2,489 Quotes About Language

Are our minds bound by the limits of the language they are exposed to?

She tried not to think in capital letters. It was a bad habit. If you weren’t careful, pretty soon you’d find yourself Going to the Store to Buy a Carton of Milk—or worse, speaking German.

Latin is a dead tongue And Romans made songs! Then no one disagree: It delighted them in theory Now it's "the Latin" in me.

Twist a tongue, and tongue a twist how many twists can a tongue twister twist around the twisting tongue.

7. Philosophy is not science, but this does not mean that it is less good than a science. Philosophy is an alternative language by which it is possible to communicate with reality. Speaking more than one language makes you more open-minded. Philosophy can open up new opportunities to understand quite different and unexpected aspects of reality.

...one ought to recognize that the present political chaos is connected with the decay of language, and that one can probably bring some improvement by starting at the verbal end....Political language -- and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists -- is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.-- 'Politics and the English Language,' 1946

What the critic as a teacher of language tries to teach is not an elegant accomplishment, but the means of conscious life. Literary education should lead not merely to the admiration of great literature, but to some possession of its power of utterance. The ultimate aim is an ethical and participating aim, not an aesthetic or contemplative one, even though the latter may be the means of achieving the former.

I think it's fair to say that I don't pick up languages. If anything, I roll around in them gracelessly and pray that something sticks.

If I program ’ware with an Anglo-Ubiq word and play it, you understand it,” Scile said. “If I do the same with a word in Language, and play it to an Ariekes, I understand it, but to them it means nothing, because it’s only sound, and that’s not where the meaning lives. It needs a mind behind it.