Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. ~Percy Bysshe Shelley, "A Defence of Poetry," 1821


Those who tell the stories rule society. ~Author unknown


With words we govern men. ~Benjamin Disraeli, 1832


The word is mightier than the sword. ~Ahiqar, circa 5th century BCE


Grammar, which even rules o'er kings and princes
And with high hand subjects them to its laws!
~Molière, Les Femmes Savantes, 1672


You perceive the force of a word. He who wants to persuade should put his trust not in the right argument, but in the right word. The power of sound has always been greater than the power of sense. ~Joseph Conrad, A Personal Record, 1912


Ah, Madame Melba! I am the Lord of Language, and you are the Queen of Song... ~Oscar Wilde (1854–1900), as quoted in Nellie Melba (1861–1931), "London and Windsor," Melodies and Memories, 1925


Words rule the empire of expressiveness... ~Arthur Plotnik, The Elements of Expression, 2006