Quotes About Language

One of the deepest motives (as you are aware) in the human beast (so deep that many have failed to detect it) is Alliteration.

The question is, which is to be master? That's all. They've a temper, some of them. Particularly verbs. Oh, they're the proudest! Adjectives, eh, you can do anything with, but not verbs however.

For instance, take the two words fuming and furious. Make up your mind that you will say both words, but leave it unsettled which you will say first. Now open your mouth and speak. If your thoughts incline ever so little towards fuming, you will say fuming-furious; if they turn, by even a hair's breadth, towards furious, you will say furious-fuming; but if you have the rarest of gifts, a perfectly balanced mind, you will say frumious.

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.

I maintain that any writer of a book is fully authorised in attaching any meaning he likes to a word or phrase he intends to use. If I find an author saying, at the beginning of his book, Let it be understood that by the word 'black' I shall always mean 'white,' and by the word 'white' I shall always mean 'black,' I meekly accept his ruling, however injudicious I think it.

To begin with, said the Cat, a dog's not mad. You grant that? I suppose so, said Alice Well, then, the Cat went on, you see a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad. I call it purring, not growling, said Alice. Call it what you like, said the Cat.

When I make a word do a lot of work like that,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'I always pay it extra.

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.

That is not said right,' said the Caterpillar. 'Not quite right, I'm afraid,' said Alice, timidly; some of the words have got altered.' 'It is wrong from beginning to end,' said the Caterpillar decidedly, and there was silence for some minutes.

Speak English! said the Eaglet. I don't know the meaning of half those long words, and, what's more, I don't believe you do either! And the Eaglet bend down its head to hide a smile: some of the other birds tittered audibly.

E então a duquesa disse: A moral disso é, tome conta do sentido e os sons tomarão conta de si mesmos.

The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.

Again, the first o in borogoves is pronounced like the o in borrow. I have heard people try to give it the sound of the o in worry. Such is Human Perversity.

If it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic.

He thought he saw a Rattlesnake That questioned him in Greek: He looked again, and found it was The Middle of Next Week. 'The one thing I regret,' he said, 'Is that it cannot speak!

I beg your pardon?' Alice said with a puzzled air. 'I'm not offended,' said Humpty Dumpty.

Habla en francés cuando no te acuerdes de alguna palabra en castellano... acuérdate bien de andar con las puntas de los pies hacia afuera... y no te olvides nunca de quien eres!

The Hatter's remark seemed to her to have no sort of meaning in it, and yet it was certainly English. I don't quite understand you, she said, as politely as she could.

Cuando yo uso una palabra -insistió Humpty Dumpty con un tono de voz más bien desdeñoso- quiere decir lo que yo quiero que diga…, ni más ni menos.

Cuando yo uso una palabra —insistió Humpty Dumpty con un tono de voz más bien desdeñoso— quiere decir lo que yo quiero que diga..., ni más ni menos. —La cuestión —insistió Alicia— es si se puede hacer que las palabras signifiquen tantas cosas diferentes. —La cuestión —zanjó Humpty Dumpty— es saber quién es el que manda..., eso es todo.

Alice felt dreadfully puzzled. The Hatter's remark seemed to have no sort of meaning in it, and yet it was certainly English. 'I don't quite understand you,' she said, as politely as she could.

So here's a question for you. How old did you say you were?' Alice made a short calculation, and said 'Seven years and six months.' 'Wrong!' Humpty Dumpty exclaimed triumphantly. 'You never said a word like it!' 'I though you meant How old ARE you?' Alice explained. 'If I'd meant that, I'd have said it,' said Humpty Dumpty. Alice didn't want

The first o in borogoves is pronounced like the o in borrow. I have heard people try to give it the sound of the o in worry. Such is Human Perversity.

What's the French for fiddle-de-dee?