Quotes About Language

'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.' 'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.' 'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master - that's all.'

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.

Words, like eyeglasses, blur everything that they do not make clear.

There is only one way to degrade mankind permanently and that is to destroy language.

The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.

I wonder what language truck drivers are using, now that everyone is using theirs?

England and America are two countries separated by the same language.

The Englishman loves to roll his tongue around the word, 'extraordinary'. It so pleases him that he is reluctant to finish the sound which goes on into harmonics and overtones. The North American publisher is likewise inclined.

Words are feminine; deeds are masculine.

Speech is civilization itself. The word, even the most contradictory word, preserves contact - it is silence which isolates.

Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.

One way of looking at speech is to say it is a constant stratagem to cover nakedness.

The downtrodden, who are the great creators of slang, hurl pithiness and colour at poverty and oppression.

Slang is language which takes off its coat, spits on its hands - and goes to work.

"Plain English" - everybody loves it, demands it - from the other fellow.

Words are as recalcitrant as circus animals, and the unskilled trainer can crack his whip at them in vain.

The magic of the tongue is the most dangerous of all spells.

A word after a word after a word is power.

You have to fall in love with hanging around words.

Language is the armoury of the human mind; and at once contains the trophies of its past, and the weapons of its future conquests.

When I feel inclined to read poetry, I take down my dictionary. The poetry of words is quite as beautiful as the poetry of sentences.

Even if language is a living evolving organism, we don't have to embrace all the changes that occur during our lifetimes. If language is so alive, it can get sick.

Our language, one of our most precious natural resources, deserves at least as much protection as our woodlands, streams and whooping cranes.

His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.