Quotes About Language

They all spoke some German, having been living in the German-speaking region of Switzerland. Lenin himself spoke it well. He was a remarkable linguist, Walter learned. He was fluent in French, spoke passable English, and read Aristotle in ancient Greek. Lenin's idea of relaxation was to sit down with a foreign-language dictionary for an hour or two.

L'homme qui prépare les onguents et les médecines a pour nom apothicaire. Lorsque c'est une femme qui exerce cette activité, on l'appelle sorcière.

his naval namesake. He spoke German as a

In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum.

Caput tuum in ano est.

I can see the…seams where they're put together. And, almost, see the apparatus inside them take the words I just said and try to fit the words in here and there, this place and that, and when they find the words don't have any place ready-made where they'll fit, the machinery disposes of the words like they weren't even spoken.

I didn't say it didn't make sense, Chief – I just said it was talking crazy.

Si-aproape ca zaresc masinaria din ei preluand cuvintele pe care tocmai le-am rostit si-incercand sa le potriveasca ici sau colo, intr-un loc sau altul, si cand constata ca acele cuvinte n-au un loc dinainte stabilit unde sa se aseze, masinaria din ei se leapada de cuvinte de parca nici n-ar fi fost rostite.

Students were expected to learn hundreds of lines from the Greek and Roman classics, then, later, from poetry in their native tongues. This tradition has faded from our lives, and something powerful has been lost.

To know some Shakespeare gives you a head start in life.

Poetry is the power of defining the indefinable in terms of the unforgettable.

And, yes, words matter. They may reflect reality, but they also have the power to change reality - the power to uplift and to abase.

There is nothing at all that can be talked about adequately, and the whole art of poetry is to say what can't be said.

There's a reason prophets perform miracles; language lacks the power to describe faith.

While a truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power.

I know sociologically that words, the power of the word, words stigmatize people.

Without knowing the force of words, it is impossible to know more.

Women have had the power of naming stolen from us.

Nobody says anything to me now when it comes to Japanese. They actually ask me things. I now have power!

One must be drenched in words, literally soaked in them.

Music is the shorthand of emotion. Emotions, which let themselves be described in words with such difficulty, are directly conveyed to man in music, and in that is its power and significance.

The metaphor is probably the most fertile power possessed by man

A single overstatement, wherever or however it occurs, diminishes the whole, and a carefree superlative has the power to destroy, for the reader, the object of the writer's enthusiasm.

I don't think you can bury words. I think the more you try to dismiss them, the more power you give to them, the more circulation they have.