I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine.

The speaker elevates language above material force, presenting the single word as a unit of concentrated power. The image of writing a word and staring at it “until it begins to shine” suggests a writer’s practice of intense attention: through contemplation, revision, and imaginative pressure, ordinary language can become luminous—charged with meaning beyond its dictionary sense. The quote also implies a quasi-mystical faith in verbal creation: words do not merely describe reality but can transform perception and experience. As a statement about craft, it captures how writers test a word’s sound, shape, and connotations until it feels inevitable, radiant, and alive.