Exlpore more Language quotes

"Language is fossil poetry. As the limestone of the continent consists of infinite masses of the shells of animalcules, so language is made up of images, or tropes, which now, in their secondary use, have long ceased to remind us of their poetic origin."

Ralph Waldo Emerson, American Poet

Language, Poetry, History, Expression

"Homo Americanus is going to go on speaking and writing the way he always has, no matter what dictionary he owns."

Kurt Vonnegut, American Author

Language, Identity, Tradition, Speech

"There has to be new words to explain new worlds."

Toba Beta, Indonesian Author

Language, Truth, Future, Wisdom, Power

"The dream vocabulary shaves meanings finer and closer than do the world's daytime dictionaries."

Mark Twain, American Author

Language, Dream, Vocabulary, Meaning

"In my dream, it was the tongue of what is, and anything spoken in it becomes real, because nothing said in that language can be a lie. It is the most basic building brick of everything."

Neil Gaiman, British Author

Language, Truth, Reality, Dream

"I liked, as I like still, to make words look self-conscious and foolish, to bind them by mock marriage of a pun, to turn them inside out, to come upon them unawares. What is this jest in majesty? This ass in passion? How do god and devil combine to form a live dog?"

Vladimir Nabokov, American Novelist

Language, Humor, Creativity, Irony

"She wanted more, more slang, more figures of speech, the bee's knees, the cats pajamas, horse of a different color, dog-tired, she wanted to talk like she was born here, like she never came from anywhere else."

Jonathan Safran Foer, American Novelist

Language, Expression, Culture, Identity

"A dog is der Hund the dog; a women is die Frau the wom[an]; a horse is das Pferd, the horse; now you put that dog in the Genitive case, & is he the same dog he was before? No sir; he is das Hundes; put him in the Dative case & what is he? Why, he is dem Hund. Now you snatch him into the accusative case & how is it with him? Why he is den Hunden? ... Read moreBut suppose he happens to be twins & you have to pluralize him, what then? Why sir they'll swap that twin dog around thro' the four cases till he'll think he's an entire International Dog Show all in his own person. I don't like dogs, but I wouldn't treat a dog like that. I wouldn't even treat a borrowed dog that way."

Mark Twain, American Author

Language, Grammar, Dogs

"The world is built with words."

Lailah Gifty Akita, Ghanaian Author

Language, Words, Creation, Truth, Power

"To a blind man, pawn shop and porn shop are one. To an unintelligent man, oversleeping and sleeping over are opposites."

Mokokoma Mokhonoana, South African Philosopher

Language, Truth, Perception, Wisdom, Humor

Explore more quotes by Theo Van Gogh

"If I were still twenty years old, I would really move to America."

Opinion

"I want to warn against the Fifth Column which is trying to hinder our free way of life in Holland."

Life

"The more light hearted I write about that, the better the message gets through."

Comfort

"No, originally I thought that writing articles would keep me from having to see a psychiatrist, but I became even more depressed as a result."

Thought

"Ah, I hope to live to 87 and drink from the the goblet of life to the dregs."

Life

"I thought that the AIVD was there to protect citizens like me."

Thought

"I would not be able to pen an academic and dry diatribe. I have too much talent for that."

Talent

"As soon as you sit down to write about something you are pressing your nose deeper into the sewer of facts."

Fact

"My use of language is part and parcel of my message."

Language