Quotes from John Humphrys

The more clearly we are able to express ourselves, the less room there is for ambiguity. The more elaborate and the more precise our vocabulary, the greater the scope for thought and expression. Language is about subtlety and nuance. It is power and it is potent. We can woo with words and we can wound. Despots fear the words of the articulate opponent. Successful revolutions are achieved with words as much as with weapons.

trust, at the most fundamental level, has disappeared

accountability. Now there is a word with a solid – indeed a solemn – pedigree. The Good Book itself tells us that on the Day of Judgement everyone shall be required to give an account of themselves.

We no longer watch television news but, in the language of the broadcasting bosses, 'consume' it.

Funny how one little word can mean 'full of or disposed to joy and mirth', 'homosexual' and 'rubbish'. It just shows that context is everything.

If we're going to stay competitive in a globalised economy, everyone's got to be able to perform at the top of their game.

Formality may seem stuffy but it provides fresh air and freedom

Incidentally, it seems that 'apartment' has finally taken over from 'flat'; I fancy they'll soon have 'closets' rather than wardrobes. Anyway,

We stopped being perfect around the time when Eve picked the apple and started coming on to Adam. That

The measure of human success is no longer the life well lived but the lifestyle well lived.

once computers gain good language understanding and we can speak to them, then reading and writing are going to seem cumbersome'.

Samuel Johnson said, 'It is happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust.

what the pictures cannot do is express the complexity that might help us understand why these terrible things are happening. Only words can do that. A world that depends more on images and dismisses reading and writing as 'cumbersome' will be a much cruder and probably an even more dangerous place. I

So what do I do when the call comes to take part in a 'reality' show? Like a gullible teenager with stars in his eyes and mush where his brain should be, I fall for it.

So my tantrums made good television. They also made me look a fool. The Observer's television critic said that if he ever found himself sitting next to me at a dinner party he would probably drive a fork through my hand. And I don't think he was joking.

G. K. Chesterton said that when a man stops believing in God he doesn't then believe in nothing: he believes in anything.

Change, that all-encompassing word, has become a universal corporate mantra. We must change to survive. But change from what and to what? Change for change's sake is no solution to anything. Most people actually eschew change. It is emotionally disruptive, stress inducing and threatens that most fundamental of human needs - stability.

He has his world and I have mine and we each speak our own kinds of English in them. But we also have a shared world where we need a dependable common language if we are all going to get by. And

Language so remote from the way we speak in the real world prompts the question: what's behind all that, then? Gushing vacuity addressed

language has consequences.