best quotations about
Language |
| 67 quotes | Visits: 2,383 |
Quotations
 | By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth. — George Carlin, 1936-2008, American comedian 22 likes |
 | I dream of a language whose words, like fists, would fracture jaws. — Emile M. Cioran, 1911-1995, French-Romanian philosopher 5 likes |
 | Language etches the grooves through which your thoughts must flow. — Noam Chomsky, 1928-, American linguist, philosopher, social activist 5 likes |
 | The limits of my language mean the limits of my world. — Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1889-1951, Austrian philosopher 4 likes |
| The aim of philosophy is to erect a wall at the point where language stops anyway. — Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1889-1951, Austrian philosopher 4 likes |
 | The language of God is not English or Latin; the language of God is cellular and molecular. — Timothy Leary, 1920-1996, American psychologist 4 likes |
 | He who does not speak foreign languages knows nothing about his own. — Wolfgang Goethe, 1749-1832, German poet & philosopher 4 likes |
 | No language has ever had a word for a virgin man. — Will Durant, 1885-1981, American historian & philosopher 4 likes |
 | It is by the audacity of their grammatical mistakes that we recognize the great writers. — Henry de Montherlant, 1895-1972, French writer 4 likes |
 | I have nothing in my mind except liberty and language. — Dionysios Solomos, 1797-1857, Greek poet 4 likes |
| Language disguises thought. — Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1889-1951, Austrian philosopher 4 likes |
 | Poetry is a separate language, or more specifically, a language within a language. — Paul Valery, 1871-1945, French poet 3 likes |
 | Accent is the soul of language; it gives to it both feeling and truth. — Jean Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778, Swiss-French philosopher 3 likes |
| To imagine a language is to imagine a form of life. — Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1889-1951, Austrian philosopher 3 likes |
 | Language is a spiritual mansion in which you live and nobody has the right to evict you. — Saul Bellow, 1914-2005, Canadian-American writer, Nobel 1976 3 likes |
 | My dialogue coach said to do a Texas accent, you lean on the next word, and that was the clue to me. — Michael Caine, 1933-, English actor 3 likes |
 | Fashion is a language that creates itself in clothes to interpret reality. — Karl Lagerfeld, 1933-2019, German fashion designer 3 likes |
| The earliest uses of writing in Greece were probably commercial or religious; apparently priestly charms and chants are the mother of poetry, and bills of lading are the father of prose. — Will Durant, 1885-1981, American historian & philosopher 3 likes |
 | Grammar: a complicated structure that teaches language but impedes speaking. — Pitigrilli (Dino Segre), 1893-1975, Italian writer 2 likes |
 | Language is the dress of thought. — Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784, English writer 2 likes |
 | It is very strange of God to learn Greek when He decided to become a writer and then to learn it so badly. — Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900, German philosopher 2 likes |
| Language is the pedigree of nations. — Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784, English writer 2 likes |
| Greek, sir, is like lace; every man gets as much of it as he can. — Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784, English writer 2 likes |
 | The unconscious is structured like a language. — Jacques Lacan, 1901-1981, French psychoanalyst 2 likes |
 | The mentality of mankind and the language of mankind created each other. — Alfred North Whitehead, 1861-1947, British philosopher & mathematician 2 likes |
 | Language is the mother of thought, not its handmaiden. — Karl Kraus, 1874-1936, Austrian writer 2 likes |
| My language is the common prostitute that I turn into a virgin. — Karl Kraus, 1874-1936, Austrian writer 2 likes |
 | The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language. — George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, Irish writer, Nobel 1925 2 likes |
 | Language serves not only to express thought but to make possible thoughts which could not exist without it. |
| Like everything metaphysical the harmony between thought and reality is to be found in the grammar of the language. |
| Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of our language. |
| An entire mythology is stored within our language. |
 | All language is but a poor translation |
 | I beg your pardon: correct English is the slang of prigs who write history and essays. And the strongest slang of all is the slang of poets. |
 | Dictionary, n. A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. |
 | Music has seven letters, writing has twenty-six notes |
 | Language is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they grow. |
 | We never do anything well till we cease to think about the manner of doing it. This is the reason why it is so difficult for any but natives to speak a language correctly or idiomatically. |
 | We are trying to unravel the Mighty Infinite using a language which was designed to tell one another where the fresh fruit was. |
 | History does not merely touch on language, but takes place in it. |
 | Language is the house of Being. In its home man dwells. Those who think and those who create with words are the guardians of this home. |
 | As a poet, there is only one political duty, and that is to defend one’s language from corruption. |
| A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language. |
 | Language does for intelligence what the wheel does for the feet and the body. It enables them to move from thing to thing with greater ease and speed and ever less involvement. — Marshall McLuhan, 1911-1980, Canadian academic & media theorist |
| Nobody ever made a grammatical error in a non-literate society. — Marshall McLuhan, 1911-1980, Canadian academic & media theorist |
| The Greeks invented both their artistic and scientific novelties after the interiorization of the alphabet. — Marshall McLuhan, 1911-1980, Canadian academic & media theorist |
 | When I read Shakespeare I am struck with wonder that such trivial people should muse and thunder in such lovely language. |
 | The original is unfaithful to the translation. |
| The dictionary is based on the hypothesis – obviously an unproven one – that languages are made up of equivalent synonyms. |
 | Language can become a screen which stands between the thinker and reality. This is the reason why true creativity often starts where language ends. |
 | Human vocabulary is still not capable, and probably never will be, of knowing, recognizing, and communicating everything that can be humanly experienced and felt. |
 | The eyes have one language everywhere. |
 | All terms about love have Greek etymology. Only sex doesn't have. |
 | Whatever diplomats and poets may say, the most important trait of language is clarity. |
 | The unconscious is the ocean of the unsayable, of what has been expelled from the land of language, removed as a result of ancient prohibitions. |
 | If it is true that the violin is the most perfect of musical instruments, then Greek is the violin of human thought. |
| If a lion could talk, we could not understand him. |
| Logic is to grammar what the meaning of the words is to their sound. |
 | Too many Republicans treat English as a second language, with Beltway lingo being their native tongue. |
Personal Stories
 | The Germans and I no longer speak the same language. — Marlen Dietrich, 1901-1992, German-American actress 4 likes |
Latin Quotes
 | Anything said in Latin sounds profound. Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur. 59 likes |
Quotes in Verse
 | This is how it always is when I finish a poem. A great silence overcomes me and I wonder why I ever thought to use language. — Rumi, 1207-1273, Persian mystic & poet 4 likes |
 | For last year's words belong to last year's language And next year's words await another voice. — T. S. Eliot, 1888-1965, British poet, Nobel 1948 3 likes |
Funny Quotes
 | In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their language. — Mark Twain, 1835-1910, American writer 5 likes |
| In language gender is particularly confusing. Why, please, should a table be male in German, female in French, and castrated in English? — Marlen Dietrich, 1901-1992, German-American actress 2 likes |
 | Let’s face it, English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. |
 | It's a strange world of language in which skating on thin ice can get you into hot water. |
