Words are the soul's embassadors, who go
Abroad upon her errands to and fro;
They are the sole expounders of the mind,
And correspondence keep 'twist all mankind.
They are those airy keys that ope (and wrest
Sometimes) the locks and hinges of the breast.
By them the heart makes sallies: wit and sense
Belong to them: they are the quintescence
Of those ideas which the thoughts distil,
And so calcine and melt again, until
They drop forth into accents; in whom lies
The salt of fancy, and all faculties.

— James Howell Attributed

Source and credibility

Wikiquote lists this as attributed to James Howell, but no primary source has been found.

Source: Reported in John F. Addington (ed.) Poetical Quotations (Philadelphia: John Grigg, 1829) p. 280
Source quality: Secondhand citation Quoted from another book or article rather than from the original.

English Proverbs (1659)

Familiar Letters (1645)

Lexicon Tetraglotton (1660)

English Proverbs (1659)

Paroimiographia Proverbs (1659)

Familiar Letters (1645)

Lexicon Tetraglotton (1660)

English Proverbs (1659)