Quotes About Language

All the words I have to say have turned into stars.

If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music.

T]he truth is that fullness of soul can sometimes overflow in utter vapidity of language, for none of us can ever express the exact measure of his needs or his thoughts or his sorrows; and human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars.

La parole humaine est comme un chaudron fêlé où nous battons des mélodies à faire danser les ours, quand on voudrait attendrir les étoiles.

What wretched poverty of language! To compare stars to diamonds!

Language is like a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity.

as if the fullness of the soul did not sometimes overflow in the emptiest metaphors, since no one can ever give the exact measure of his needs, nor of his conceptions, nor of his sorrows; and since human speech is like a cracked tin kettle, on which we hammer out tunes to make bears dance when we long to move the stars.

God is only a word dreamed up to explain the world

Emma was just like any other mistress; and the charm of novelty, falling down slowly like a dress, exposed only the eternal monotony of passion, always the same forms and the same language.

Speech is a rolling-mill that always thins out the sentiment.

Human Language is like a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, when all the time we are longing to move the stars to pity.

Ils en conclurent que la syntaxe est une fantaisie et la grammaire une illusion.

No one, ever, can give the exact measure of his needs, his apprehensions, or his sorrows; and human speech is like a cracked cauldron on which we bang out tunes that make bears dance, when we want to move the stars to pity.

Speech is a rolling mill which always stretches out the feelings that go into it.

Il citait du latin, tant il était exaspéré.

Speech is a rolling machine that always stretches the feelings it expresses.

He had heard these things said to him so often that for him there was nothing original about them. Emma was like any other of his mistresses, and the charm of novelty slipping off gradually like a peace of clothing revealed in his nakedness the eternal monotony of passion which always assumes the same form and uses the same languages. He could not perceive, this man of such broad experiences, the difference in feelings that might underlay similarities of expression.

human speech is like a cracked tin kettle, on which we hammer out tunes to make bears dance when we long to move the stars.

Como si la plenitud del alma no se desborda algunas veces en las metáforas más vacías

Poor human weakness! With your words, your languages, your sounds, you speak and stammer—you define God, the heaven and the earth, chemistry and philosophy, and you cannot express, with your language, all the joy that you derive from a naked woman—or a plum pudding.

Nessuno, mai, riesce a dare l'esatta misura di ciò che pensa, di ciò che soffre, della necessità che lo incalza, e la parola umana è spesso come un pentolino di latta su cui andiamo battendo melodie da far ballare gli orsi mentre vorremmo intenerire le stelle.

Bisognava ridurre alle loro giuste proporzioni i discorsi esagerati che nascondono affetti mediocri. Come se la piena del cuore traboccasse talvolta nelle metafore più vacue. Giacché nessuno ha mai l'esatta misura dei propri bisogni, delle proprie idee, dei propri dolori, giacché la parola umana è come una caldaia incrinata sulla quale battiamo per cavare, alla fine, una musica capace di far ballare gli orsi: e dire che, invece, vorremmo intenerire le stelle!

las palabras exageradas que ocultaban medianas afecciones

In the music class, in the ballads she sang, there was no question of anything but little golden-winged angels, madonnas, lagoons, gondoliers, peaceful compositions which allowed her to glimpse, through the inanity of language and the forced notes, the enticing phantasmagoria of sentimental truths.