Quotes About Language

MacDonald has the gift of compressing the largest amount of words into the smallest amount of thought.

I would make them all learn English: and then I would let the clever ones learn Latin as an honour, and Greek as a treat.

J'aimais les mots et la sensation de les voir s'ajuster et tomber à leur place comme des pièces de monnaie dans la fente d'un distributeur automatique

I must thank the Hon. Gentleman for making me acquainted with the word "outwith," with which I had not previously had the pleasure of making acquaintance. For the benefit of English Members I may say that it is translated "outside the scope of." I thought it was a misprint at first.

we must have a better word than "prefabricated" [for houses]. Why not "ready-made"?

Old words, he said, were the best of all, and he indulged in them: correctitude, palimpsest, parlementaire, guttersnipe, purblind.

The worst result of an habitual use of strong language is that when a special occasion really does arise, there is no way of marking it.

But in the language of poetry, where every word is weighed, nothing is usual or normal. Not a single stone and not a single cloud above it.

We all use phrases such as 'the ordinary world,' 'ordinary life,' 'the ordinary course of events.' But in the language of poetry, nothing is usual or normal. Not a single stone and not a single cloud above it. Not a single day and not a single night after it. And above all, not a single existence, not anyone's existence in this world.

Even poetry has its prosaic side.

Read good poetry and read it well, tracing the countless incarnations of every word. These are after all the same words lying dead in dictionaries or leading a gray life in speech. Then why do they shine like new in poems, as if the poet had just discovered them?

We leven langer, maar minder nauwkeurig en in kortere zinnen.

in daily speech, where we don't stop to consider every word, we all use phrases like the ordinary world, ordinary life, the ordinary course of events ... But in the language of poetry, where every word is weighed, nothing is usual or normal. Not a single stone and not a single cloud above it. Not a single day and not a single night after it. And above all, not a single existence, not anyone's existence in this world.

Ile? zdaÅ" mo?na utworzy? z dwudziestu czterech liter alfabetu? Ile? znaczeÅ" mo?na wyprowadzi? z setek chwastów, grudek i innych drobiazgów?

Przypatrzcie siÄ™ ich zdaniom, które przygniatajÄ… terminologiÄ… dernier cri, gdy ich budowa, znakowanie, poprawno?? gramatyczna, bywa pod zdechÅ'ym Medorem. WspaniaÅ'y krawat, brudna koszula.

Niemcy przyjechali z Opatowa — rzeczywiÅ›cie wida? byÅ'o ludzi przed stajniÄ… — i, ju? apoplektyczny, popÄ™dziÅ', za nim ?ona, za nimi Fryderyk, który myÅ›laÅ' mo?e, ?e bÄ™dzie mógÅ' siÄ™ przyda?, znajÄ…c dobrze niemiecki.

It seems to me that here, accidentally, I have betrayed the greatest and ultimate secret of style: we have to know how to delight in the word. If literature generally dares to speak, it is not at all because it is certain of its truth, but only because it is certain of its delight.

And the ridiculous impotence of words in the face of life!

Otó? fakt, ?e nasz jÄ™zyk nie zmienia siÄ™ od podstaw po przekroczeniu fatalnej granicy, ?e pomiÄ™dzy pierwszymi a ostatnimi sonatami Beethovena nie ma przepaÅ›ci, nie dajÄ…cej siÄ™ wypeÅ'ni?, jest bijÄ…cym w oczy dowodem, ?e czÅ'owiek w swym indywidualnym istnieniu nie mo?e siÄ™ wypowiedzie? - ?e jest milczeniem - ?e jest pozbawiony wyrazu.

Potrzeba, jedna z najbardziej natr?tnych, podczas pisania do?? pornograficznej miejscami Pornografii: przepu?ci? ?wiat przez m?odo??; przet?umaczy? na j?zyk m?odo?ci, czyli na j?zyk atrakcji... Zmi?kczy? go m?odo?ci?... Zaprawi? go m?odo?ci? - aby da? si? zgwa?ci?...

Anything that can be said can be said clearly.

The I, the I is what is deeplt mysterious.

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

6.41 Der Sinn der Welt muss ausserhalb ihrer liegen.