Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Ideas lose their life once they are expressed verbally.
In plain terms
Things die when they are spoken.
What can you take from it?
Expression can end the life of an idea.

Where it applies

  • speaking
  • writing
  • thinking

Putting it to work

  • rethink ideas
  • value silence
  • revise drafts

Questions to consider

  • What happens when you speak?
  • Does language kill thought?

Another view

Sometimes expression gives ideas new life.

More from Gertrude Stein

  1. If you do not remember while you are writing, it may seem confused to others but actually it is clear and eventually that clarity will be clear, that is what a…

    Permalink to quote #42
  2. Picasso once remarked I do not care who it is that has or does influence me as long as it is not myself.

    Permalink to quote #44
  3. When you are writing before there is an audience anything written is as important as any other thing and you cherish anything and everything that you have writ…

    Permalink to quote #45

Related quotes

  1. Language is the net that holds thought trapped within a particular culture. But if one could only strike the ball with sufficient force, with perfect timing, i…

    David LodgeDavid Lodge quote #5
  2. Words ought to be a little wild for they are the assault of thoughts on the unthinking.

    John Maynard KeynesJohn Maynard Keynes quote #8
  3. Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think.

    Niels BohrNiels Bohr quote #18