Alert Quote by Lydia Davis

Metaphors are fine if they aid understanding, but sometimes they get in the way.

— Richard Dawkins

We don't suffer from a shortage of metaphors . . . But you have to be careful which metaphor you choose, because it matters.

— John Green

Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

— George Orwell

By using stale metaphors, similes and idioms, you save much mental effort, at the cost of leaving your meaning vague, not only for your…

— George Orwell

Metaphor is halfway between the unintelligible and the commonplace.

— Aristotle

Metaphor matters because it creates expectations.

— James Geary

Metaphors are our way of losing ourselves in semblances or treading water in a sea of seeming.

— Roberto Bolano

I've simplified much more in my writing. I say what I've got to say, not in metaphor.

— Marianne Faithfull

Writers who have nothing to say always strain for metaphors to say it in.

— Florence King

Metaphor is not, and never has been, a mere literary term. It is an event.

— Mary Ruefle

A good metaphor can make any bad idea sound good.

— Scott Adams

I am not writing in metaphors. I am writing about catastrophes.

— Aharon Appelfeld