Words Fitly Spoken

“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” (Proverbs 25:11)

“A word spoken in due season, how good it is.” (Proverbs 15:23)

One does not have to be a religious person to appreciate the truth of the above scriptures regarding the power and influence of the words we read, say and hear. The Old Testament book of Proverbs, categorized by the Jews as Wisdom literature, contains many such words—good, wise, timely, and yes, ‘proverbial.’ Written to the young, they are also instructional for the old. I read them often.

I remember from my playground days at Del Monte School in Monterey the chant, “Sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me.” But even a 4th grader knows that that is not true. What is true is, “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can break my heart.” Many, unfortunately, know the truth of that. Fortunately, though, many also know that words can heal the heart, instruct the mind, and give direction to the feet.

Conversely, though some words should never be said or printed others should be frequently said. Recognizing this clear back in 1896 the New York Times started printing in its masthead logo its motto, “All the news that’s fit to print.” There is good news as well as unprintable or unspeakable words that can never be ‘fitly spoken.’ Sometimes the Times, like all of us, forget the kernel of truth that their mottos suggests.

One of my heroes, Abraham Lincoln, has been called “a literary artist.” In his early years he was brought up on the Bible, Aesop’s Fables, and some legal texts. “He studied how poets—his favorites were Burns, Byron, and Shakespeare—and orators expressed themselves, noting the way they turned a phrase and used a figure of speech admiring great truths greatly told.” Had he been born later he might have studied the words of Winston Churchill (Churchill probably studied him). Neal Maxwell, another great wordmaster, said that Sir Winston’s political strength wasn’t in his courage or bravery but in “his remarkable mastery of the language. As he used it, the English tongue was a weapon and a benediction.” (Bruce C. Hafen, A Disciple’s Life: The biography of Neal A. Maxwell, p. 527) Lincoln’s words were a moral compass for his own and subsequent generations.

My purpose in writing these weblog essays is to use the written word and to encourage familiarity with the living Word as did the ancient prophet Alma: for the “word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them.” (Alma 31:5)

Words fitly spoken or written can indeed heal and enlarge the soul of all who have eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to understand.