Quotes About Language

His observations on certain hard drugs give him a kinship to the great chroniclers of hell, except that in Burroughs there's no moral or ethical motive, only the description of a frozen abyss, the description of an endless process of corruption. Language, he said, is a virus from outer space, in other words, a disease, and he spent his whole life trying to fight that disease.

una cosa era escribir sin la e y otra muy distinta traducir sin la e

All those languages, all that whispering, simply a vicarious way of preserving our identity for an uncertain length of time.

There are no rare texts. Wretched ones, to be sure, and luminous ones, but none of them rare.

Pelletier empezó a traducirlo básicamente porque le gustaba, porque era feliz haciéndolo

Ich las, aber die Worte zogen vorüber wie unbegreifliche Käfer.

In dreams, as in the Gospels, one usually possesses the gift of tongues.

Poetry is the one thing that isn't contaminated, the one thing that isn't part of the game.

Only poetry isn't shit.

People criticized Guénon for writing like a bookkeeper of metaphysics, with no enthusiasm, with no heart. They thought he lacked inspiration. But Guénon was simply obeying "the esoteric, and particularly the Rosicrucian precept according to which it was better to talk to every person in their own language.

La mala palabra no nació así. La sociedad la hizo mala.

Le parole sono doni, sono semi da mandare, perché sono semi buoni, a chi noi vogliamo amare.

the opposite of man is woman. Language enable us to deny this, but makes affirmation easier.

Irish and English are so widely separated in their mode of expression that nothing like a literal rendering from one language to the other is possible.

One man armed with the right word may do what an army of swordsmen cannot.

All cats talk however they want. To whomever they want. But only a rude human speaks out of turn. Be quiet.

It is an odd language, yours. You speak of passing time as in the Mountains we speak of passing wind. As if it were a thing to be gotten rid of.

A manner of speaking becomes a manner of thinking.

Thoughts were too fast for words and too complex. There was too much to say, more than anyone could ever say in a lifetime about even the simplest things.

Oh, the power that lurks in the naming of names.

It was but a manner of speaking, Ekke," he said mildly. "A manner of speaking becomes a manner of thinking.

A few of the other Traders who dispute that the dragons are anything but animals said that she was taking the matter too seriously, that creatures that can only communicate with some people rather than everyone should not be treated as if they are equal to humans. And then, of course, the arguments degenerated. Some demanded to know if that meant speakers of foreign languages were not full humans. Someone else quipped that surely.

Christy recognized that name as the same one Todd had used at the airport. "What does that word mean?" "Kilikina? That's your name in Hawaiian. Actually, it's Hawaiian for 'Christina.' 'Christy' would be Kiliki.

With words at your disposal, you can see more clearly. Finding the words is another step in learning to see.