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It used to be a common saying of Myson's that men ought not to seek for things in words, but for words in things; for that things are not made on account of words but that words are put together for the sake of things.

— Diogenes Laërtius

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More quotes by Diogenes Laërtius

Virtue is harmony, and health, and universal good, and God; on which account everything owes its existence and consistency to harmony.

Once he saw a youth blushing, and addressed him, "Courage, my boy! that is the complexion of virtue."

The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (200)

Ignorance plays the chief part among men, and the multitude of words.

The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (200)

Chilo advised, "not to speak evil of the dead."

The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (200)

He used to define justice as "a virtue of the soul distributing that which each person deserved."

The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (200)

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Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

Francis Bacon Meditationes sacræ (1597)

Strength of creative writing lies in the skill of handling words and articulating artistic expression of feelings.”

Suman Pokhrel

The free-lance writer is a man who is paid per piece or per word or perhaps.

Robert Benchley

Three sleepless nights I passed in sounding on,
Through words and things, a dim and perilous way.

William Wordsworth Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed (1919)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Diogenes Laërtius (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.