Quotes About Language

Words must surely be counted among the most powerful drugs man ever invented.

Abusive language and swearing are a legacy of slavery, humiliation, and disrespect for human dignity, one's own and that of other people.

Jossi had been slow in agreeing with Ben Yehuda and the others. Hebrew had to be revived. If the desire for national identity was great enough a dead language could be brought back. But Sarah was set in her ways. Yiddish was what she spoke and what her mother had spoken. She had no intention of becoming a scholar so late in life.

Unfortunately, reprisal seemed to be the only language that the Arabs understood, the only thing that might stop them.

Our species had to engage in complex cooperative behavior in order to survive in the wild, and—as I keep reminding my teenage children—pointing and grunting get you only so far.

If someone were to ask about your taste in fine dining and you were to say, "I lean toward food served with vivid adjectives," you'd probably get a pretty strange look;

Your amicable words mean nothing if your body seems to be saying something different.    ââ'¬â€JAMES BORG I

Your amicable words mean nothing if your body seems to be saying something different.    ââ'¬â€JAMES BORG

Gender is the poetry each of us makes out of the language we are taught.

Oh, Ruth. I wish we had our own words to describe ourselves, to connect us." Ruth stood up and opened the broiler. "I don't need another label," she sighed. "I just am what I am. I call myself Ruth. My mother is Ruth Anne; my grandmother was Anne. That's who I am. That's where I come from." I shrugged. "I don't want another label either. I just wish we had words so pretty we'd go out of our way to say them out loud.

People tend to be exquisitely precise when describing pain. We don't just say it hurts, we say it throbs or aches; it's a burning, wrenching, gnawing sensation; it's sharp or dull; it chafes; it stings. But where pain specifies, joy generalizes. It was great! we say. Terrific! Beautiful! Fantastic!

a whisperer of Yiddish—the lingua franca spoken by Jewish immigrants when they didn't want their American children to understand what they were saying

I think I should understand that better, if I had it written down: but I can't quite follow it as you say it.

But thought they were nice grand words to say...

Well, I never heard it before, but it sounds uncommon nonsense.

Speak in French when you can't think of the English for a thing-- turn your toes out when you walk--- And remember who you are!

When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.' 'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.' 'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master — that's all.

Then you should say what you mean, the March Hare went on. I do, Alice hastily replied; at least--at least I mean what I say--that's the same thing, you know. Not the same thing a bit! said the Hatter. You might just as well say that I see what I eat is the same thing as I eat what I see!

Speak English!' said the Eaglet. 'I don't know the meaning of half those long words, and I don't believe you do either!

When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more, nor less.

I said it in Hebrew—I said it in Dutch— I said it in German and Greek; But I wholly forgot (and it vexes me much) That English is what you speak!

Alice thought to herself, 'Then there's no use in speaking.' The voices didn't join in this time, as she hadn't spoken, but to her great surprise, they all thought in chorus (I hope you understand what thinking in chorus means--for I must confess that I don't), 'Better say nothing at all. Language is worth a thousand pounds a word!

They've a temper, some of them--particularly verbs: they're the proudest--adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs--however I can manage the whole lot of them!

I don't know the meaning of half those long words, and, what's more, I don't believe you do either!