English Language Quotes - Page 9

• I may fight the British ruler, but I do not hate the English or their language. In fact, I appreciate their literary treasures.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Hate, Fighting, Appreciate

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• Probably the best way to describe my writing style is to refer you to "purple prose", which was a tag given to the early mass market magazine writers earning a half cent a word for their fiction. They had to use every adjective, verb and adverb in the English language to add word count to stories in order to feed and support families.

  Tom Johnson

  Writing, Order, Purple

  Source: ravenswoodpublishing.blogspot.com

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• Yogi's been an inspiration to me, not only because of his baseball skills, but of course for the enduring mark he left on the English language. Some in the press corps think he might even be my speechwriter.

  George H. W. Bush

  Baseball, Inspiration, Thinking

  "Yogi Berra Was an American All-timer" by Sean Gregory, time.com. September 23, 2015.

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• The work that the kids saw around them was so odious, so boring, so worthless that they came to regard WORK as the only dirty four-letter word in the English language.

  Abbie Hoffman

  Dirty, Kids, Four

  Abbie Hoffman (1969). “Woodstock nation: a talk-rock album”

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• There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Loyalty, Men, People

  "Teddy Roosevelt's Immigration Speech Holds True Today" by Barbara Wamboldt, www.thewhig.com. July 07, 2010.

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• When I go to photograph somebody, they say, "What do you want me to do?" Those are the most frightening words in the English language. I want to say, "Please, go over into good light and do something unusual.

  John Loengard

  Light, Want, Language

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• It is terrible to see someone being beaten up by the English language.

  Martin Amis

  Language, Terrible, Beaten

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• Duty is the sublimest work in the English language.

  Robert E. Lee

  Language, Duty

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• Boycott brought about anyhow of British cloth cannot yield the same results as such boycott brought about by hand-spinning and khaddar.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Yield, Hands, Spinning

  Mahatma Gandhi (1967). “Collected Works”

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• Will Great Britain have an unwilling India dragged into war or a willing ally co-operating with her in the prosecution of a defence of true democracy?

  Mahatma Gandhi

  War, Democracy, Allies

  Mahatma Gandhi (1958). “Collected Works”

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• The English language is not always the President's friend.

  George Will

  President, Language

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• The English language is direct, unapologetic, and wonderfully amoral. Italian has a beautiful sound, but you cannot help but feel that you are always dealing with ghosts from the past and the looming dark presence of the Vatican.

  Chiara Barzini

  Beautiful, Dark, Italian

  "Go Forth (vol. 5)". Interview with Brandon Hobson, logger.believermag.com. November 21, 2012.

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• If there is one sweeping generalization I can make without fear of contradiction, it is that 'change' is the scariest word in the English language Nothing will change in our lives until we change our own behavior. Insight won't do it. Understanding why we do the self-defeating things we do won't make us stop doing them. Nagging and pleading with the other person to change won't do it. We have to act. We have to take the first step down a new road.

  Susan Forward

  Self, Understanding, Nagging

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• The official language of the State of Illinois shall be known hereafter as the American language, and not the English language.

  Frank Church

  Illinois, Government, Language

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• He [P.G.Wodehouse] is I believe, the only man living who speaks with equal fluency the American and English languages.

  Max Eastman

  Art, Believe, Men

  Max Eastman (2008). “Enjoyment of Laughter”, p.99, Transaction Publishers

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• In my early teens, I read every bound volume of the magazine Punch. Every writer of any distinction in the English language, and I mean including America and England, at some time wrote for Punch. Jerome K. Jerome, who wrote Three Men In A Boat, I loved. I was very impressed when I read a piece by Mark Twain in Punch, and realized that despite the fact that they were on different continents, Jerome K. Jerome and Mark Twain had the same kind of laconic, laid-back, "The human race is damn stupid, but quite interesting" attitude. They were almost talking with the same voice.

  Terry Pratchett

  Attitude, Stupid, Mean

  "Terry Pratchett on his latest novel, his medical diagnosis, and more". Interview with Tasha Robinson, www.avclub.com. November 16, 2012.

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• There are some people that aren't into all the words. There are some people who would have you not use certain words. Yeah, there are 400,000 words in the English language, and there are seven of them that you can't say on television. What a ratio that is. 399,993 to seven. They must really be bad. They'd have to be outrageous, to be separated from a group that large. All of you over here, you seven. Bad words. That's what they told us they were, remember? 'That's a bad word.' You know bad words. Bad thoughts. Bad intentions.

  George Carlin

  People, Groups, Use

  "George Carlin (1937–2008): Legendary Comedian Challenged Status Quo Throughout 50-Year Career". "Democracy Now!" with Amy Goodman, www.democracynow.org. June 24, 2008.

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• I write drama in the English language. If I wasn't working in London I'd be doing something wrong.

  William Monahan

  Drama, Writing, London

  Source: collider.com

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• All the words in the English language are divided into nine great classes. These classes are called the Parts of Speech. They are Article, Noun, Adjective, Pronoun, Verb, Adverb, Preposition, Conjunction and Interjection.

  Joseph Devlin

  Class, Adjectives, Verbs

  Joseph Devlin (2014). “How to Speak and Write Correctly (illustrated): Fully Formatted Version”, p.5, Full Moon Publications

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• I can hardly believe that I even know this, but I am aware that Noah Webster's original dictionary, apart from being the first truly American lexicography, was a kind of line in the sand. It claimed a very discrete, American form of the English language, explicitly to compare it to the English of our erstwhile colonial masters who had been operating under Dr. Johnson's dictionary rules for well over a century.

  Bob Garfield

  Believe, Language, Kind

  Source: www.slate.com

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• Christianity in India is inextricably mixed up for the last hundred and fifty years with the British rule.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Years, India, Fifty

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• No matter what the cause was and wherever it was, Indian governments must never requisition the services of British soldiers to deal with civil disturbances.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Government, British Soldiers, Matter

  Mahatma Gandhi (1983). “Collected Works”

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• There is as much need for a change of heart among the Hindus and Mussalmans as there is among the British, before a proper settlement is arrived at.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Heart, Needs, Language

  Mahatma Gandhi (1967). “Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi”

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• The British power is the overlord without whom Indian princes cannot breathe.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Language, Breathe, British

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• The British are weak in numbers, we are weak in spite of our numbers.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Numbers, Language, Weak

  Mahatma Gandhi (2005). “All Men Are Brothers”, p.142, A&C Black

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