--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Words failed him again; he began to…" description: "\"“Words failed him again; he began to stammer in his unsuccessful attempt to express the first vague stirrings of the future he could feel within himsel..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/207/mile-zola-1188_long-silence_words-failed-him-again-he-began-to-stamm_2454723.jpg" --- # Words failed him again; he began to stammer in his… ![“Words failed him again; he began to stammer in his unsuccessful attempt to express the first vague stirrings of the future he could feel within himself. While he finished feverishly brushing in the black velvet jacket, there was a long silence. (37)” quote by Émile Zola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/207/mile-zola-1188_long-silence_words-failed-him-again-he-began-to-stamm_2454723.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/207/mile-zola-1188_long-silence_words-failed-him-again-he-began-to-stamm_2454723.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/207/mile-zola-1188_long-silence_words-failed-him-again-he-began-to-stamm_2454723.jpg) > ““Words failed him again; he began to stammer in his unsuccessful attempt to express the first vague stirrings of the future he could feel within himself. While he finished feverishly brushing in the black velvet jacket, there was a long silence. (37)”” [Émile Zola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mile-zola/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The character struggles to articulate future hopes, stumbling over words while a silence follows his frantic gestures. **In simple terms:** He can’t express his future feelings. Key Takeaway Accept uncertainty and give voice to inner visions. Themes uncertainty future expression Mood melancholic introspective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - writing process - personal reflection - creative block Key Concepts self‑realization creative block inner voice Questions to Reflect On - What blocks your expression? - How can silence be productive? A Different Perspective Over‑analysis can stifle creativity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Long silence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long-silence/) [Silence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/silence/) [Stammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stammer/) ## Related quotes > [If you never try then you have failed before you even began](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/2much4you2touch/if-you-never-try-then-you-have-failed-before-you-even-began/) @2much4you2touch > [Finally, and most of all, words failed him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/finally-and-most-of-all-words-failed-him/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [“Perhaps she would have liked to confide all these things to someone. But how tell an undefinable uneasiness, variable as the clouds, unstable as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/perhaps-she-would-have-liked-to-confide-all-these-things-to-someone/) [Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/) > [“One of the most common platitudes we heard was that “words failed.” But words were not failing us at all. It was not true…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/one-of-the-most-common-platitudes-we-heard-was-that-words-failed-but/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [“Words failed me at the precise moment I thought I was passing my vocabulary test, and I can’t tell you how that made me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarod-kintz/words-failed-me-at-the-precise-moment-i-thought-i-was-passing-my/) [Jarod Kintz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarod-kintz/) > [“When words failed I realized there was something unspeakably beautiful in not being able to put words to your happiness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-ys-perez/when-words-failed-i-realized-there-was-something-unspeakably/) [R. YS Perez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-ys-perez/) > [Ransack the language as he might, words failed him. He wanted another landscape, and another tongue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/ransack-the-language-as-he-might-words-failed-him-he-wanted-another/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“I may be deprived of eloquence, but my mind can never be a dumb.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/i-may-be-deprived-of-eloquence-but-my-mind-can-never-be-a-dumb/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) > [“Fear the soldier who stammers, for he is very fast at pulling the triger.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/fear-the-soldier-who-stammers-for-he-is-very-fast-at-pulling-the/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) > [“When their chatter died to a contented lull, a small red squirrel ventured out of the oak grove and turned to the side, watching…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-kleypas/when-their-chatter-died-to-a-contented-lull-a-small-red-squirrel/) [Lisa Kleypas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-kleypas/) > [“Before i could utter a word, my listeners had left me long ago.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/before-i-could-utter-a-word-my-listeners-had-left-me-long-ago/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) > [I had this terrible stammer, so I couldn't really speak properly until I was 16 or 17.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carly-simon/i-had-this-terrible-stammer-so-i-couldn-t-really-speak-properly-until/) [Carly Simon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carly-simon/) > [“A stammering man is never a worthless one. Physiology can tell you why. It is an excess of delicacy, excess of sensibility to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/a-stammering-man-is-never-a-worthless-one-physiology-can-tell-you-why/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [The stammer was a way of telling the world that he was not like others, a way of expressing his singularity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-morgan/the-stammer-was-a-way-of-telling-the-world-that-he-was-not-like/) [Ted Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-morgan/) > [Breathing is fundamental to speech. A stammer is caused by erratic airflow, so if you have a smooth airflow, you have smooth speech.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gareth-gates/breathing-is-fundamental-to-speech-a-stammer-is-caused-by-erratic/) [Gareth Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gareth-gates/) ## More by Émile Zola > [“Hélène, her eyes once more raised and remote, was deep in a dream. She was Lady Rowena, she was in love, with the deep…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mile-zola/h-l-ne-her-eyes-once-more-raised-and-remote-was-deep-in-a-dream-she/) [Émile Zola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mile-zola/) > [The vague torment of ... ambition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mile-zola/the-vague-torment-of-ambition/) [Emile Zola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mile-zola/) > [How evil life must be if it were indeed necessary that such imploring cries, such cries of physical and moral wretchedness, should ever and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mile-zola/how-evil-life-must-be-if-it-were-indeed-necessary-that-such-imploring/) [Emile Zola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mile-zola/) > [“he was carried aloft, for the moment, on one of those great waves of hope from which he was usually plunged deep into the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mile-zola/he-was-carried-aloft-for-the-moment-on-one-of-those-great-waves-of/) [Émile Zola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mile-zola/) > [“Death had to take her little by little, bit by bit, dragging her along to the bitter end of the miserable existence she'd made…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mile-zola/death-had-to-take-her-little-by-little-bit-by-bit-dragging-her-along/) [Émile Zola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mile-zola/) > [If something's just, I'll let myself be hacked to bits for it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mile-zola/if-something-s-just-i-ll-let-myself-be-hacked-to-bits-for-it/) [Emile Zola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mile-zola/) > [“Lastly, I accuse the first court-martial of having violated the law by condemning an accused person on one document kept secret, and I accuse…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mile-zola/lastly-i-accuse-the-first-court-martial-of-having-violated-the-law-by/) [Émile Zola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mile-zola/) > [“vexation, yet filled with unconscious regret for the terrible unknown things that might have, but had not, happened (23)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mile-zola/vexation-yet-filled-with-unconscious-regret-for-the-terrible-unknown/) [Émile Zola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mile-zola/) > [“Good gracious!" she exclaimed, "she's been more than an hour in there! When the priests set about cleansing her of her sins, the choir-boys…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mile-zola/good-gracious-she-exclaimed-she-s-been-more-than-an-hour-in-there/) [Émile Zola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mile-zola/) > [The only basis for living is believing in life, loving it, and applying the whole force of one's intellect to know it better.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mile-zola/the-only-basis-for-living-is-believing-in-life-loving-it-and-applying/) [Emile Zola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mile-zola/) > [“A new dynasty is never founded without a struggle. Blood makes good manure. It will be a good thing for the Rougon family to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mile-zola/a-new-dynasty-is-never-founded-without-a-struggle-blood-makes-good/) [Émile Zola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mile-zola/) > [I believe that all is illusion and vanity outside the treasure of truths slowly accumulated, and which will never again be lost. I believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mile-zola/i-believe-that-all-is-illusion-and-vanity-outside-the-treasure-of/) [Emile Zola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mile-zola/) > [“After a time, she believed in the reality of this comedy”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mile-zola/after-a-time-she-believed-in-the-reality-of-this-comedy/) [Émile Zola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mile-zola/) > [“She wanted to live, and live fully, and to give life, she who loved life! What was the good of existing, if you couldn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mile-zola/she-wanted-to-live-and-live-fully-and-to-give-life-she-who-loved-life/) [Émile Zola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mile-zola/) > [The fear of life, the fear of burdens and of duties, of annoyances and of catastrophes! The fear of life, which makes us, through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mile-zola/the-fear-of-life-the-fear-of-burdens-and-of-duties-of-annoyances-and/) [Emile Zola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mile-zola/) [Explore all 243 Émile Zola quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mile-zola/) ## More Long silence quotes > [After a long silence, Dodge cleared his throat. "I think I speak for all of us when I say, 'Huh?'" -Dodge(obviously)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-beddor/after-a-long-silence-dodge-cleared-his-throat-i-think-i-speak-for-all/) [Frank Beddor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-beddor/) > [“Well, " said her daddy, "your careless heedlessness has almost lost me my life. I am now going to give you a spanking." And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betty-macdonald/well-said-her-daddy-your-careless-heedlessness-has-almost-lost-me-my/) [Betty MacDonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betty-macdonald/) > [It was one of those problematic occasions with long silences, sporadic coughs, and people saying isolated things like, "Well, isn't this nice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/it-was-one-of-those-problematic-occasions-with-long-silences-sporadic/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [“Hello... is this Mrs. Fritzi Bevins?' 'Yes, it is.' 'From Pulaski, Wisconsin?' 'Yes.' 'Uh... you don't know me, but I recently received some papers.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-flagg/hello-is-this-mrs-fritzi-bevins-yes-it-is-from-pulaski-wisconsin-yes/) [Fannie Flagg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-flagg/) > [“Nature abhors a long silence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/nature-abhors-a-long-silence/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [“Let me guess,” Thorne said. “Breaking and entering?” After a long silence of examining the retracting mechanism, the girl wrinkled her nose. “Two counts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marissa-meyer/let-me-guess-thorne-said-breaking-and-entering-after-a-long-silence/) [Marissa Meyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marissa-meyer/) > [There are some long silences in Scandinavian and some Japanese films, when the audience knows action is taking place, but the audience hears no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-henrik-clarke/there-are-some-long-silences-in-scandinavian-and-some-japanese-films/) [John Henrik Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-henrik-clarke/) > [“He walked out the door and with each step my heart breaks. He'd be gone for days with long silences between each breath. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-a-anum/he-walked-out-the-door-and-with-each-step-my-heart-breaks-he-d-be/) [J.A. ANUM](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-a-anum/) > [“But you won’t abdicate." Of course not. It’s my duty to go on, to maintain the line. I can’t possibly fail in that. It’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-helprin/but-you-won-t-abdicate-of-course-not-it-s-my-duty-to-go-on-to/) [Mark Helprin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-helprin/) > [There is an old story about the boy at Eton who committed suicide. The other boys in his house were gathered together and asked…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/auberon-waugh/there-is-an-old-story-about-the-boy-at-eton-who-committed-suicide-the/) [Auberon Waugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/auberon-waugh/) > [For some time she observed a great yellow butterfly, which was opening and closing its wings very slowly on a little flat stone. "What…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/for-some-time-she-observed-a-great-yellow-butterfly-which-was-opening/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“How did you find out?” he asked. I dropped the coat I’d been holding. “How do you think? She told me. She couldn’t wait…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richelle-mead/how-did-you-find-out-he-asked-i-dropped-the-coat-i-d-been-holding-how/) [Richelle Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richelle-mead/) > [ “You see, Momo,' he \[Beppo Roadsweeper\] told her one day, 'it's like this. Sometimes, when you've a very long street ahead of you, you… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ende/you-see-momo-he-beppo-roadsweeper-told-her-one-day-it-s-like-this/) [Michael Ende](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ende/) > [“You know,’ said Damen, ‘he’s going to let someone eventually. Better all round if it’s you.’ There was a long silence, and then, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-pacat/you-know-said-damen-he-s-going-to-let-someone-eventually-better-all/) [C.S. Pacat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-pacat/) > [“When Zev still didn’t say anything, Toby visibly stiffened, seemingly steeling his courage, and then continued speaking. “Is something going on with Jonah?” “We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cardeno-c/when-zev-still-didn-t-say-anything-toby-visibly-stiffened-seemingly/) [Cardeno C](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cardeno-c/) [Browse all 95 Long silence quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long-silence/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Words failed him again; he began to stammer in his unsuccessful attempt to express the first vague stirrings of the future he could feel within himself. While he finished feverishly brushing in the black velvet jacket, there was a long silence. 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