513 quotes found
“Let it not be said that I have said nothing new. The arrangement of the material is new.”
“Speech is civilization itself. The word even the most contradictory word preserves contact - it is silence which isolates.”
“Like stones words are laborious and unforgiving and the fitting of them together like the fitting of stones demands great patience and strength of purpose and particular skill.”
“One way of looking at speech is to say it is a constant stratagem to cover nakedness.”
“The downtrodden who are the great creators of slang hurl pithiness and colour at poverty and oppression.”
“Slang is language which takes off its coat spits on its hands - and goes to work.”
“Man's command of the language is most important. Next to kissing it's the most exciting form of communication.”
“"Plain English" - everybody loves it demands it - from the other fellow.”
“Words are as recalcitrant as circus animals and the unskilled trainer can crack his whip at them in vain.”
“You have to fall in love with hanging around words.”
“Language is the armoury of the human mind and at once contains the trophies of its past and the weapons of its future conquests.”
“Everyone hears only what he understands.”
“When I feel inclined to read poetry I take down my dictionary. The poetry of words is quite as beautiful as the poetry of sentences.”
“Language most shows a man speak that I may see thee.”
“True eloquence consists of saying all that should be not all that could be said.”
“Even if language is a living evolving organism we don't have to embrace all the changes that occur during our lifetimes. If language is so alive it can get sick.”
“Our language one of our most precious natural resources deserves at least as much protection as our woodlands streams and whooping cranes.”
“His words were softer than oil yet they were drawn swords.”
“Language is an inventory of human experience.”
“Change is legitimate and inevitable for our language is a mighty river picking up silt and flotsam here and discarding it there but growing ever wider and richer.”
