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Some time ago, I was teaching a business writing skills class in New York City. I typically begin my classes talking about the power of language and good writing. I tell my students that words can change more than perceptions and behavior. They can change more than entertain and inform. Words, I tell them, can change the world.

My assertion is intended to impress upon students the importance of what they are about to learn, even if they seek to do less than change the world. I usually get plenty of nods and words of agreement. This time, though, there was a young man in the back of the class who challenged my point of view.

“I don’t agree with that at all,” he said. “How is that possible? Give me an example.”

So, I did. I told him that I could recite a four-word phrase that completely changed the world.

“I doubt that,” he challenged.

“I have a dream, I said, reciting the iconic quote from the Reverend Marin Luther King. I heard an approving “Amen!” and a “That’s Right!” from several African-American women in the class. The doubting man promptly withdrew his challenge.

Whenever I recall this story, I can hear my maternal grandmother’s voice warning me to “Be careful, Paul. Words have power!” Her views were rooted in the superstitions of the nineteenth century, so I don’t think she was concerned about how I might or might not change the world. I suspect she simply wanted me to shut up. Still, her words ring true.

As the adventure writer Robert Louis Stevenson (author of the classic, Treasure Island) wrote, “Man is a creature who lives not upon bread alone but principally by catchwords.” History is replete with such pithy phrases, from the meaningful and historic…

• We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
• Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country. (Not a statement I agree with. I would reverse it.)
• Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall!
• It’s the economy, stupid!
• Yes, we can!

…to banal examples from popular culture:

• So easy, even a caveman could do it.
• Coke: It’s the real thing.
• Just do it.
• Because it was there
• Beam me up, Scotty
• Go ahead, make my day!
• Do you feel lucky, punk?
• I’ll be back.

But, despite my grandmother’s advice, I don’t want to be careful; I want to be bold. I advise all of my students and client’s to do likewise. All the great statements, speeches, and books have come from boldness and I strive for the same boldness in everything I write (even this post). After all, to do otherwise leads one down the path toward boredom and banality.

And, who wants that?

Paul H. Hebner
Originally posted on June 10, 2010