quote, added a line to make it even more relevant to my readers,
and put it all into a box to make it stand out. The result was this:
Mark Twain wrote, “A man’s intellect is stored powder; it cannot
touch itself off; the fire must come from the outside.” Thoughtline
is the “fire” you need to make your mind explode!
Catches your eye, doesn’t it?
Quotes add spice to your writing. Glance at any letter and if
there’s a quote, your eyes will spot it instantly. Quotes add alive-
ness, too, because they are perceived as living. Again, that’s because
people associate anything in quotations with dialogue, and dia-
logue is considered to be happening in real time (here and now).
It’s difficult to pass up anything with quotations in it.
Your quotes can’t be very long, of course. Even quotation marks
won’t save you if your quote is several lines long. Again, you want
to be short and sweet. Mark Twain’s quote has a couple of breaks in
it, but it is essentially only one line.
Your goal in selecting quotes is to find on that is- Short (one line is best).
- Relevant (ties in with your point).
- Made by someone most of your readers will recognize (a
celebrity or authority, like Twain or Kennedy).
Ivan Pavlov, the Russian scientist, said, “Men are apt to be much
more influenced by words than by the actual facts of the surround-
ing reality.”
Words have power. Words in a good quote can be powerful
enough to alter the world. Whoever said the pen is mightier than
the sword wasn’t lying.
There are many good books of quotations available in the refer-
ence section of your favorite bookstore to help you in locating
golden one-liners. Buy several and put them on the shelf along
with your thesaurus and book of similes. They are all strong tools
to help you create irresistible writing.
HYPNOTIC WRITING