Quotes from Benjamin Lee Whorf

We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native language.

We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native language. Language is not simply a reporting device for experience but a defining framework for it.

Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about.

We cut nature up, organize it into concepts, and ascribe significances as we do, largely because we are parties to an agreement to organize it in this way—an agreement that holds throughout our speech community and is codified in the patterns of our language.

Second, that the structure of the language one habitually uses influences the manner in which one understands his environment. The picture of the universe shifts from tongue to tongue.

all higher levels of thinking are dependent on language.

Speech is the best show a man puts on.

Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about.