2,489 Quotes About Language

Language and how close it comes to truth, and how far away it is.

It is silly to call fat people "gravitationally challenged", a self-righteous fetishism of language which is no more than a symptom of political frustration.

No one has a finer command of language than the person who keeps his mouth shut.

To understand Jesus Christ, you must know the Language of Heaven.

Often it sickened me to hear people speak their native tongues fluently. It was as if they were unable to think and feel anything but what their language so readily served up to them.

I'm often asked by my colleagues, of certain funny or strange words, "Is this a real word?" Of course it is - you just used it. It was crafted using characters that create a sound we both recognize and a meaning we both understand. It is not a hologram; we can write it on a piece of paper and hold it close to us for as long as we'd like. It will not dissolve into thin air. We are simply never going to live in a world in which new words aren't regularly emerging and shifting in use.

Language has its limits, but it’s all we’ve got. For understanding each other or misunderstanding each other or whatever.

Lakini Kiswahili kilizaliwa Afrika Mashariki. Kwa nini hatuithamini lugha yetu? Kwa nini hatuzithamini lugha zetu za makabila? Kwa nini hatuipendi na kuitetea lugha yetu ya taifa ambayo ndiyo lugha ya biashara na mawasiliano ya Afrika Mashariki? Kwa nini hatuvitetei vizazi vijavyo kwa kuvitetea vizazi vya leo?

Wajerumani, hata hivyo, wakati wa utawala wao waliruhusu Kiswahili kiwe lugha halisi ya taifa nchini Tanzania kwa vile hawakukiongea Kiingereza wala hawakukipenda. Ndiyo maana Kiswahili kinazungumzwa zaidi nchini Tanzania kuliko Kenya au Uganda.