Quotes About Language

The first thing we offer a visitor is a tecito, an agüita, or a vinito, a "nice little drink" of tea, water, or wine. We always add the diminutive -ito to our words, almost as an apology for offering, in accord with our desire not to be noticed and our horror of putting on airs, even with words.

Words] are free. No matter how many syllables they have: free! You can use as many as you want, forever.

Despite being English, they served an edible meal.

Las creencias propias se llaman religión, las de los demás se llaman superstición, lo nuestro es idioma, lo que hablan los demás son dialectos, y lo que hacen los blancos se llama arte, y lo que hacen las demás razas es artesanía.

Despite being English, they served an edible meal.~p 108, A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende

Despite being English, they served an edible meal. -A Long Petal of the Sea, page 108

Tu piensas en palabras,para ti el lenguaje es un hilo inagotable que tejes como si la vida se hiciera al contarla. Yo pienso en imágenes congeladas en una fotografía.

Much which is unworthy in human life might be avoided if people would only accustom themselves to talking in verse

I'm quite proud of growing up in New Zealand where, from quite early on in primary school, you're learning to count in Maori, Maori mythology and dances and colours and history, and I think that gives a child a really good grounding.

'Commonwealth' is not a word I ever used growing up in Colombo. There, in the late 1950s, it would have meant little more than New Zealand lamb and Anchor butter at the cold stores.

It's my mission to get the New Zealand accent into a Hollywood show. I'm proud of the way we talk, and I'm here to represent it. Kiwis are everywhere: they're in every city of the world. I've checked. We have a voice... it's a bit of a funny one at times, but it's one that I want to promote.

Podcasts immersed me in colloquial English and put me back in the American zeitgeist.

American dog say, 'Woof, woof.' Korean dog say, 'Mung, mung.' Polish dog say, 'How, how.' So which dog barking is correct? That is human beings' barking, not 'dog' barking. If dog and you become one hundred percent one, then you know sound of barking. This is Zen teaching. Boom! Become one.

With English literature, if you do a bit of shonky spelling, no one dies, but if you're half-way through a maths calculation and you stick in an extra zero, everything just crashes into the ravine.

Go learn the language. Go take some acting lessons. Start from zero like everybody else.

I am glad that Zimbabwe and China speak the same language on many issues. We share the same conviction that only a fair, just, and non-prescriptive world order, based on the principles of the charter of the United Nations, can deliver the development we all need.

In 1993, when I landed in Zimbabwe, there were just 10 psychiatrists in that country of 10 million people. Nine of the 10 were foreigners who spoke no regional language.

There's a lot of different styles of hypnosis. There's conversational hypnosis, which, even though we joke about it, politicians use conversational hypnosis. I've been hired back at home in Ireland by certain politicians to assist them in specific language patterns that will just tip people over into their, you know, into their zone.

In Italy, you're in your comfort zone when it comes to language, lifestyle, your habits and preparations, and moving abroad is not easy. It's not easy to carry over your own ideas about football, your own methods. You have to get everything across in a different language, and that wastes a lot of energy.

The men who act stand nearer to the mass of man than the men who write; and it is in their hands that new thought gets its translation into the crude language of deeds.

He speaks English with the flawless imperfection of a New Yorker.

A town that has no ceiling price, A town of double-talk; A town so big men name her twice, Like so: 'N'Yawk, N'Yawk.'

To be an architect is to possess an individual voice speaking a generally understood language of form.

The pen is the tongue of the mind.