--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Words fashioned with somewhat over…" description: "\"Words fashioned with somewhat over precise diction are like shapes turned out by a cookie cutter.\" — Peter De Vries" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6b/peter-de-vries-7735_diction_words-fashioned-with-somewhat-over-preci_1895026.jpg" --- # Words fashioned with somewhat over precise diction are… ![“Words fashioned with somewhat over precise diction are like shapes turned out by a cookie cutter.” quote by Peter De Vries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6b/peter-de-vries-7735_diction_words-fashioned-with-somewhat-over-preci_1895026.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6b/peter-de-vries-7735_diction_words-fashioned-with-somewhat-over-preci_1895026.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6b/peter-de-vries-7735_diction_words-fashioned-with-somewhat-over-preci_1895026.jpg) > “Words fashioned with somewhat over precise diction are like shapes turned out by a cookie cutter.” [Peter De Vries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-de-vries/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Overly precise diction shapes language like a cookie cutter molds dough, limiting nuance. **In simple terms:** Exact words can be restrictive. Key Takeaway Balance precision with flexibility in expression. Themes language precision creativity Mood thoughtful critical Type literary educational When to use this quote - writing workshops - editing - creative writing Key Concepts Linguistics stylistic choice Questions to Reflect On - When does precision enhance meaning? - How can you loosen rigid phrasing? A Different Perspective Strict precision may stifle originality. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Diction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/diction/) [Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) [Precise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/precise/) [Shapes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shapes/) ## Related quotes > [When I have a creative block, I take walks. I like to see what shapes stick out - so many legs rushing by at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caio-fonseca/when-i-have-a-creative-block-i-take-walks-i-like-to-see-what-shapes/) [Caio Fonseca](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caio-fonseca/) > [Do not turn into just cookie-cutter producer, cookie-cutter this, but a producer that people say wow, when they do something it's great or just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ice-cube/do-not-turn-into-just-cookie-cutter-producer-cookie-cutter-this-but-a/) [Ice Cube](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ice-cube/) > [I think you could say L.A. has a bit of a cookie-cutter gay community.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bobby-berk/i-think-you-could-say-l-a-has-a-bit-of-a-cookie-cutter-gay-community/) [Bobby Berk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bobby-berk/) > [Not everybody is cookie-cutter. You just can't be. There are too many variables in life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandra-bernhard/not-everybody-is-cookie-cutter-you-just-can-t-be-there-are-too-many/) [Sandra Bernhard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandra-bernhard/) > [I've never been very cookie cutter. If I choose something different from the status quo, it's my responsibility and my choice to live my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-ramirez/i-ve-never-been-very-cookie-cutter-if-i-choose-something-different/) [Sara Ramirez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-ramirez/) > [I'm not just cookie-cutter. You always see something different.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesaro/i-m-not-just-cookie-cutter-you-always-see-something-different/) [Cesaro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesaro/) > [“Women who make "cookie cutter" families are often disappointed when the "cookies" don't turn out perfect and everything crumbles.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/women-who-make-cookie-cutter-families-are-often-disappointed-when-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Life goes different ways for different people. Some people’s lives are formed by a cookie cutter and some are immediately tossed from the kitchen.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trent-zelazny/life-goes-different-ways-for-different-people-some-people-s-lives-are/) [Trent Zelazny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trent-zelazny/) > [It was as though the darkness was a sheet of raw cookie dough and someone had just taken a cookie cutter and made a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/it-was-as-though-the-darkness-was-a-sheet-of-raw-cookie-dough-and/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [Being your own woman, not cookie cutter - that is the greatest luxury!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-cornejo/being-your-own-woman-not-cookie-cutter-that-is-the-greatest-luxury/) [Maria Cornejo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-cornejo/) > [I don't believe that everybody is out of some kind of cookie cutter, so the thing that protects me is always being level with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-d/i-don-t-believe-that-everybody-is-out-of-some-kind-of-cookie-cutter/) [Chuck D](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-d/) > [She's not a cookie cutter. One and only.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pretty-ricky/she-s-not-a-cookie-cutter-one-and-only/) [Pretty Ricky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pretty-ricky/) > [I'd rather take risks than make something that's cookie cutter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandra-bullock/i-d-rather-take-risks-than-make-something-that-s-cookie-cutter/) [Sandra Bullock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandra-bullock/) > [I'm from Long Island, which is a very cookie-cutter place.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madison-beer/i-m-from-long-island-which-is-a-very-cookie-cutter-place/) [Madison Beer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madison-beer/) > [I was trying to be so perfect and so cookie-cutter because everyone's like, 'Aim for that Disney audience! Be perfect! Don't say anything wrong!'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brooke-hogan/i-was-trying-to-be-so-perfect-and-so-cookie-cutter-because-everyone-s/) [Brooke Hogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brooke-hogan/) ## More by Peter De Vries > [A hundred years ago Hester Prynne of The Scarlet Letter was given an A for adultery; today she would rate no better than a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-de-vries/a-hundred-years-ago-hester-prynne-of-the-scarlet-letter-was-given-an/) [Peter De Vries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-de-vries/) > [Celibacy is the worst form of self-abuse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-de-vries/celibacy-is-the-worst-form-of-self-abuse/) [Peter De Vries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-de-vries/) > [Marriage is a lottery in which men stake their liberty and women their happiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-de-vries/marriage-is-a-lottery-in-which-men-stake-their-liberty-and-women/) [Peter De Vries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-de-vries/) > [What we are assigned to bear is in a sense a measure of our stature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-de-vries/what-we-are-assigned-to-bear-is-in-a-sense-a-measure-of-our-stature/) [Peter De Vries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-de-vries/) > [ “Who of us is mature enough for offspring before the offspring themselves arrive? The value of \[parenthood\] is not that adults produce children but… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-de-vries/who-of-us-is-mature-enough-for-offspring-before-the-offspring/) [Peter De Vries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-de-vries/) > [I wondered whether any woman could be happy with a man who says 'folderol'.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-de-vries/i-wondered-whether-any-woman-could-be-happy-with-a-man-who-says/) [Peter De Vries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-de-vries/) > [When I see a paragraph shrinking under my eyes like a strip of bacon in a skillet, I know I'm on the right track.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-de-vries/when-i-see-a-paragraph-shrinking-under-my-eyes-like-a-strip-of-bacon/) [Peter De Vries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-de-vries/) > [We must love one another, yes, yes, that's all true enough, but nothing says we have to like each other. It may be the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-de-vries/we-must-love-one-another-yes-yes-that-s-all-true-enough-but-nothing/) [Peter De Vries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-de-vries/) > [Gluttony is an emotional escape, a sign something is eating us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-de-vries/gluttony-is-an-emotional-escape-a-sign-something-is-eating-us/) [Peter De Vries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-de-vries/) > [The tuba is certainly the most intestinal of instruments, the very lower bowel of music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-de-vries/the-tuba-is-certainly-the-most-intestinal-of-instruments-the-very/) [Peter De Vries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-de-vries/) > [My father hated radio and could not wait for television to be invented so he could hate that too.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-de-vries/my-father-hated-radio-and-could-not-wait-for-television-to-be/) [Peter De Vries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-de-vries/) > [You can make a sordid thing sound like a brilliant drawing-room comedy. Probably a fear we have of facing up to the real issues.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-de-vries/you-can-make-a-sordid-thing-sound-like-a-brilliant-drawing-room/) [Peter De Vries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-de-vries/) > [Confession is good for the soul only in the sense that a tweed coat is good for dandruff - it is a palliative rather…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-de-vries/confession-is-good-for-the-soul-only-in-the-sense-that-a-tweed-coat/) [Peter De Vries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-de-vries/) > [Life is a crowded superhighway with bewildering cloverleaf exits on which a man is liable to find himself speeding back in the direction he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-de-vries/life-is-a-crowded-superhighway-with-bewildering-cloverleaf-exits-on/) [Peter De Vries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-de-vries/) > [If there's anything I hate it's the word humorist-I feel like countering with the word seriousist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-de-vries/if-there-s-anything-i-hate-it-s-the-word-humorist-i-feel-like/) [Peter De Vries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-de-vries/) [Explore all 88 Peter De Vries quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-de-vries/) ## More Diction quotes > [Enunciation, diction, all that stuff. None of that is in my personality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shaquille-o-neal/enunciation-diction-all-that-stuff-none-of-that-is-in-my-personality/) [Shaquille O'Neal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shaquille-o-neal/) > [I still have perfect diction!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aretha-franklin/i-still-have-perfect-diction/) [Aretha Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aretha-franklin/) > [“Then let us have a language worthy of our world, a democratic style where rich and well-born nouns can roister with some sluttish verb…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-gass/then-let-us-have-a-language-worthy-of-our-world-a-democratic-style/) [William H. Gass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-h-gass/) > [When I was writing 'You Suck,' in 2006, I constructed the diction of the book's narrator, perky Goth girl Abby Normal, from what I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-moore/when-i-was-writing-you-suck-in-2006-i-constructed-the-diction-of-the/) [Christopher Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-moore/) > [But wise men pierce this rotten diction and fasten words again to visible things; so that picturesque language is at once a commanding certificate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/but-wise-men-pierce-this-rotten-diction-and-fasten-words-again-to/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Jen and I were accustomed to our father's last-will-and-testament diction, and were at times free to interrupt Atticus for a translation when it was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harper-lee/jen-and-i-were-accustomed-to-our-father-s-last-will-and-testament/) [Harper Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harper-lee/) > [How can one talk in a classical language about a child who's torn apart in an explosion in the market near his school? People…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hassan-blasim/how-can-one-talk-in-a-classical-language-about-a-child-who-s-torn/) [Hassan Blasim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hassan-blasim/) > [I think your conversations are indicative of your tastes - even your diction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel/i-think-your-conversations-are-indicative-of-your-tastes-even-your/) [Miguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel/) > [Many of the finest and most interesting emotions perish forever, because too complex and fugitive for expression. Of all things relating to man, his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-benton-clulow/many-of-the-finest-and-most-interesting-emotions-perish-forever/) [William Benton Clulow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-benton-clulow/) > [Apostolic preaching is not marked by its beautiful diction, or literary polish, or Cleverness of expression, but Operates “in demonstration of the Spirit and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-wallis/apostolic-preaching-is-not-marked-by-its-beautiful-diction-or/) [Arthur Wallis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-wallis/) > [When we are understood, we always speak well, and then all your fine diction serves no purpose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/moliere/when-we-are-understood-we-always-speak-well-and-then-all-your-fine/) [Moliere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/moliere/) > [“I got hung up on diction and syntax; I agonized over every word.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-pierce/i-got-hung-up-on-diction-and-syntax-i-agonized-over-every-word/) [M. Pierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-pierce/) > [Actually, I'm addicted to science fiction. Let me make my diction clear - I love sci-fi.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-rhys-davies/actually-i-m-addicted-to-science-fiction-let-me-make-my-diction-clear/) [John Rhys-Davies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-rhys-davies/) > [When I'm on television, I'm talking to millions of people, so the conversation is totally different. My words are different. My diction is different…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keyshawn-johnson/when-i-m-on-television-i-m-talking-to-millions-of-people-so-the/) [Keyshawn Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keyshawn-johnson/) > [“He used a minimum of words and no inflection whatsoever. It was a policeman's manner of speaking, direct and unadorned.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/davis-bunn/he-used-a-minimum-of-words-and-no-inflection-whatsoever-it-was-a/) [Davis Bunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/davis-bunn/) [Browse all 63 Diction quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/diction/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Words fashioned with somewhat over precise diction are like shapes turned out by a cookie cutter.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Peter De Vries" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-de-vries/words-fashioned-with-somewhat-over-precise-diction-are-like-shapes/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Diction" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-de-vries/words-fashioned-with-somewhat-over-precise-diction-are-like-shapes/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6b/peter-de-vries-7735_diction_words-fashioned-with-somewhat-over-preci_1895026.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6b/peter-de-vries-7735_diction_words-fashioned-with-somewhat-over-preci_1895026.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6b/peter-de-vries-7735_diction_words-fashioned-with-somewhat-over-preci_1895026.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Words fashioned with somewhat over precise diction are like shapes turned out by a cookie cutter.” — Peter De Vries", "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": "Peter De Vries", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-de-vries/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Words fashioned with somewhat over precise...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-de-vries/words-fashioned-with-somewhat-over-precise-diction-are-like-shapes/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-de-vries/words-fashioned-with-somewhat-over-precise-diction-are-like-shapes/#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 } } ] } ```