Quotes About Language

Incompetence will show in the use of too many words. The reader's first and simplest test of an author will be to look for words that do not function; that contribute nothing to the meaning OR that distract from the MOST important factor of the meaning to factors of minor importance.

Good writers are those who keep the language efficient. That is to say, keep it accurate, keep it clear. It doesn't matter whether the good writer wants to be useful, or whether the bad writer wants to do harm.

I resolved that at 30 I would know more about poetry than any man living, that I would know what was accounted poetry everywhere, what part of poetry was "indestructible," what part could not be lost by translation and—scarcely less important—what effects were obtainable in one language only and were utterly incapable of being translated.

To communicate and then stop, that is the law of discourse To go far and come to an end

Another point miscomprehended by people who are clumsy at languages is that one does not need to learn a whole language in order to understand some one or some dozen poems. It is often enough to understand throroughly the poem, and every one of the few dozen of few hundred words that compose it.

Rhythm must have meaning.

The sum of human wisdom is not contained in any one language, and no single language is capable of expressing all forms and degrees of human comprehension.

When words cease to cling close to things, kingdoms fall, empires wane and diminish.

And the good writer chooses his words for their 'meaning', but that meaning is not a a set, cut-off thing like the move of knight or pawn on a chess-board. It comes up with roots, with associations, with how and where the word is familiarly used, or where it has been used brilliantly or memorably.

In the scriptures there is no such thing as righteous pride—it is always considered a sin. Therefore, no matter how the world uses the term, we must understand how God uses the term so we can understand the language of holy writ and profit thereby.

Language and History in Viking Age England: Language Relations between Speakers of Old Norse and Old English (Turnbout, 2002).

He repeated to himself an old French proverb that he had made up that morning.

What is spoken flies, what is written never dies.

For me, French is so rich and so sacred that learning it is like learning a foreign language.

The first rule of translation: make sure you know at least one of the bloody languages!

Usually plot is to fiction what form is to poetry. It lifts and fills the rambling language and presses it down into a single shape and sound. (85)

I traveled to the page where scripture meets fiction. The paper slept but the night in me woke up. Black letters were now alive and collectible in a material crawl. I could not decipher their intentions anymore. To what end did their shapes come forth? To seduce or speak truth?

I know it's hard for American students to reach out to us refugees, and maybe you worry about being rejected or put on the spot. But here is one thing I want to say in this book: it's harder for us to reach out to you - we, with our clumsy English. I want to say, Don't be afraid of us - you have to understand: We're afraid of you. We want to make friends, but you have to take the first step.

Talking about dreams is like talking about movies, since the cinema uses the language of dreams; years can pass in a second and you can hop from one place to another. Itís a language made of image. And in the real cinema, every object and every light means something, as in a dream.

Chaque langue voit le monde d'une manière différente.

Talking about dreams is like talking about movies, since the cinema uses the language of dreams; years can pass in a second and you can hop from one place to another. It's a language made of image. And in the real cinema, every object and every light means something, as in a dream.

Hay cosas que no se pueden decir porque no hay palabras para decirlas; y si las hubiera, nadie entendería su significado.

Gelmek istemiyor gece.. Ne sen gelebiliyorsun o yüzden Ne de ben gidebiliyorum. Ama ben gideceÄŸim. Akrepten bir güneÅŸ ÅŸaka??m? yese de... Ama sen geleceksin. Dilin tuzlu yaÄŸmurlarca yak?lm?? olsa da...