English Language Quotes - Page 2

• Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands and goes to work.

  Carl Sandburg

  Work, Writing, Carpe Diem

  In New York Times 13 Feb. 1959, p. 21

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• We should have a great fewer disputes in the world if words were taken for what they are, the signs of our ideas only, and not for things themselves.

  John Locke

  Inspirational, Philosophical, Taken

  John Locke (1825). “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding: An analysis of Mr. Locke's Doctrine of ideas .... A defense of Mr. Locke's Opinion concerning personal identity .... A treatise on the conduct of the understanding. Some thoughts concerning reading and study for a gentleman. Elements of natural philosophy. A new method of a common place book. Extracted from the author's works. With a life of the author”

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• When two Eglishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather.

  Samuel Johnson

  Weather, Two, Firsts

  "The Idler" by Samuel Johnson, No. 11, June 24, 1758.

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• Euphemisms are unpleasant truths wearing diplomatic cologne.

  Quentin Crisp

  Truth, Communication, Diplomatic Relations

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• A man of true science... thinks, that by mouthing hard words, he proves that he understands hard things.

  Herman Melville

  Communication, Men, Thinking

  "White-Jacket" by Herman Melville, (Ch. 64), 1850.

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• Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Travel, Communication, Inspiration

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• He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Book, Communication, Humor

  Abraham Lincoln (1992). “The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln”, Plume

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• The English language is nobody's special property. It is the property of the imagination: it is the property of the language itself.

  Derek Walcott

  Imagination, Special, Language

  "Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott, Caribbean Poet, Dies at 87". The Paris Review Interview, www.latimes.com. March 17, 2017.

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• If the English language made any sense, lackadaisical would have something to do with a shortage of flowers.

  Doug Larson

  Time, Flower, Humorous

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• We have too many high-sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.

  Abigail Adams

  Communication, Language Words, Diversity

  Abigail Adams, John Adams, L. H. Butterfield, Marc Friedlaender, Mary-Jo Kline (1975). “The Book of Abigail and John: Selected Letters of the Adams Family, 1762-1784”, p.80, UPNE

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• The word 'good' has many meanings. For example, if a man were to shoot his grandmother at a range of five hundred yards, I should call him a good shot, but not necessarily a good man.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Grandmother, Men, Good Man

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• Dictionaries are like watches, the worst is better than none and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.

  Samuel Johnson

  Art, Philosophy, History

  Letter to Francesco Sastres, 21 Aug. 1784

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• We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.

  Booker T. Washington

  Communication, Vocabulary, Pockets

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• When the English language gets in my way, I walk over it.

  Billy Sunday

  Way, Language, Walks

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• The English take everything with an exquisite sense of humour. They are only offended if you tell them that they have no sense of humour.

  George Mikes

  Language, Humour, Exquisite

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• The Divinity could be invoked as well in the English language as in the French.

  Wilfrid Laurier

  Divinity, Language, Wells

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• My opposition to Interviews lies in the fact that offhand answers have little value or grace of expression, and that such oral give and take helps to perpetuate the decline of the English language.

  James Thurber

  Lying, Expression, Giving

  James Thurber (1990). “Collecting Himself: James Thurber on Writing and Writers, Humor and Himself”

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• The most important words in the English language are not 'I love you' but 'it's benign.'

  Woody Allen

  Love You, Important, Language

  Deconstructing Harry, www.imdb.com. 1997.

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• English poetry begins whenever we decide to say the modern English language begins, and it extends as far as we decide to say that the English language extends.

  James Fenton

  Language, Modern, English Poetry

  2002 An Introduction to English Poetry.

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• Every Englishman is an average Englishman: it is a national characteristic.

  E. M. Delafield

  Average, Language, Characteristics

  E. M. Delafield (2015). “The Collected Works of E. M. Delafield (Illustrated): The Provincial Lady Series, Zella Sees Herself, The War-Workers, Consequences, Gay Life, The Heel of Achilles, Humbug, Messalina of the Suburbs (Including Short Stories and Plays)”, p.2680, e-artnow

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• An Englishman is content to say nothing when he has nothing to say.

  Samuel Johnson

  Language, Englishmen

  In James Boswell 'The Life of Samuel Johnson' (1791) vol. 4, p. 15 (1780) Sir, your wife, under pretence of keeping a bawdy-house, is a receiver of stolen goods. During an exchange of coarse raillery customary among people travelling upon the Thames, in James Boswell 'The Life of Samuel Johnson' (1791) vol. 4, p. 26 (1780)

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• The most beautiful words in the English language are 'not guilty'.

  Maxim Gorky

  Beautiful, Money, Business

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• My least favorite phrase in the English language is 'I don't care.'

  James Caan

  Phrases, Care, Language

  "James Caan: What I've Learned". Interview with Ross Johnson, www.esquire.com. January 29, 2007.

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• The English gentleman is a combination of silence, courtesy, dignity, sport, newspapers and honesty.

  Karel Capek

  Sports, Honesty, Silence

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• In English every word can be verbed.

  Alan Perlis

  Language, Programming Languages

  "Epigrams on Programming". ACM SIGPLAN Notices 17 (9), pp. 7-13, pu.inf.uni-tuebingen.de. September 1982.

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