‚Do you spell it with a ‚V‘ or a ‚W‘?‘ inquired the judge. ‚That depends upon the taste and fancy of the speller, my Lord‘.

If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.

Every now and then I will see a word as if for the first time, and suddenly appreciate that Evian is ‚naive‘ spelled backward, or that Bosnia is an anagram of ‚bonsai.‘

The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter – ‚tis the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning.

If you want to talk about something new, you have to make up a new kind of language.

Language is an intrinsic part of who we are and what has, for good or evil, happened to us.

I have trouble reading modern Hebrew. In the 1950s, I could read anything. I don’t know how much experience you’ve had with contemporary Hebrew. It’s quite difficult.

The British nation is unique in this respect. They are the only people who like to be told how bad things are, who like to be told the worst.

I could talk all day, T stands for talking, T stands for tender, T stands for things that don’t even rhyme with T.

And poets, in my view, and I think the view of most people, do speak God’s language – it’s better, it’s finer, it’s language on a higher plane than ordinary people speak in their daily lives.

What’s another word for Thesaurus?

The educated Southerner has no use for an ‚r‘, except at the beginning of a word.

In doubtful cases the more liberal interpretation must always be preferred.

Coffee is a language in itself.

War is what happens when language fails.

I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.

Poetry is what gets lost in translation.

A friend of mine tells that I talk in shorthand and then smudge it.

Words are but the signs of ideas.

Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.

I don’t like the intellectual label.

I grew up cursing a lot.

Words, words, words! They shut one off from the universe. Three quarters of the time one’s never in contact with things, only with the beastly words that stand for them.

It is my belief that nearly any invented quotation, played with confidence, stands a good chance to deceive.

Words are more treacherous and powerful than we think.

The language of excitement is at best picturesque merely. You must be calm before you can utter oracles.

Mind you, the Elizabethans had so many words for the female genitals that it is quite hard to speak a sentence of modern English without inadvertently mentioning at least three of them.

Sarcasm I now see to be, in general, the language of the devil; for which reason I have long since as good as renounced it.

‚Recreative‘ is a word that I invented because in urban culture, with colloquialism, we invent so many slangs. I don’t like the way that ‚recreational‘ sounds – I don’t like to say I do a lot of ‚recreational‘ reading. I like to say that I read ‚recreatively.‘ I do a lot of ‚recreative‘ reading.

Words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart.

I’ve studied authoritarianism for a very long time – for 40 years – and they’re started by people’s attempts to control the ideological and linguistic territory.

Every device there is in language is there to be used, if you will. Poets have got to enjoy themselves sometimes, and the twistings and convolutions of words, the inventions and contrivances, are all part of the joy that is part of the painful, voluntary work.

We are all pleased when our names are pronounced and spelled correctly.

If you can talk, you can write.

I promised myself that I would write as well as I can, tell the truth, not to tell everything I know, but to make sure that everything I tell is true, as I understand it. And to use the eloquence which my language affords me.

Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately after they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish.

I’ve been a lot more into Facebook and Twitter and Instagram, which was a bit complicated for me to understand the language of each social media, because they all talk in different ways. It’s a nice way for me to tell people I appreciate them, which I forget to do sometimes.

To an ordinary human being, love means nothing if it does not mean loving some people more than others.

I think perhaps the most important problem is that we are trying to understand the fundamental workings of the universe via a language devised for telling one another when the best fruit is.

But behavior in the human being is sometimes a defense, a way of concealing motives and thoughts, as language can be a way of hiding your thoughts and preventing communication.

The short words are best, and the old words are the best of all.

One great use of words is to hide our thoughts.

By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth.

I remember the first time I heard a teenager say ‚LOL.‘ Just what? But it means ‚laugh.‘ Why don’t you just laugh? What are you doing?

I am not going to be a mouthpiece for language that I detest.

When a politician uses the word ‚folks,‘ we should brace ourselves for the deceit, or worse, that is coming.

Of course, there are those critics – New York critics as a rule – who say, ‚Well, Maya Angelou has a new book out and of course it’s good but then she’s a natural writer.‘ Those are the ones I want to grab by the throat and wrestle to the floor because it takes me forever to get it to sing. I work at the language.

You can stroke people with words.

Syllables govern the world.

A judge sworn to decide impartially can offer no forecasts, no hints, for that would show not only disregard for the specifics of the particular case, it would display disdain for the entire judicial process.

What I like to drink most is wine that belongs to others.

Language ought to be the joint creation of poets and manual workers.

I had rather see the portrait of a dog that I know, than all the allegorical paintings they can show me in the world.

I’ve always appreciated a turn of phrase.

Speech is human, silence is divine, yet also brutish and dead: therefore we must learn both arts.

If you want to influence people, you want them to accept your suggestions, you don’t say, ‚You don’t know how to use the English language,‘ or ‚How could you make that argument?‘ It will be welcomed much more if you have a gentle touch than if you are aggressive.

In the grip of a neurological disorder, I am fast losing control of words even as my relationship with the world has been reduced to them.

I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.

I remain convinced that obstinate addiction to ordinary language in our private thoughts is one of the main obstacles to progress in philosophy.

I don’t like two stories. I like one story. I never grew up with stairs. I like to stick to what I know.

Money has a language of its own.