Every man is surrounded by a neighborhood of voluntary spies.

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.

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.

God never sent a messenger save with the language of his folk, that he might make the message clear for them.

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.

No one gossips about other people’s secret virtues.

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

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

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.

Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us all without words?

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

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.

Every man has a right to utter what he thinks truth, and every other man has a right to knock him down for it. Martyrdom is the test.