The newspaper is the natural enemy of the book, as the whore is of the decent woman.

Words pay no debts.

Speak and speed; the close mouth catches no flies.

It is a luxury to be understood.

Information can tell us everything. It has all the answers. But they are answers to questions we have not asked, and which doubtless don’t even arise.

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.

Language is the archives of history.

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

My language is the common prostitute that I turn into a virgin.

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. 

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.

Every man is surrounded by a neighborhood of voluntary spies.

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