English Language Quotes - Page 11

• Never use the word, 'very.' It is the weakest word in the English language; doesn't mean anything. If you feel the urge of 'very' coming on, just write the word, 'damn,' in the place of 'very.' The editor will strike out the word, 'damn,' and you will have a good sentence.

  William Allen White

  Writing, Mean, Editors

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• A smattering of English is worse than useless; it is an unnecessary tax on our women.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Useless, Language, Unnecessary

  Mahatma Gandhi (1965). “Collected Works”

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• The themes Poe used were universal and timeless. As long as the English language exists at all, we will be able to appreciate what he did. It will not age! It will not become dated!

  John Astin

  Appreciate, Long, Age

  "Biography/Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• You'll never make your mark as a writer unless you develop a respect for words and a curiosity about their shades of meaning that is almost obsessive. The English language is rich in strong and supple words. Take the time to root around and find the ones you want

  William Zinsser

  Strong, Roots, Curiosity

  William Zinsser (2012). “On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction”, p.32, Harper Collins

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• There is a certain age at which a child looks at you in all earnestness and delivers a long, pleased speech in all the true inflections of spoken English, but with not one recognizable syllable. There is no way you can tell the child that if language had been a melody, he had mastered it and done well, but that since it was in fact a sense, he had botched it utterly.

  Annie Dillard

  Children, Long, Age

  Annie Dillard (2011). “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek”, p.107, Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd

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• Language is the most imperfect and expensive means yet discovered for communicating thought.

  William James

  Mean, Imperfect, Language

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• What words say does not last. The words last. Because words are always the same, and what they say is never the same.

  Antonio Porchia

  Doe, Lasts, Language

  "Voices". Book by Antonio Porchia, 1943.

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• However virile the English language may be, it can never become the language of the masses of India.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  India, May, Language

  Mahatma Gandhi (1981). “Collected Works”

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• Swaraj means, a state such that we can maintain our separate existence without the presence of the English.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Mean, Language, States

  Mahatma Gandhi (2014). “Freedom's Battle: Being a Comprehensive Collection of Writings and Speeches on the Present Situation”, p.73, The Floating Press

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• Non-co-operation is a movement intended to invite Englishmen to co-operate with us on honourable terms or retire from our land.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Land, Movement, Language

  Mahatma Gandhi (1994). “Volume of prefaces”

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• Civilization is not an incurable disease, but it should never be forgotten that the English people are at present afflicted by it.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Civilization, People, Disease

  Mahatma Gandhi, Rudrangshu Mukherjee (1993). “The Penguin Gandhi Reader”, p.18, Penguin Books India

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• Englishmen must learn to be Brahmins, not banias.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Language, Brahmins, Englishmen

  Mahatma Gandhi (1981). “Collected Works”

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• I got a bit obsessed with the whole English language and was writing journals and poetry. I've always been intrigued about psychology and philosophy and how people's minds work.

  Lara Pulver

  Philosophy, Writing, People

  Source: collider.com

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• "Equestrian", by the by, is the gayest word in the English language. In fact, I thought Brokeback Mountain should have been called Two Equestrians.

  Lewis Black

  Should Have, Two, Brokeback Mountain

  "Lewis Black: Red, White and Screwed". Documentary, Comedy, www.imdb.com. June 10, 2006.

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• The worst of this sorry bunch of semi-educated losers are those who seem to glory in being irritated by nouns becoming verbs. How dense and deaf to language development do you have to be? If you don’t like nouns becoming verbs, then for heaven’s sake avoid Shakespeare who made a doing-word out of a thing-word every chance he got. He TABLED the motion and CHAIRED the meeting in which nouns were made verbs

  Stephen Fry

  Sorry, Heaven, Language Development

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• The English language on her tongue became a smoke-screen, without her eyes changing expression in the least.

  Pat Conroy

  Eye, Expression, Tongue

  Pat Conroy (2012). “Beach Music”, p.366, Random House

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• Gene Wolfe is the greatest writer in the English language alive today. Let me repeat that: Gene Wolfe is the greatest writer in the English language alive today! I mean it. Shakespeare was a better stylist, Melville was more important to American letters, and Charles Dickens had a defter hand at creating characters. But among living writers, there is nobody who can even approach Gene Wolfe for brilliance of prose, clarity of thought, and depth in meaning

  Michael Swanwick

  Character, Mean, Hands

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• The three most dreaded words in the English language are 'negative cash flow'.

  David Tang

  Cash Flow, Negative, Three

  "Kate Reporting" by Lauren Milligan, www.vogue.co.uk. June 16, 2011.

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• "Very" is the most useless word in the English language and can always come out. More than useless, it is treacherous because it invariably weakens what it is intended to strengthen. For example, would you rather hear the mincing shallowness of "I love you very much" or the heart-slamming intensity of "I love you"?

  Florence King

  Love You, Writing, Heart

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• Psychobabble attempts to redefine the entire English language just to make a correct statement incorrect. Psychology is the study of why someone would try to do this.

  Criss Jami

  Psychology, Trying, Language

  Criss Jami (2015). “Killosophy”, p.94, Criss Jami

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• I used to hate England because they ruled my country but I am happy they gave us the game of cricket, which they can't play very well, and the English language, which I can't speak very well.

  Kapil Dev

  Country, Hate, Games

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• It's more than usually possible that I won't do a play again. But Skylight is one of the great plays in the English language. I was lucky enough to be a part of it at one point in its life, and it's a timely thing to deliver it again in the modern world.

  Bill Nighy

  Play, Lucky, World

  Interview with Sarah Crompton, www.telegraph.co.uk. June 10, 2014.

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• The English language is like London: proudly barbaric yet deeply civilised, too, common yet royal, vulgar yet processional, sacred yet profane.

  Stephen Fry

  London, Sacred, Royal

  Stephen Fry (2006). “The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within”, p.551, Penguin

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• Should, is the worst word in the English language. People always think things "should" be a certain way, and when they're not, they're disappointed.

  Candace Bushnell

  Thinking, People, Way

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• Evidently an A level in English is a sacred trust, like something out of "The Lord of the Rings". You must go forth with your A level and protect the English language with your bow of elfin gold.

  Lynne Truss

  Gold, Levels, Sacred

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