Words, Effect of

Epithets, like pepper, give zest to what you write —Lewis Carroll
Carroll expanded on the simile as follows: “And if you strew them sparely, they whet the appetite; but if you lay them on too thick, you spoil the matter quite!”
Everything you say is just like scraping a wound with a knife —Iris Murdoch
Hearing a word break like a wave on the shells of my ears —John Hersey
Her words pelted me like hail —Edith Wharton
Her words showered down upon us like little glass pellets —Saul Bellow
His words dropped in Spandarian’s ear like pellets of ice —Derek Lambert
Like heavy hostile fists the words pounded on Andrew’s incredulous ears —F. van Wyck Mason
Listening to The Weasel [an unpleasant person] was like having a dirty hand paw through your personal belongings, leaving them in confusion and so soiled that after the first look you were disgusted and tempted to throw them away, for they had changed —Ann Petry
The sentences … like toy life-buoys made of paper, they carried no weight or conviction —James Stern
That terrible word caused Flora’s heart to slide like frozen snow —Frank Swinnerton
The word … went through Morgan’s heart like a poisoned spear —Noël Coward
The word pierced her side like a sharp horn —Z. Vance Wilson
The words beat on Gerty’s brain like the sound of a language which had seemed familiar at a distance but on approaching is found to be unintelligible —Edith Wharton
Words cutting like diamonds —Frank Swinnerton
Words dig at her like fingers in clay —T. Coraghessan Boyle
The words drive home like separate blows from a mallet —T. Coraghessan Boyle
The words felt like a medicine ball to the stomach —T. Glen Coughlin
Words, like daggers, enter in my ears —William Shakespeare
In Hamlet the words enter into ‘mine’ not “my ears.” Another Shakespearean dagger image from Titus Andronicus: “These words are razors to my wounded heart.”
Words … rattle and roll like dice —George Garrett
The words shook her like a tempest —Edith Wharton
The words slid over her like water poured on stones —Ellen Gilchrist
Words that sting and creep like insects —Karl Shapiro
Words were like nails. Like little knives. —George Garrett
The words trickled through his mind like a warm and friendly brook, or a leak in a boat which filled it only slowly —MacDonald Harris
The word went home. It hit on his heart like a tennis ball in fast play —Vicki Baum

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