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THE IMPORTANCE OF WORDS Quotes on Language, Thought, and Speech |
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John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. |
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Words ... so innocent and powerless as they are--as standing in a dictionary; how potent for good and evil they become--in the hands of one who knows how to combine them. Nathaniel Hawthorne The word is half his that speaks it and half his that hears it. Montaigne One lie spoils a thousand truths. African proverb Language is by its very nature a communal thing; that is--it expresses never the exact thing but a compromise ... that which is common to you, me, and everybody. T. E. Hulme Slovenly language corrodes the mind. John Quincy Adams Words are tools which automatically carve concepts out of experience. Julian Sorrell Huxley Colors fade, temples crumble, empires fall, but wise words endure. Edward Thorndike The limits of my language stand for the limits of my world. Ludwig Wittgenstein Words, when well chosen, have so great a force in them that a description often gives us more lively ideas than the sight of things themselves. Joseph Addison By words the mind is winged. Aristophanes It is with words as with sunbeams ... the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. Robert Southey Thinking cannot be clear until it has had expression. We must write, or speak, or act our thoughts, or they will remain in a half torpid form. Our feelings must have expression, or they will be as clouds, which, till they descend in rain, will never bring up fruit or flower. So it is with all the inward feelings; expression gives them development. Thought is the blossom; language the opening bud; action the fruit behind it. H.W. Beecher The language denotes the man; a coarse or refined character finds its expression naturally in coarse or refined phraseology. Christian Bovee Those who write as they speak, even though they speak well, write badly. Comte de Buffon A very great part of the mischiefs that vex this world arises from words. Edmund Burke A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword. Robert Burton The knowledge of words is the gate of scholarship. John Wilson For one word a man is often deemed to be wise, and for one word he is often deemed to be foolish. We should indeed be careful what we say. Confucius Language is not only the vehicle of thought, it is a great and efficient instrument in thinking. Sir H. Davy The individual's whole experience is built upon the plan of his language. Henri Delacroix
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