Quotes About Language

Perhaps the sad and empty language that today's flabby humanity pours forth, will, in all its horror, in all its boundless absurdity, re-echo in the heart of a solitary man who is awake, and then perhaps that man, suddenly realizing that he does not understand, will begin to understand.

The name of God should no longer come from the mouth of man. This word that has so long been degraded by usage no longer means anything.... To use the word God is more than sloth, it is a refusal to think, a king of short cut, a hideous shorthand.

Für jeden einzelnen Menschen aber, der eine bestimmte Sprache spricht, ist die ausgesprochene Bezeichnung eines beliebigen Dinges der grobe Ausdruck für seinen inneren Denkvorgang. Sie ruft diese Denktätigkeit hervor, und sie beschreibt sie auch wieder. Sie formt die Vorstellung, und die Vorstellung zeigt sich im Bewußtsein als Mentalfunktion. Und dieser Prozeß kann so gesteigert werden, daß er schöpferisch wird. Das ist das Mantra-Chaitanya.

Logic always seems to be telling us, in language quite unnecessarily technical, what we understood much better before it was explained.

Everyone is not able, or inclined, to write poetry in the narrower sense any more than everyone is qualified to take part in a walking race. But just as all of us can and do walk, so all of us can and do use language poetically.

The way in which people talk about climate is just so wonky and so abstract and such a boys' club that it makes a lot of women just roll their eyes or feel that they are somehow not qualified. I certainly had to fight that feeling in myself in order to write about it.

Words have not only a definition... but also the felt quality of their own kind of sound.

The moment I accept that there's an artistic, redeeming quality in puns, I have a horrible feeling I'll get hooked.

The quality of what is said inevitably influences the way in which it is said, however inexperienced the writer.

It is not of the essence of mathematics to be conversant with the ideas of number and quantity.

Both the quantity and quality of the words children hear during their first three years of life make an enormous difference in how prepared they are to start school, and ultimately, their long-term achievement.

One of the things that's really important in 'Queen of the Night' is how people communicate with their clothes.

In 'A Royal Affair' I had to learn to act like a queen and learned Danish. It's so much different to act in another language. It's the nuances in the words.

The notion of 'Queen's English' is usually applied to our pronunciation.

My parents spent a lot of money so I wouldn't sound like I came from Queens. I went to speech class.

It was such a culture shock for me, being plucked from this diverse neighborhood in London into Jamaica Queens. I'm in this new environment, and I had an English accent.

Well, I've never dropped the word 'eh.' That's still at the end of my sentence, replacing the question mark.

If you were to make a quick judgment call on my intelligence and articulation when I first moved to the U.S. based on my speaking skills, it would be very low.

I had a quick ear and could pick up languages.

I love the language of, you know, the old black country man with a blues guitar and... boots and the quick banter.

I learned English, my sixth language at this point, quite quickly.

There are millions of people living Thoreau's life of quiet desperation, and they do not have the language to escape from that desperation.

I used to be a bit quieter and I think living in America has made me a little more open about talking to other people.

No one says the word 'quirky' much in England. I guess because people are more naturally eccentric.