In the case of news, we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation.
—Voltaire, 1764Quotes
It is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs.
—Thomas Hardy, 1874Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height.
—E.M. Forster, 1910The 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.
—Alexis de Tocqueville, 1840Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands, and goes to work.
—Carl Sandburg, 1959When action grows unprofitable, gather information; when information grows unprofitable, sleep.
—Ursula K. Le Guin, 1969God never sent a messenger save with the language of his folk, that he might make the message clear for them.
—The Qur’an, c. 620Language is a part of our organism and no less complicated than it.
—Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1915Making a film means, first of all, to tell a story. That story can be an improbable one, but it should never be banal. It must be dramatic and human. What is drama, after all, but life with the dull bits cut out?
—Alfred Hitchcock, 1962I live by good soup, and not on fine language.
—Molière, 1672History does not merely touch on language, but takes place in it.
—Theodor Adorno, c. 1946Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us all without words?
—Marcel Marceau, 1958I have often repented speaking, but never of holding my tongue.
—Xenocrates, c. 350 BC