Quotes About Language

A poem records emotions and moods that lie beyond normal language, that can only be patched together and hinted at metaphorically.

I think we would all like to believe that every new event demands a new word. But we're environmentally conscious with our words. We recycle words we've got.

When you start writing a picture book, you have to write a manuscript that has enough language to prompt the illustrator to get his or her gears running, but then you end up having to cut it out because you don't want any of the language to be redundant to the pictures that are being drawn.

To my ear, the term 'comic novelist' is as redundant and off-putting as the term 'literary novelist'.

An academic dialect is perfected when its terms are hard to understand and refer only to one another.

Not even a maggot is an it, and to refer to any animal in that manner is an affectation, an ignorant stab at science-speak.

I don't want to reclaim the word 'tranny.' I don't want anyone to refer to me as 'tranny.'

I refer to myself as an actor. I mean, why is there an 'actor' and an 'actress' when there is no 'doctor' and 'doctoress' or 'lawyer' and 'lawyeress?'

Meaning is what essence becomes when it is divorced from the object of reference and wedded to the word.

Just drawing on my own experience, I never - I never - personally reference myself as old. I don't think of myself as old, but I certainly would not say that to a man.

I think being a foreigner and talking about Hollywood allowed me to use some cliches and some references that an American would maybe not use.

I will no longer be referred to as Miss Steinem of Ms. magazine.

Whatever is referred to must exist. Let us call this the axiom of existence.

We have an opportunity with the Model S to refine the design language, the surfacing, and all aspects of functionality.

I have a handicap in that English is not my first language. So even though I'm a writer, I don't write anymore because it's just harder in English.

In our hands, even the straightest lyric sounded shady.

If I ever saw an amputee getting hanged, I'd probably just start calling out letters.

I would happily do any Malayalam or Bengali film, if the script is good and I get a good challenge as an actor.

Moving to France is not the hard part. Living here is more difficult. Of course there are many benefits but it's not always easy especially if you don't speak the language.

People have asked me why are Australians and Brits so good at American accents, and it's quite simple. We grew up listening to the American sound on our TV. That's why American actors have a hard time with foreign accents.

My family was always playing with words. It is little wonder that even after I got serious about writing, I've had a hard time getting serious about words.

Sometimes words are harder than blows.

My mom and my dad wanted my brother and I to have a better life, you know, better education, better jobs. It was probably harder, much, much harder, for my parents. When you're a kid, you can learn a language much more easily; I learned English in less than a year.

So the language of musical harmony is an absolutely extraordinary one. It's a way of navigating one's emotional frameworks, but without the need to put things into words, and I think that, as with many other languages, it doesn't matter how much you know about a language.