But it is the phrase "points of light" with which he is indelibly associated.
Arooj Aftab, a Pakistani-American singer, reworked the gentle, rippling phrases of the light-classical style called thumri over meditative guitar parts by Bhrigu Sahni that eased toward jazz and rock harmonies.
Altria argued that the commission had authorized the use of words and phrases like "light" and "low tar".
"I don't think I really understood it when I first read it, but I always remember phrases like 'deep and dissolving verticals of light' or 'These funeral-cakes of sweet and sculptured stone.' It's just studded with these beautiful jewels of language".
Day Break Shadows Flee begins with upward-arching phrases at the top of the keyboard: jubilant music representing the arrival of light and of the day.
You have, at the very beginning of John, the conflict between Light and Darkness, and thereafter many such phrases as "the spirit of truth," "the light of life," "walking in the darkness," "children of light," and "eternal life," which occur in the Manual of Discipline.
A small vigil was held in New York City on Tuesday evening, with mourners lighting candles and writing phrases of support in colored chalk on the sidewalk.
There the phrases of the "Frère Jacques" funeral march are now separated by commas, suggesting light pauses.
He did not invent the phrase "the light at the end of the tunnel," but he talked about that hopeful glow week after week, losing credibility with every iteration.
Mitt Romney launched a memorable meme when he said he had "binders of women," but his amusing turn of phrase shined a light on a horrible answer and a big problem.
Mr. Phelps may have growled and moaned like a postage-stamp bluesman in his performance last Wednesday, but his croon also invoked the light phrasing of Paul Simon; his playing may have echoed heroes like Bukka White, but it also rode on vapors of Bach and Mr. Phelps's fellow American experimentalist, Bill Frisell.
