What we have forgotten is that thoughts and words are conventions, and that it is fatal to take conventions too seriously. A convention is a social convenience, as, for example, money ... but it is absurd to take money too seriously, to confuse it with real wealth ... In somewhat the same way, thoughts, ideas and words are "coins" for real things. Alan W. Watts
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When we take the time to think about it, words are just pieces of paper that make up a language. They are no more valuable than any other kind of convention. What matters is the things we do with our words, not the words themselves.

Source: The Wisdom Of Insecurity: A Message For An Age Of Anxiety

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