Quotes About Language

Understand what words you use first, then use them.

grammar will tell you how to write; but whether to write or not, grammar will not tell.

According to him the faculty of choice distinguishes humans from irrational animals. We can make considered choices among 'impressions' or 'appearances', meaning anything that comes within range of our senses, together with whatever thoughts and feelings these sensations evoke. While all animals are subject to impressions, those of humans differ by virtue of the fact that we possess the power of language and reason (both faculties expressed by the single word logos).

If you're writing to a friend, grammar will tell you what letters you ought to choose, but as to whether or not you ought to write to your friend, grammar won't tell you that.

Nevertheless, in some ways I had lost touch with many of the currents of French culture and theoretical discussion after the 1960s, and, although any admirer of Queneau and Perec cannot but be sympathetic to the French intellectual tradition of playing games with language, as French thinkers increasingly moved into the territory of 'postmodernism' I found them uninteresting, incomprehensible, and in any case of not much use to historians. Even their puns failed to grip.

There is thus an illiterate air about the most literate true believer. He seems to use words as if he were ignorant of their true meaning. Hence, too, his taste for quibbling, hair-splitting and scholastic tortuousness.

Quando gli uomini si trovano di fronte a qualcosa di nuovo che li coglie impreparati, si affannano a cercare le parole per dare un nome all'ignoto, anche quando non possono definirlo né comprenderlo.

Brotha needed to buy a vowel and rent a verb, then get a roll of duct tape slapped on that broken English.

Kad ne pišemo, mu?e nas takve trivijalne brige u kojima je središnja tema naš ego, ego, ego, pa i kriti?ari govore o toj istoj temi - ego, ego, ego. ?iji potpis? ?ija knjiga? Koja nagrada? Ali, jezik nema odre?enog autora - baš kao što rijeka ne brije ho?e li ostati u nekoj državi.

DIDEROT: Vy Å¡ejdíÃ…â"¢i! THERBOUCHEOVÁ: Používejte pro mÄ› prosím femininum. Ã…Ëœíkejte mi Å¡ejdíÃ…â"¢ko. DIDEROT (temnÄ›): V ženském rodÄ› se Ã…â"¢íká spíÅ¡ dÄ›vka.

Och, mógÅ' dyskutowa? w szeÅ›ciu czy siedmiu jÄ™zykach, ale có? takiego mówiÅ'? Rozmowa kulaÅ'a. Nic oryginalnego nie przechodziÅ'o mu przez gÅ'owÄ™ nafaszerowanÄ… sÅ'ownictwem, nic, ?aden nowy obraz, ?adna osobista opinia, ?adna dowcipna uwaga. Zero. ByÅ' jak kaleka bez nóg posadzony na najnowoczeÅ›niejszym na Å›wiecie rowerze.

Poetry is a weapon. It is an instrument of social change...and poetry is one of the most political arts out there because it demands that you rupture and destabilize the language in which you're working with. Inherently, you are pushing against the status quo. And so for me, it's always existed in that tradition of truth-telling.

Sumerian was not the only language spoken in southern Mesopotamia (the region known as Sumer). Akkadian, the Semitic language of central Mesopotamia, showed up in subtle ways as well.

The Affluent Society not only changed the way the country viewed itself, but gave new phrases to the language: Conventional wisdom, the bland leading the bland, private opulence and public squalor.

It is also interesting to note that the greatest grammarian in Sanskrit (indeed possibly in any language), namely P??ini, who systematized and transformed Sanskrit grammar and phonetics around the fourth century BCE, was of Afghan origin (he describes his village on the banks of the river Kabul).

It is not often realized that even the word 'Mandarin', standing as it does for a central concept in Chinese culture, is derived from a Sanskrit word, Mantr?, which went from India to China via Malaya.

GRAMMAR, n. A system of pitfalls thoughtfully prepared for the feet for the self-made man, along the path by which he advances to distinction.

Eloquence, n. The art of orally persuading fools that white is the color that it appears to be. It includes the gift of making any color appear white.

Quotation, n: The act of repeating erroneously the words of another.

üçüncü dereceden denklemleri ele alan çok ciddi bir eser yazmaya giriÅŸti. Bu cebir eserinde Hayyam, bilinmeyen say?y? göstermek için Arapçadaki ÅŸey terimini kullanm??; Ä°spanyollar?n ilmi eserlerine Xay olarak geçen bu kelime zamanla k?salt?l?p sadece ilk harfine indirgenmiÅŸ, sonra da x tüm dünyada bilinmeyen say?n?n simgesi haline gelmiÅŸti.

Ä°nançlar?n?n tehdit alt?nda olduÄŸunu hisseden insanlar aras?nda, bütün kimliklerini özetler gibi görünen ÅŸey dinsel aidiyet oluyor. Ama tehdit alt?nda olan anadilleri ve etnik gruplar?ysa, o zaman dindaÅŸlar?yla k?yas?ya sava??yorlar.

La langue a vocation à demeurer le pivot de l'identité culturelle, et la diversité linguistique le pivot de toute diversité.

Je ne manquai pas de rappeler que notre "paradis" avait pour origine un vieux mot persan, "paradaeza", qui veut dire "jardin

Ce que je regrette, c'est la disparition d'un certain état d'esprit qui a existé du temps des empires, et qui considérait comme normal et légitime que des peuples vivent au sein d'une même entité politique sans avoir forcément la même religion, la même langue, ni la même trajectoire historique.