Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.
Interpretation
Exclamation points can undermine the sincerity of a statement, much like laughing at your own joke can feel forced.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's quote suggests that excessive use of exclamation points is akin to self-indulgent laughter at one's own humor, indicating a lack of authenticity. By implying that we should avoid overwriting our emotions with punctuation, he encourages a more genuine and understated communication style that allows our words to stand on their own merit.
In practice
In a writing workshop, to emphasize the importance of subtlety in writing.
Don't be so anxious about it,' she laughed. 'I'm not used to being loved. I wouldn't know what to do; I never got the trick of it.' She looked down at him, shy and fatigued. 'So here we are. I told you years ago that I had the makings of Cinderella.' He took her hand; she drew it back instinctively and then replaced it in his. 'Beg your pardon. Not even used to being touched. But I'm not afraid of you, if you stay quiet and don't move suddenly.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
It was about then [1920] that I wrote a line which certain people will not let me forget: "She was a faded but still lovely woman of twenty-seven."
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
But you can love more than just one person, can't you?
A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.
There was always another side to a joke, the side of the victim.
Achingly funny as it was, Larry Gelbart's writing gave off sparks that turned a hard light on the way we are.
Oh, for a pin that would puncture pretension!
I can see we're going to get along like a house on fire," said Miss Tick. "There may be no survivors.
People who are rather more than six feet tall and nearly as broad across the shoulders often have uneventful journeys. People jump out at them from behind rocks then say things like, "Oh. Sorry. I thought you were someone else.
When you make a TV show, they always say you're a guest in someone's home. Online, you're a guest in someone's face. So that's why I try to make it sound and look and feel very inviting and attractive, because I know that I'm in your face.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.