The chief merit of language is clearness, and we know that nothing detracts so much from this as do unfamiliar terms.

Language is a part of our organism and no less complicated than it.

Words pay no debts.

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

How absurd men are! They never use the liberties they have, they demand those they do not have. They have freedom of thought, they demand freedom of speech.

Making 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?

Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands, and goes to work.

Under all speech that is good for anything, there lies a silence that is better. Silence is deep as eternity; speech is shallow as time.

History does not merely touch on language, but takes place in it.

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.

Writing cannot express words fully; words cannot express thoughts fully.

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.