Euphemistic Quotes & Sayings

but in our world, even if you express your true thoughts, you must do so in an appropriately euphemistic way. For example, although what you just said is in accord with the ideals of ETO, its overly direct formulation might repel some of our members and cause unanticipated consequences. Of course, it may be that you'll never be able to learn to express yourself appropriately." It is precisely the expression of deformed thoughts that makes the exchange of information in human society, particularly in human literature, so much like a twisted maze. — Liu Cixin

When people speak of Time's healing magic, they are simply being euphemistic about our human tendency - and perhaps necessity - to forget. — Elizabeth Burgoyne Corbett

Never underestimate the role pretension plays when it comes to creating euphemistic language. — George Carlin

The only difference between war and murder is the number of dead. — Joe Abercrombie

Edward had a personal horror of violence and never endorsed or excused it, though in a documentary he made about the conflict he said that actions like the bombing of pilgrims at Tel Aviv airport 'did more harm than good,' which I remember thinking was (a) euphemistic and (b) a slipshod expression unworthy of a professor of English. — Christopher Hitchens

Any euphemism ceases to be euphemistic after a time and the true meaning begins to show through. It's a losing game, but we keep on trying. — Joseph Wood Krutch

It seemed a bit euphemistic to call a murder an incident, almost as if it were in the same category as a purse snatching. — Joyce Tremel

Comics are actually dubbed by euphemistic label of graphic novel, which became a big deal. — Francoise Mouly

The glossary of politics is so full of euphemistic words and phrases - as in the nature of things it must be - that one would suppose politicians must sometimes strain their wits to coin them. — Albert J. Nock

It is interesting that the rhetoric and some state initiatives of multiculturalism in the West are accompanied by the gathering strength of right wing politics....Everywhere in the West 'immigration,' a euphemistic expression for racist labor and citizenship policies, has become a major election platform....The media and some members of the Canadian intelligentsia speak in terms of the end of 'Canadian culture,' displaying signs of feeling threatened by these 'others,' who are portrayed as an invasive force. In the meantime, Western capital roves in a world without borders, with trade agreements such as GATT and NAFTA ensuring their legal predations, while labour from third world countries is both locked in their national spaces and locked out from Western countries, marked by a discourse of illegality and alienness. — Himani Bannerji

I can't really characterize any country, except to say that we work well with a number of our foreign counterparts. — Barack Obama

Somewhere In Time is the story of a love which transcends time , What Dreams May Come is the story of a love which transcends death ... I feel that they represent the best writing I have done in the novel form. — Richard Matheson

The beast in man had lifted its mask and the time of euphemistic niceties and rationalizations was over. — Annette Dumbach

The truth was, Roger and I hadn't been close since Dad's trial. Maybe that was a euphemistic way of putting it. I didn't like the guy, and he didn't like me either. We barely tolerated each other. — Joseph Finder

We went to church sometimes, so it's not like Mom had anything against religion, but Kerry totally did and Mom was ferociously protective of the people she loved, so much that she took insults up them personally. — Gayle Forman

In our confusion, we're accustomed to according the titles of good news and "a positive message" to the most soul-sucking, sentimental fare imaginable. Any song or story that deals with conflict by way of a strained euphemistic spin, a cliche, or a triumphal cupcake ending strikes us as the best in family entertainment. This is the opposite of apocalyptic. Apocalyptic maximizes the reality of human suffering and folly before daring a word of hope. The hope has nowhere else to happen but the valley of the shadow of death. — David Dark

I probably can't stand you, but that doesn't mean I don't love you. — Seth Harris

There is no time frame on living life, only the frame we place about ourselves to hinder our lives from living to its fullest. — Najeev Raj Nadarajah

Children, and sometimes those of larger growth, will not read dialect. — Joseph Jacobs

The more I learn of physics, the more I am drawn to metaphysics. — Albert Einstein

He who always thinks himself as weak will never become strong, but he who knows himself to be a lion, rushes out from the worlds meshes, as a lion from its cage. — Swami Vivekananda

Usually when people say they have mixed feelings about something, it's a sort of euphemistic way of saying they hate it. — Matthew Specktor

Professors have a lot of power."
I almost smiled. "Even medieval history professors?"
"Especially medieval history professors," he assured me.
"Knights on horseback and all that?"
A responding smile tugged at his mouth. "And damsels in distress. — Nina Lane

Because of social strictures against even the mildest swearing, America developed a particularly rich crop of euphemistic expletives - darn, durn, goldurn, goshdad, goshdang, goshawful, blast, consarn, confound, by Jove, by jingo, great guns, by the great horn spoon (a nonce term first cited in the Biglow Papers), jo-fired, jumping Jehoshaphat, and others almost without number - but even this cautious epithets could land people in trouble as late as the 1940s. — Bill Bryson

All we want is justice for John Crawford and everyone responsible for John Crawford's death should be held responsible, the criminal justice system refused to hold those accountable so the civil system must. — Michael Wright