Archive

Quotes

It is a luxury to be understood.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1831

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

—Theodor Adorno, c. 1946

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

—Publilius Syrus, c. 50 BC

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

—Carl Sandburg, 1959

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

—Dong Zhongshu, c. 120 BC

Speak and speed; the close mouth catches no flies.

—Benjamin Franklin, c. 1732

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.

—John Camden Hotten, 1859

Words pay no debts.

—William Shakespeare, 1601

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

—The Book of Changes, c. 350 BC

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

—Voltaire, c. 1732

Every man is surrounded by a neighborhood of voluntary spies.

—Jane Austen, 1818

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

—Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1915

Only 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, 1910