Turn of phrase quotes:

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Taste speaks through a turn of phrase, a curl of the lip, a shrug of the shoulder: it makes an atmosphere. -- Irving Howe
The niftiest turn of phrase, the most elegant flight of rhetorical fancy, isn't worth beans next to a clear thought clearly expressed. -- Jeff Greenfield
Thomas Teal, a luminous translator of Jansson's twin talent for surface and depth, simplicity and reverberation in language, and someone who knows exactly how to convey her gift for sensing the meaning embedded in the most mundane act or turn of phrase. -- Ali Smith
Nowadays three witty turns of phrase and a lie make a writer. -- Georg C. Lichtenberg
Breaking Bad' - I've heard that question phrased in many directions, and it always means the same thing. It's when someone can't... when a decent person can't take it any more. They just kind of turn and go in the opposite direction. -- RJ Mitte
I do believe that our modern English usage has become way too clipped and austere. I have been reading excerpts from the journals of 18th-century seafarers lately, and even the lowliest press-ganged deck-swabber turns a finer phrase than I do most days. -- Geraldine Brooks
If I hear an interesting turn of phrase on TV, I'll repeat it back - I just like to roll it around on my tongue. The same goes for dialog: I'll either speak it aloud or whisper it. I definitely sit in front of my computer and mutter. People have mentioned it. -- Terence Winter
I was obsessed with country music when I was a kid, and it's definitely had a huge influence on the way I write songs. I was always attracted to songs that had a brilliant pun or a clever turn of phrase, but came from a dark, bitter place. As a writer, I've always gravitated towards that feeling. -- Teddy Thompson
All I can do is turn a phrase until it catches the light. -- Clive James
You can be amazing, you can turn a phrase into a weapon or a drug -- Sara Bareilles
I know Irish-American people. I know what their homes look like. I know what they have for dinner. I know how they turn a phrase. -- Alice McDermott

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