semicolon

A mark of punctuation ( ; ) used to connect independent clauses and indicating a closer relationship between the clauses than a period does.

Examples and Observations:

• "At a comma stop a little. . . . At a semicolon somewhat more."
  (Richard Hodges, The English Primrose, 1644)



• "Love turns, with a little indulgence, to indifference or disgust; hatred alone is immortal."
  (William Hazlitt)



• "With educated people, I suppose, punctuation is a matter of rule; with me it is a matter of feeling. But I must say I have a great respect for the semi-colon; it's a useful little chap."
  (Abraham Lincoln)



• "Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education."
  (Mark Twain)



• "I detest life-insurance agents; they always argue that I shall some day die, which is not so."
  (Stephen Leacock)



• "It's not true that life is one damn thing after another; it is one damn thing over and over."
  (Edna St. Vincent Millay)



• "The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office."
  (H. L. Mencken)



• "Happiness isn't something you experience; it's something you remember."
  (Oscar Levant)



• "Sometimes you get a glimpse of a semicolon coming, a few lines farther on, and it is like climbing a steep path through woods and seeing a wooden bench just at a bend in the road ahead, a place where you can expect to sit for a moment, catching your breath."
  (Lewis Thomas, "Notes on Punctuation")



• "Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things."
  (Peter Drucker)



• "I was thrown out of college for cheating on the metaphysics exam; I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me."
  (Woody Allen)