The Quotes canon
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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Language31 quotes
Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent. — Ludwig Wittgenstein · 1921Other people's words are the bridge you use to cross from where you were to wherever you're going. — Zadie Smith · 2010The words we use are the worlds we live in. — Richard Ford · 2014The metaphor is probably the most fertile power possessed by man. — Jose Ortega y Gasset · 1925There is a weird power in a spoken word... And a word carries far—very far—deals destruction through time as the bullets go flying through space. — Joseph Conrad · 1900Man acts as though he were the shaper and master of language, while in fact language remains the master of man. — Martin Heidegger · 1951All 31 quotes →Power of words5 quotes
Other people's words are the bridge you use to cross from where you were to wherever you're going. — Zadie Smith · 2010The words we use are the worlds we live in. — Richard Ford · 2014There is a weird power in a spoken word... And a word carries far—very far—deals destruction through time as the bullets go flying through space. — Joseph Conrad · 1900Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind. — Rudyard Kipling · 1923I've always sensed that language is the great liberator. The fitting phrase, the precise word-these permit us to be more nearly ourselves. — Carol Shields · 1993Words5 quotes
For, though the origin of most of our words is forgotten, each word was at first a stroke of genius, and obtained currency, because for the moment it symbolized the world to the first speaker and to the hearer. The etymologist finds the deadest word to have been once a brilliant picture. — Ralph Waldo Emerson · 1844Dictionaries are but the depositories of words already legitimated by usage. Society is the work-shop in which new ones are elaborated. When an individual uses a new word, if illformed it is rejected in society, if well-informed, adopted, and, after due time, laid up in the depository of dictionaries. — Thomas Jefferson · 1820Words being arbitrary must owe their power to association, and have the influence, and that only, which custom has given them. Language is the dress of thought. — Samuel Johnson · 1779All words are pegs to hang ideas on. — Henry Ward Beecher · 1887Every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness. — Samuel Beckett · 1969Limits of language4 quotes
Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent. — Ludwig Wittgenstein · 1921Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars. — Gustave Flaubert · 1856The limits of my language mean the limits of my world. — Ludwig Wittgenstein · 1922An idea does not pass from one language to another without change. — Miguel de Unamuno · 1913Interconnectedness of all people2 quotes
Man is one name belonging to every nation upon earth. In them all is one soul though many tongues. Every country has its own language; yet the subjects of which the untutored soul speaks are the same everywhere. — Tertullian · 198Language, that most human invention, can enable what, in principle, should not be possible. It can allow all of us, even the congenitally blind, to see with another person’s eyes. — Oliver Sacks · 2010Language and thought2 quotes
We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native languages. The categories and types that we isolate from the world of phenomena we do not find there because they stare every observer in the face; on the contrary, the world is presented in a kaleidoscopic flux of impressions which has to be organized by our minds-and this means largely by the linguistic systems in our minds. We cut nature up, organize it into concepts, and ascribe significances as we do, largely because we are parties to an agreement that holds throughout our speech community and is codified in the patterns of our language. — Benjamin Lee Whorf · 1940Language and our thought-grooves are inextricably interwoven, are, in a sense, one and the same. — Edward Sapir · 1921Linguistic diversity2 quotes
I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigree of nations. — Samuel Johnson · 1773Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. — Genesis 11:9 · 1405 BCMeaning of words2 quotes
Dictionaries are but the depositories of words already legitimated by usage. Society is the work-shop in which new ones are elaborated. When an individual uses a new word, if illformed it is rejected in society, if well-informed, adopted, and, after due time, laid up in the depository of dictionaries. — Thomas Jefferson · 1820Words being arbitrary must owe their power to association, and have the influence, and that only, which custom has given them. Language is the dress of thought. — Samuel Johnson · 1779Drugs1 quote
Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind. — Rudyard Kipling · 1923Empathy1 quote
Language, that most human invention, can enable what, in principle, should not be possible. It can allow all of us, even the congenitally blind, to see with another person’s eyes. — Oliver Sacks · 2010Flirting1 quote
Language was developed for one endeavor, and that is...to woo women. — John Keating · 1989Foreign languages1 quote
He who does not know foreign languages knows nothing of his own. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · 1821Japanese poetry1 quote
I learned precision of language from Japanese poetry. — Octavio PazLawyers1 quote
I know you Lawyers can, with ease,
Twist words and meanings as you please;
That language, by your skill made pliant,
Will bend to favour every client. — John Gay · 1732Limits of knowledge1 quote
Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language. — Ludwig Wittgenstein · 1953Man and animals1 quote
People suppose that words are different from the peeps of baby birds, but is there any difference, or isn't there? — Zhuang Zhou · 220 BCMotivation1 quote
There are no two words in the English language more harmful than good job. — Fletcher · 2014Philosophy1 quote
Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language. — Ludwig Wittgenstein · 1953Poetry1 quote
I learned precision of language from Japanese poetry. — Octavio PazRhetoric1 quote
I know you Lawyers can, with ease,
Twist words and meanings as you please;
That language, by your skill made pliant,
Will bend to favour every client. — John Gay · 1732Silence1 quote
Every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness. — Samuel Beckett · 1969Silence is golden1 quote
Every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness. — Samuel Beckett · 1969The human condition1 quote
Language, that most human invention, can enable what, in principle, should not be possible. It can allow all of us, even the congenitally blind, to see with another person’s eyes. — Oliver Sacks · 2010Translation1 quote
An idea does not pass from one language to another without change. — Miguel de Unamuno · 1913