Thoughts—Words	
QUICK CHECK:
1. How can you build a better world?
2. What is your answer to Nopareil’s question?
3. Whately:  What needs to be said in an unkind 	
manner?	
4. Beecher: What are words
5. a) From what may you recover?  b) From what 	
may you not get over?	
6. Rogers: Live so that you can sell what to whom?
7. Confucius:  What are words?
8. Ovid: What can you give when you are poor?
9. According to the poem:  a) What should you not 	
say, tell, and repeat?  b)  What gift profits each?	
10. Fulghum:  What will words do?
11. Doctorow:  How do you hear music in words?
12. a) Which quote do you like?  b) Give a reason 	
for your choice.	
The wise man said, "Let’s 
build a better world."
And I said, "How?  The 
world is such a cold, dark 
place — so complicated now.  
I’m so afraid and helpless, 
there’s nothing I can do!"  
But the wise man in all his 
wisdom said —
"Just build a better you!"
  
If someone were to pay you 
ten cents for every kind word 
you ever spoke and collect 
five cents for every unkind 
word, would you be rich or 
poor? —Nopareil
There is nothing that needs to be said in an unkind 
manner.   —R. Whately
All words are pegs to hang ideas on. —H. Beecher
Words are wind.    —George Martin
A slip of the foot you may soon recover from, but a 
slip of the tongue you may never get over.
So live that you wouldn’t be ashamed to sell the 
family parrot to the town gossip.   —Will Rogers
The voice is a second face. —Gerard Baue
Words are the voice of the heart. —Confucius
Words are things, and a small drop of ink . . . 
Falling, like dew, upon a thought . . . Produces that 
which makes thousands or millions think.
   —George Gordon Byron
I am the poet of the poor, because I was poor.  Since 
I could not give gifts, I gave words.  —Ovid	
My thoughts design the energy to move me. —Rufus	
If an impulse comes to say some unthoughtful	
word today that may drive a friend away,	
Don’t say it!	
If you’ve heard a word of blame cast upon your 
neighbor’s name that may injure his fair fame,	
Don’t tell it!	
If evil gossip’s tongue, some vile slander may have 	
flung on the head of old or young,	
Don’t repeat it!	
Thoughtful, kind, helpful speech,	
Tis a gift that profits each —
This the lesson we would teach:	
If it is good, say it!	
Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words 
will break our hearts.   —Robert Fulghum
There is music in words, and it can be heard by 
thinking.   —E.I. Doctorow
You cannot hammer in a nail with words . . . No, but 
you can start a war with them.  —Ben Galley
Thoughts & Quotes