Language Quotes

"The greatest tie of all is language.…Words are the only things that last for ever. The most tremendous monuments or prodigies of engineering crumble under the hand of Time. The Pyramids moulder, the bridges rust, the canals fill up, grass covers the railway track; but words spoken two or three thousand years ago remain with us now, not as mere relics of the past, but with all their pristine vital force."

"Envisage—an unpleasant and overworked word."

"The recognition of their language is precious to a small people."

"Words can sometimes, in moments of grace, attain the quality of deeds."

"One should use common words to say uncommon things"

"Man acts as though he were the shaper and master of language, while in fact language remains the master of man."

"I like good strong words that mean something."

"Translation is the art of failure"

"Books and harlots have their own glow"

"Ye knowe ek that in forme of speeche is change"

"Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood"

"A word devoid of thought is a dead thing, and a thought unembodied in words remains a shadow"

"Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic, capable of both inflicting injury and remedying it"

"The past is always tense the future perfect"

"Speech is the twin of my vision, it is unequal to measure itself"