The sea speaks a language polite people never repeat. It is a colossal scavenger slang and has no respect.
—Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) American Biographer, Novelist, Socialist
The word of man is the most durable of all material.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and education—sometimes it’s sheer luck, like getting across the street.
—E. B. White (1985–99) American Essayist, Humorist
There is no tracing the connection of ancient nations but by language; therefore I am always sorry when any language is lost, for languages are the pedigree of nations.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
A countryman is as warm in fustian as a king in velvet, and a truth is as comfortable in homely language as in fine speech. As to the way of dishing up the meat, hungry men leave that to the cook, only let the meat be sweet and substantial.
—Charles Spurgeon (1834–92) English Baptist Preacher
Language, the machine of the poet, is best fitted for his purpose in its rudest state. Nations, like individuals, first perceive, and then abstract. They advance from particular images to general terms. Hence the vocabulary of an enlightened society is philosophical, that of a half-civilized people is poetical.
—Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (1800–59) English Historian, Essayist, Philanthropist
A different language is a different vision of life.
—Federico Fellini (1920–93) Italian Filmmaker
The English language is being augmented every year by about 400 new words. We cannot cope. We are drowning in the plethora. It.
—Anthony Burgess (1917–93) English Novelist, Critic, Composer
By such innovations are languages enriched, when the words are adopted by the multitude, and naturalized by custom.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
Even if people are suspicious of the motives I think that learning and speaking two languages can only be a good thing for people.
—Stephen Harper
Language is a virus from outer space.
—William S. Burroughs (1914–97) American Novelist, Poet, Short Story Writer, Painter
Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language.
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) Austrian-born British Philosopher
Every man is a part of each and our senses are attached to both. So when a man speaks of himself as a man, he is in matter; but when he speaks a scientific truth, he is out of matter and so far equal to god. So man’s investigations are but an imitation of wisdom’s experiments for his own happiness. And man not wanting to be outdone by his father tries to imitate what he sees and hears; this makes man a kind of progressive being. Man invents language from the fact that he cannot be satisfied to let God or wisdom dictate his acts, so he invents language to explain his wisdom. It has been said that language was invented to deceive others. In some cases I have no doubt but the world thinks it does but wisdom gives it another direction; or language acts to undeceive and it often exposes our ignorance.
—Phineas Quimby (1802–66) American Philosopher, Healer
And don’t confound the language of the nation With long-tailed words in osity and ation.
—John Hookham Frere (1769–1846) British Diplomat, Author
There is the fear, common to all English-only speakers, that the chief purpose of foreign languages is to make fun of us. Otherwise, you know, why not just come out and say it?
—Barbara Ehrenreich (1941–2022) American Social Critic, Essayist
Language is only the instrument of science, and words are but the signs of ideas: I wish, however, that the instrument might be less apt to decay, and that signs might be permanent, like the things they denote.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Language can only deal meaningfully with a special, restricted segment of reality. The rest, and it is presumably the much larger part, is silence.
—George Steiner (1929–2020) American Critic, Scholar
Let thy speech be short, comprehending much in a few words.
—Unknown
Language is a part of our organism and no less complicated than it.
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) Austrian-born British Philosopher
Language is not only the vehicle of thought, it is a great and efficient instrument in thinking.
—Humphry Davy (1778–1829) British Chemist, Science Propagandist
Just as in habiliments it is a sign of weakness to wish to make oneself noticeable by some peculiar and unaccustomed fashion, so, in language, the quest for new-fangled phrases and little-known words comes from a puerile and pedantic ambition.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
No literature is complete until the language it was written in is dead.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
The theater, which is in no thing, but makes use of everything—gestures, sounds, words, screams, light, darkness—rediscovers itself at precisely the point where the mind requires a language to express its manifestations. To break through language in order to touch life is to create or recreate the theatre.
—Antonin Artaud (1896–1948) French Actor, Drama Theorist
Language is legislation, speech is its code. We do not see the power which is in speech because we forget that all speech is a classification, and that all classifications are oppressive.
—Roland Barthes (1915–80) French Writer, Critic, Teacher
Perhaps it is the language that chooses the writers it needs, making use of them so that each might express a tiny part of what it is.
—Jose Saramago (1922–2010) Portuguese Novelist
Never resist a sentence you like, in which language takes its own pleasure and in which, after having abused it for so long, you are stupefied by its innocence.
—Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007) French Sociologist, Philosopher
The language denotes the man; a coarse or refined character finds its expression naturally in a coarse or refined phraseology.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
No language is rude that can boast polite writers.
—Aubrey Beardsley (1872–98) English Illustrator, Author
Writing in English is the most ingenious torture ever devised for sins committed in previous lives. The English reading public explains the reason why.
—James Joyce (1882–1941) Irish Novelist, Poet
Command of English, spoken or written, ranks at the top in business. Our main product is words, so a knowledge of their meaning and spelling and pronunciation is imperative. If a man knows the language well, he can find out about all else.
—William Feather (1889–1981) American Publisher, Author
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