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

Speak and speed; the close mouth catches no flies.

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.

It is impossible to translate the poets. Can you translate music?

Every man is surrounded by a neighborhood of voluntary spies.

Language is the archives of history.

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

It is a luxury to be understood.

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

The more the pleasures of the body fade away, the greater to me is the pleasure and charm of conversation.

Language is the armory of the human mind and at once contains the trophies of its past and the weapons of its future conquests. 

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

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.