2,489 Quotes About Language

Grammarians make no new thoughts, but thoughts make new grammar.

Grammar, n. A system of pitfalls thoughtfully prepared for the feet of the self-made man, along the path by which he advances to distinction.

But doesn't add something to what has come before; but takes something away. At its most daring, it can feel like a Bat Turn, a 180-degree spin int the Batmobile. Make that a But Turn.

Ils en conclurent que la syntaxe est une fantaisie et la grammaire une illusion.

I mean, language fascinates me anyway, and different words have different energies and you can change the whole drive of a sentence.

Kwa nini tuseme a.k.a na si k.k.k au k.n.k au k.a.k? Lazima tujifunze kuipenda na kuitetea lugha yetu kwa usumbufu wa vizazi vijavyo.

I misunderstood the way you said, “I love you” for “Forever”. Must be a language barrier.

The stars have their own language, you know. If you're careful, you can learn it.

I want to tell him that I learned to write when I was barely old enough to read, because the pain took me straight out of my body, both evading and yet demanding speech. I want to show him where it dropped me: the wasteland where words pant dry, where meanings wander hollowed of their sound-bodies, where new-born and unnamed realities mouth hungrily towards the sun, waiting to be seen into meaning.