“Words! Mere words! How terrible they were! How clear, and vivid, and cruel! One could not escape from them. And yet what a subtle magic there was in them! They seemed to be able to give a plastic form to formless things, and to have a music of their own as sweet as that of viol or of lute. Mere words! Was there anything so real as words?”
— Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
“In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing”
— Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
Word and Affect 