sentences Finished Jungle Malice Dinosaurs Explicit Obscene Punctuation

Author:Werner Herzog

“I recently heard of someone studying the ellipsis (or three dots) for a PhD. And, I have to say, I was horrified. The ellipsis is the black hole of the punctuation universe, surely, into which no right-minded person would willingly be sucked, for three years, with no guarantee of a job at the end.”

Years Persons Ends Jobs Universe Three Black Study Heard Holes Guarantees Three Years Dots Punctuation Black Hole Phds

Author:Lynne Truss

“I’ve always been a word guy, I like weird words and I like American slang and all that and words that are no longer being used… I like to drag them out of the box and wave them around… this is an interesting one, it’s amazing how in addition to punctuation just a little pause in the wrong place can just completely transform the meaning of something.”

Littles Used Guy Interesting Wave Boxes Drag Pauses Punctuation Slang Guy I Like

Author:Tom Waits

“We all need something to help us unwind at the end of the day. You might have a glass of wine, or a joint, or a big delicious blob of heroin to silence your silly brainbox of its witterings but there has to be some form of punctuation, or life just seems utterly relentless.”

Source: My Booky Wook: A Memoir of Sex, Drugs, and Stand-Up

“Tears are sometimes an inappropriate response to death. When a life has been lived completely honestly, completely successfully, or just completely, the correct response to death's perfect punctuation mark is a smile.”

“But still, it looked completely natural, as if we had been kissing at the ends of sentences for ages, while the rest of the world was still hung up on punctuation.”

Ifs World Stills Ends Age Natural Kissing Sentences Hung Punctuation

Book:Change of Heart: A Novel

Source: Change of Heart: A Novel

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Punctuation Quotes