top of page

"In a sense, every form of expression is imposed upon one by social factors, one's own language above all."
Standard
Customized
Exlpore more Expression quotes

"You can certainly take the easy road and use the predictable and boring defaults like: How are you doing? How about this weather? What do you do for a living? Hi. My name is _________. What's yours? Blah, blah, blah, blah . . .Break out of the defaults you have been using for years. Shake it up. Make it fun. Make it memorable. Dive in with more engagement and interaction. Taking the initiative to be more creative will help you build a bridge to close the gap."

"Use language what you will, you can never say anything but what you are."

"Some words bring warmthjust bybeing next to each other."

"I am an intelligent river which has reflected successively all the banks before which it has flowed by meditating only on the images offered by those changing shores."

"Actions are the first tragedy in life, words are the second. Words are perhaps the worst. Words are merciless."

"Listen to this, Nimit. Follow Coleman Hawkins' improvised lines very carefully. He is using them to tell us something. Pay very close attention. He is telling us the story of the free spirit that is doing everything it can to escape from within him. That same kind of spirit is inside me, inside you. There--you can hear it, I'm sure: the hot breath, the shivering heart. (Thailand)"

"Express your feelings, no matter what. Make your every word beautiful, bright, and lovely. Make your every thought creative, caring, and lively."

"The word in your mouth is anarchy."

"Even if you can't dance, you can shake your body. Even if you can't sing, you can make some noise."

"I thought of writing a summary about you, but when I finished it was a book."
Explore more quotes by Edward Sapir


"These examples of the lack of simplicity in English and French, all appearances to the contrary, could be multiplied almost without limit and apply to all national languages."


"So far as the advocates of a constructed international language are concerned, it is rather to be wondered at how much in common their proposals actually have, both in vocabulary and in general spirit of procedure."


"In a sense, every form of expression is imposed upon one by social factors, one's own language above all."


"A common allegiance to form of expression that is identified with no single national unit is likely to prove one of the most potent symbols of the freedom of the human spirit that the world has yet known."


"Comparison of statements made at different periods frequently enable us to give maximal and minimal dates to the appearance of a cultural element or to assign the time limits to a movement of population."


"French and German illustrate the misleading character of apparent grammatical simplicity just as well."
bottom of page