Quotes About Language

Americans have a wonderful way of just butchering everyone's names.

I believe that the development of language - of naming, categorization, conceptualization - destroys our ability to see as we age.

I did try to write stories in college because I was interested in writing, and I was interested in the sound of language, but I was just no good at narrative and at fiction.

The exact meaning of irony is so narrow that the word is hardly worth using; in its broad, current definition, it's a euphemism for sarcasm. 'I'm not being sarcastic; I'm being ironic.' No, you're not. You're evading the responsibility for being sarcastic.

The decline of literature indicates the decline of a nation.

If a nation's literature declines, the nation atrophies and decays.

I read everything from comics to magazines to fiction - I learned to read in English, years before being able to speak a word of it, by reading 'National Geographic.'

It would, of course, be hopeless to attempt to crowd into an international language all those local overtones of meaning which are so dear to the heart of the nationalist.

The world of classical music is so fascinating. It's a world that encompasses people from everywhere and erases the basic restraints of nationality; everyone is united by this common language of music.

Many nations use language simply to convey information, but it's different in Ireland. With most conversational exchanges you get an 'added extra' like the free little biscuit you sometimes get with a cappuccino in a fancy coffee place.

The position is: the Gaelic language is no longer the native language; it is dead, yet food is being brought to the graveyard.

To be successful in my native France, where people speak the same language and understand me, is nothing.

I've always considered myself to be Russian: my native language is Russian.

Do not use that foreign word 'ideals.' We have that excellent native word 'lies.'

Latin is beautiful and has become something of an international language, but there is also something about singing in your native language that has meaning.

The fight to grab eyeballs for Marathi films is intense because a majority of Maharashtrians speak Hindi and there's no undivided loyalty to their native language among them.

The simplicities of natural laws arise through the complexities of the language we use for their expression.

Children seem naturally drawn to poetry - it's some combination of the rhyme, rhythm, and the words themselves.

I want to be able to speak every language. If I could have any talent and I get to choose it, and be naturally gifted and speak every language. It's not going to happen, but it sure would be nice. It's a good wish.

Once you embody the language, the character comes really naturally, especially when you put the costume on.

Language," he wrote, "is both a product of history and possesses a history of its own.

Everything that was created changes. But time was not created. Time does not change. Time does not " do " anything. Time is a word we use to describe what existence exists in.

We developed a capacity for language 50,000 to 100,000 years ago . The first modern humans began migrating out of Africa as much as 120,000 years ago . Once upon a time , almost all of us lived in Africa . And we were all black .

Writing means making things large.