Quotes About Language

Langdon was impressed. "You know Latin." "I grew up Catholic. I know sin.

The symbol "&" was a logogram—literally a picture representing a word. While many people assumed the symbol derived from the English word "and," it actually derived from the Latin word et. The ampersand's unusual design "&" was a typographical fusion of the letters E and T—the ligature still visible today in computer fonts like Trebuchet, whose ampersand "" clearly echoed its Latin origin.

As their notoriety spread, these lethal men became known by a single word—Hassassin—literally "the followers of hashish." The name Hassassin became synonymous with death in almost every language on earth. The word was still used today, even in modern English . . . but like the craft of killing, the word had evolved. It was now pronounced assassin.

English, of course. The universal language of science- Maximilian Kohler

science and religion are often attempting to tell the same story in two different languages.

talking about clear minds writing in clear language—the predictions of Saint Augustine, Sir Francis Bacon, Newton, Einstein, the list goes on and on, all anticipating a transformative moment of enlightenment. Even

many of the stars bearing names beside them: Vega, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Algebar, Deneb, Acrab, Kitalpha. "Their names are all derived from Arabic," Edmond said. "To this day, more than two-thirds of the stars in the sky have names from that language because they were discovered by astronomers in the Arab world.

Religion is like language or dress. We gravitate toward the practices with which we were raised. In the end, though, we are all proclaiming the same thing. That life has meaning. That we are grateful for the power that created us." Langdon

La religión es como un idioma o un vestido. Gravitamos alrededor de las prácticas en las que hemos sido educados. Al final, sin embargo, todos proclamamos lo mismo; que la vida tiene sentido, que nos sentimos agradecidos por el poder que nos ha creado.

Ma, signore, è una donna

In the 1600s," he said, talking faster now, "English was one language the Vatican had not yet embraced. They dealt in Italian, Latin, German, even Spanish and French, but English was totally foreign inside the Vatican. They considered English a polluted, free-thinkers' language for profane men like Chaucer and Shakespeare.

A decir verdad, fueron los osos polares los que bautizaron el Ártico. Arktos es «oso» en griego.

and religion are not competitors, they're two different languages trying to tell the same story. There's room in this world for both.

Perhaps miracle is the wrong word. I was simply trying to speak your language." "My language?" Langdon was suddenly uncomfortable. "Not to disappoint you, sir, but I study religious symbology—I'm an academic, not a priest." Kohler slowed suddenly and turned, his gaze softening a bit. "Of course. How simple of me. One does not need to have cancer to analyze its symptoms.

it should come as no surprise to us that the greatest invention the human mind has created is the computer—a machine designed specifically to help us create order out of chaos. In fact, the word in Spanish for computer is ordenador—quite literally, 'that which creates order.'

Spanish for computer is ordenador—quite literally, 'that which creates order.

he dicho que el

This is one of those things that you can never explain to anyone; that's what I want to explain - one of those free-association moments with connections that dissolve when you start to try to put them into words.

the conventions of language reveal the ways we see the world.

A philosopher/mathematician named Bertrand Russell who lived and died in the same century as Gass once wrote: "Language serves not only to express thought but to make possible thoughts which could not exist without it." Here is the essence of mankind's creative genius: not the edifices of civilization nor the bang-flash weapons which can end it, but the words which fertilize new concepts like spermatazoa attacking an ovum.

Mark Twain once opined in his homey way: "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.

This is every writer's nightmare--the sudden breakdown of meaning in the language that sustains and supports us...

He loved the darkness and the mystery of the Catholic service--the tall priest strutting like a carrion crow and pronouncing magic in a dead language, the immediate magic of the Eucharist bringing the dead back to life so that the faithful could devour Him and become of Him, the smell of incense and the mystical chanting.

The life of a poet lies not merely in the finite language-dance of expression but in the nearly infinite combinations of perception and memory combined with the sensitivity to what is perceived and remembered.