Speech is the mirror of the soul; as a man speaks, so is he.

Language is the house of being. In its home human beings dwell. Those who think and those who create with words are the guardians of this home.

Language ought to be the joint creation of poets and manual workers.

In the case of news, we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation.

Methinks the human method of expression by sound of tongue is very elementary and ought to be substituted for some ingenious invention which should be able to give vent to at least six coherent sentences at once.

The only authors whom I acknowledge as American are the journalists. They indeed are not great writers, but they speak the language of their countrymen, and make themselves heard by them. 

I have often repented speaking, but never of holding my tongue.

We should have a great many fewer disputes in the world if words were taken for what they are, the signs of our ideas only, and not for things themselves.

Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.

Slang is as old as speech and the congregating together of people in cities. It is the result of crowding and excitement and artificial life.

No one gossips about other people’s secret virtues.

Man is the one name belonging to every nation upon earth: there is one soul and many tongues, one spirit and various sounds; every country has its own speech, but the subjects of speech are common to all.

Unexemplary words and unfounded doctrines are avoided by the noble person. Why utter them?