Quotes about Language (page 2)

quotes
121
authors
106
Origin
What do these mean?
“The individual's whole experience is built upon the plan of his language.”
Language
“Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about.”
Language
“All true language is incomprehensible, like the chatter of a beggar's teeth.”
Language
“I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men and German to my horse.”
Language
“If we spoke a different language, we would perceive a somewhat different world.”
MisattributedListed as misattributed to Ludwig Wittgenstein; no source in their known works. · evidenceLanguage
“Even if you do learn to speak correct English, whom are you going to speak it to?”
Language
“Language is only the instrument of science, and words are but the signs of ideas.”
VerifiedA Dictionary of the English Language (1755), Preface · evidenceLanguage
“I wonder what language truck drivers are using, now that everyone is using theirs?”
Language
“Language is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they grow.”
Language
“We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language.”
VerifiedThe Canterville Ghost (1887). For history and analysis of the quote see "Common Language", oscarwildeinamerica.org (retrieved 9 May 2026) · evidenceLanguage
“A special kind of beauty exists which is born in language, of language, and for language.”
VerifiedFragments of a Poetics of Fire (1988) · evidenceLanguage
“As advertising blather becomes the nation's normal idiom, language becomes printed noise.”
Language
“I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigrees of nations.”
Language
“Language is a form of human reason, which has its internal logic of which man knows nothing.”
Language
“Male supremacy is fused into the language, so that every sentence both heralds and affirms it.”
Language
“Language is not only the vehicle of thought, it is a great and efficient instrument in thinking.”
Language
“I do not mind what language an opera is sung in so long as it is an language I do not understand.”
Language
“The secret of language is the secret of sympathy and its full charm is possible only to the gentle.”
VerifiedLectures on Art (1870), Lecture III · evidenceLanguage
“If the announcer can produce the impression that he is a gentlemen, he may pronounce as he pleases.”
Language
“If the Romans had been obliged to learn Latin they would never have found time to conquer the world.”
Language
“The learned fool writes his nonsense in better language than the unlearned, but it is still nonsense.”
Language
“A linguistic system is a series of differences of sound combined with a series of differences of ideas.”
Language
“One does not inhabit a country; one inhabits a language. That is our country, our fatherland --and no other.”
VerifiedAnathemas and Admirations (1987) · evidenceLanguage
“We are armed with language adequate to describe each leaf of the filed, but not to describe human character.”
Language
“Words are the leaves of the tree of language, of which, if some fall away, a new succession takes their place.”
Language
“It is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs.”
VerifiedFar from the Madding Crowd (1874) · evidenceLanguage
“Man acts as though he were the shaper and master of language, while in fact language remains the master of man.”
Language
“Language is an archeological vehicle... the language we speak is a whole palimpsest of human effort and history.”
Language