2,489 Quotes About Language

[T]he accumulation of things not spelled out, not properly articulated, may result in neurosis.

When I use a word', Humpty Dumpty said . . . 'it means just what I choose it to mean.

So many words get lost. They leave the mouth and lose their courage, wandering aimlessly until they are swept into the gutter like dead leaves.

Language is texture of images and music. We speak in images and rhythm, by taking help of words

We feel more than we can express, we see more than we can say.

Reachable, near and not lost, there remained in the midst of the losses this one thing: language. It, the language, remained, not lost, yes, in spite of everything. But it had to pass through its own answerlessness, pass through frightful muting, pass through the thousand darknesses of deathbringing speech. It passed through and gave back no words for that which happened; yet it passed through this happening. Passed through and could come to light again, “enriched” by all this.

Contentment can only be found in not envying others or comparing yourself to them but in being satisfied with what you have.

Because different cultures see a particular animal as representing a certain human virtue or vice, the use of animal imagery also allows for more colorful commentary on the human condition.

The sacrifices of time and money that Chinese friends will make for one another often go far beyond what is expected or accepted in Western society.