--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There is a phase in the life of every…" description: "\"There is a phase in the life of every copy editor when she is obsessed with hyphens.\" — Mary Norris" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01b/mary-norris-31685_copies_there-is-a-phase-in-the-life-of-every-co_330237.jpg" --- # There is a phase in the life of every copy editor when she… ![“There is a phase in the life of every copy editor when she is obsessed with hyphens.” quote by Mary Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01b/mary-norris-31685_copies_there-is-a-phase-in-the-life-of-every-co_330237.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01b/mary-norris-31685_copies_there-is-a-phase-in-the-life-of-every-co_330237.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01b/mary-norris-31685_copies_there-is-a-phase-in-the-life-of-every-co_330237.jpg) > “There is a phase in the life of every copy editor when she is obsessed with hyphens.” [Mary Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-norris/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Copy editors can become fixated on minor details like hyphens, reflecting a broader perfectionist mindset in language work. **In simple terms:** Editors may obsess over tiny punctuation. Key Takeaway Embrace detail but keep perspective. Themes editing perfectionism language attention to detail Mood focused analytical Type professional reflective When to use this quote - proofreading - manuscript preparation - style guide enforcement - teaching editing - self‑critique Key Concepts grammar stylistic precision cognitive bias Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance precision with efficiency? - When does attention to detail become counterproductive? A Different Perspective Obsession can hinder productivity and cause burnout. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Hyphens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hyphens/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) ## Related quotes > [“I always forget that, in the popular imagination, the copy editor is a bit of a witch, and it surprises me when someone is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-norris/i-always-forget-that-in-the-popular-imagination-the-copy-editor-is-a/) [Mary Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-norris/) > [“For the writer who truly loves language, a trip to the copy editor is like a week at a spa. You come out looking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/for-the-writer-who-truly-loves-language-a-trip-to-the-copy-editor-is/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) > [Some Americans need hyphens in their names because only part of them has come over.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woodrow-wilson/some-americans-need-hyphens-in-their-names-because-only-part-of-them/) [Woodrow Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woodrow-wilson/) > [I guess none of the sides of my hyphen are particularly subtle cultures. But perhaps there is also a sense that these characters are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/porochista-khakpour/i-guess-none-of-the-sides-of-my-hyphen-are-particularly-subtle/) [Porochista Khakpour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/porochista-khakpour/) > [You know, mind allows us to portray in different sensory modalities, visual, auditory, olfactory, you name it, what we are like and what the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonio-damasio/you-know-mind-allows-us-to-portray-in-different-sensory-modalities/) [Antonio Damasio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonio-damasio/) > [One must regard the hyphen as a blemish to be avoided wherever possible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/one-must-regard-the-hyphen-as-a-blemish-to-be-avoided-wherever/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [The only difference between resigning and resigning is a hyphen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-mccarver/the-only-difference-between-resigning-and-resigning-is-a-hyphen/) [Tim McCarver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-mccarver/) > [There are some men who in a fifty-fifty proposition insist on getting the hyphen too.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-j-peter/there-are-some-men-who-in-a-fifty-fifty-proposition-insist-on-getting/) [Laurence J. Peter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-j-peter/) > [Hyphens, like cats, are capable of arousing tenderness or shudders.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pamela-frankau/hyphens-like-cats-are-capable-of-arousing-tenderness-or-shudders/) Pamela Frankau > [Some Americans need hyphens in their names, because only part of them has come over; but when the whole man has come over, heart…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woodrow-wilson/some-americans-need-hyphens-in-their-names-because-only-part-of-them-2/) [Woodrow Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woodrow-wilson/) > [Parenthesis-proud, bracket-bold, happiest with hyphens, The writers stagger intoxicated by terms, adjective-unsteadied](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-brode/parenthesis-proud-bracket-bold-happiest-with-hyphens-the-writers/) Anthony Brode > [“If you take hyphens seriously, you will surely go mad.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oxford-university-press/if-you-take-hyphens-seriously-you-will-surely-go-mad/) [Oxford University Press](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oxford-university-press/) > [Tea - that perfume that one drinks, that connecting hyphen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie-clifford-barney/tea-that-perfume-that-one-drinks-that-connecting-hyphen/) [Natalie Clifford Barney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie-clifford-barney/) > [It's not enough to be American. You always have to be something else, Irish-American, German-American, and you'd wonder how they'd get along if someone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-mccourt/it-s-not-enough-to-be-american-you-always-have-to-be-something-else/) [Frank McCourt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-mccourt/) > [Wouldn't the sentence 'I want to put a hyphen between the words Fish and And and And and Chips in my Fish-and-Chips sign' have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-gardner/wouldn-t-the-sentence-i-want-to-put-a-hyphen-between-the-words-fish/) [Martin Gardner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-gardner/) ## More by Mary Norris > [One of the things I like about my job is that it draws on the entire person: not just your knowledge of grammar and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-norris/one-of-the-things-i-like-about-my-job-is-that-it-draws-on-the-entire/) [Mary Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-norris/) > [Punctuation is a deeply conservative club. It hardly ever admits a new member.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-norris/punctuation-is-a-deeply-conservative-club-it-hardly-ever-admits-a-new/) [Mary Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-norris/) > [Back in the twentieth century, we thought that robots would have taken over by this time, and, in a way, they have. But robots…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-norris/back-in-the-twentieth-century-we-thought-that-robots-would-have-taken/) [Mary Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-norris/) > [The English language is full of words that are just waiting to be misspelled, and the world is full of sticklers, ready to pounce.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-norris/the-english-language-is-full-of-words-that-are-just-waiting-to-be/) [Mary Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-norris/) > [Commas, like nuns, often travel in pairs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-norris/commas-like-nuns-often-travel-in-pairs/) [Mary Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-norris/) > [“I always wanted to write a book, but it looked really hard: how did you get all the lines to come out even on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-norris/i-always-wanted-to-write-a-book-but-it-looked-really-hard-how-did-you/) [Mary Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-norris/) > [Everybody is a writer. Everybody uses e-mail and has Facebook pages and tweets.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-norris/everybody-is-a-writer-everybody-uses-e-mail-and-has-facebook-pages/) [Mary Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-norris/) > [Something there is in cyberspace that doesn't love an apostrophe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-norris/something-there-is-in-cyberspace-that-doesn-t-love-an-apostrophe/) [Mary Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-norris/) > [“I always forget that, in the popular imagination, the copy editor is a bit of a witch, and it surprises me when someone is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-norris/i-always-forget-that-in-the-popular-imagination-the-copy-editor-is-a/) [Mary Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-norris/) > [Why, if there is alphabet soup, do we not have punctuation cereal?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-norris/why-if-there-is-alphabet-soup-do-we-not-have-punctuation-cereal/) [Mary Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-norris/) > [The dictionary is a wonderful thing, but you can't let it push you around.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-norris/the-dictionary-is-a-wonderful-thing-but-you-can-t-let-it-push-you/) [Mary Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-norris/) > [The comma, if it's left out, sometimes can be a problem. There's a slogan on a T-shirt going around that "Let's Eat, Grandma," and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-norris/the-comma-if-it-s-left-out-sometimes-can-be-a-problem-there-s-a/) [Mary Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-norris/) > [Nobody knows everything-one of the pleasures of language is that there is always something new to learn-and everybody makes mistakes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-norris/nobody-knows-everything-one-of-the-pleasures-of-language-is-that/) [Mary Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-norris/) > [Many survivors refuse to talk about what they went through but I've never been ashamed to have been in one of those places. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-norris/many-survivors-refuse-to-talk-about-what-they-went-through-but-i-ve/) [Mary Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-norris/) > [On the printed page, it's best to have everything - you know, to still mind your P's and Q's, dot your I's and cross…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-norris/on-the-printed-page-it-s-best-to-have-everything-you-know-to-still/) [Mary Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-norris/) [Explore all 16 Mary Norris quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-norris/) ## More Copies quotes > [every being is unique.god neva creates carbon copies,he alys creates originals.he is truly a creator.he neva repeats.but man goes on living in imitation.we are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/every-being-is-unique-god-neva-creates-carbon-copies-he-alys-creates/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [My songs are like cheap Neil Young copies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randy-bachman/my-songs-are-like-cheap-neil-young-copies/) [Randy Bachman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randy-bachman/) > [In that part of the book of my memory before the which is little that can be read, there is a rubric, saying, Incipit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dante-alighieri/in-that-part-of-the-book-of-my-memory-before-the-which-is-little-that/) [Dante Alighieri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dante-alighieri/) > [I remember being a kid and seeing the 'National Inquirer' at the grocery store checkout line. When somebody actually picked up a copy, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rashida-jones/i-remember-being-a-kid-and-seeing-the-national-inquirer-at-the/) [Rashida Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rashida-jones/) > [The idea is not to copy nature, but to give a feeling of nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/piet-oudolf/the-idea-is-not-to-copy-nature-but-to-give-a-feeling-of-nature/) Piet Oudolf > [“When copies are free, you need to sell things that cannot be copied. Well, what can’t be copied? Trust, for instance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-kelly/when-copies-are-free-you-need-to-sell-things-that-cannot-be-copied/) [Kevin Kelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-kelly/) > [Mr Witwould: "Pray, madam, do you pin up your hair with all your letters? I find I must keep copies." Mrs Millamant: "Only with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-congreve/mr-witwould-pray-madam-do-you-pin-up-your-hair-with-all-your-letters/) [William Congreve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-congreve/) > [There have to be at least two copies of a photograph, otherwise it’s not a photograph.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ruff/there-have-to-be-at-least-two-copies-of-a-photograph-otherwise-it-s/) [Thomas Ruff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ruff/) > [In market research I did at Microsoft Corp. in the early 1990s, I estimated that the 'Wall Street Journal' took in about 75 cents…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathan-myhrvold/in-market-research-i-did-at-microsoft-corp-in-the-early-1990s-i/) [Nathan Myhrvold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathan-myhrvold/) > [Guys like Todd Bridges never overcame being a child star. You can't have any big failures. I've always felt regular. I played organized ball…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bow-wow/guys-like-todd-bridges-never-overcame-being-a-child-star-you-can-t/) [Bow Wow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bow-wow/) > [It was only after I had been out of the art school that I actually copied a small Seurat, and I copied it in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-riley/it-was-only-after-i-had-been-out-of-the-art-school-that-i-actually/) [Bridget Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-riley/) > [We call ourselves creators and we just copy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauryn-hill/we-call-ourselves-creators-and-we-just-copy/) [Lauryn Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauryn-hill/) > [People have one of two extreme reactions to my book. They either throw it across the room, or they rush out and buy 10…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-hay/people-have-one-of-two-extreme-reactions-to-my-book-they-either-throw/) [Louise Hay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-hay/) > [A presentation copy...is a copy of a book whoch does not sell, sent you by the author, with his foolish autograph at the beginning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/a-presentation-copy-is-a-copy-of-a-book-whoch-does-not-sell-sent-you/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [We are all born originals, why is it so many of us die copies?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-young/we-are-all-born-originals-why-is-it-so-many-of-us-die-copies/) [Edward Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-young/) Browse all 971 Copies quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There is a phase in the life of every copy editor when she is obsessed with hyphens.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mary Norris" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-norris/there-is-a-phase-in-the-life-of-every-copy-editor-when-she-is/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Copies" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-norris/there-is-a-phase-in-the-life-of-every-copy-editor-when-she-is/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01b/mary-norris-31685_copies_there-is-a-phase-in-the-life-of-every-co_330237.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01b/mary-norris-31685_copies_there-is-a-phase-in-the-life-of-every-co_330237.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01b/mary-norris-31685_copies_there-is-a-phase-in-the-life-of-every-co_330237.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There is a phase in the life of every copy editor when she is obsessed with hyphens.” — Mary Norris", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Mary Norris", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-norris/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "There is a phase in the...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-norris/there-is-a-phase-in-the-life-of-every-copy-editor-when-she-is/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-norris/there-is-a-phase-in-the-life-of-every-copy-editor-when-she-is/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```