Language is one component of the human cognitive capacity which happens to be fairly amenable to enquiry. So we know a good deal about that.

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.

Substitute ‚damn‘ every time you’re inclined to write ‚very‘; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.

The pace at which people are taking to digital technology defies our stereotypes of age, education, language and income.

Research shows that there is only half as much variation in student achievement between schools as there is among classrooms in the same school. If you want your child to get the best education possible, it is actually more important to get him assigned to a great teacher than to a great school.

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

I don’t know why you use a fancy French word like detente when there’s a good English phrase for it – cold war.

We have to build the capacity of our institutions, employees and workers. Our regulatory environment has not been encouraging to research, innovation and enterprise.

We have language and they do not. Chimps communicate by embracing, patting, looking – all these things. And they have lots of sounds. But they cannot sit and discuss. They cannot teach about things that are not present, as far as we know.

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.

Words are but the signs of ideas.

If we go on your iPhone and go to the dictionary and look up ‚humble,‘ 80 per cent of the definition is negative. It’s a controlling word. It’s a way to control the masses and to control the sheep.

In making a speech one must study three points: first, the means of producing persuasion; second, the language; third the proper arrangement of the various parts of the speech.

Finality is not the language of politics.

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.

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?

Sure, women sportswriters look when they’re in the clubhouse. Read their stories. How else do you explain a capital letter in the middle of a word?

I believe you’ve got to do your due diligence.

‚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.

Study men, not historians.

The poet, being an imitator like a painter or any other artist, must of necessity imitate one of three objects – things as they were or are, things as they are said or thought to be, or things as they ought to be. The vehicle of expression is language – either current terms or, it may be, rare words or metaphors.

There’s been some research in cognitive science, I’m told, that discloses that there have always been perhaps 10 to 15 percent of people who are, as Pascal puts it, so made that they cannot believe. To us, when people talk about faith, it’s white noise.

Language is a weapon of politicians, but language is a weapon in much of human affairs.

I don’t believe in signing anything and everything that comes my way. I leave it to my agency to help narrow them down for me, but I do research it myself before signing. The image of the brand and its ambassadors go hand in hand.

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

It is the weight, not numbers of experiments that is to be regarded.

As long as somebody finances you, can make a film and get it seen any place and in any language; then, hopefully, it’s a success.

Syllables govern the world.

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

I like the language in Proust but not the context.

The momentous thing in human life is the art of winning the soul to good or evil.

When people laugh at Mickey Mouse, it’s because he’s so human; and that is the secret of his popularity.

Even with cameras being very cheap, one thing that researchers noticed was that you look really bad in a videoconference image because the lighting is bad and you get shadows and things.

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.

Language is wine upon the lips.

Dance music is no longer a simple Donna Summer beat. It’s become a whole language that I find fascinating and exciting. Eventually, it will lose the dance tag and join the fore of rock.

The natural term of the affection of the human animal for its offspring is six years.

No one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous.

I work all day, do research, sketch my ideas, prepare for performances.

Never let your zeal outrun your charity. The former is but human, the latter is divine.

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

I think we’re still in a muddle with our language, because once you get words and a spoken language it gets harder to communicate.

I have my own vocabulary. I love linguistics. That surprises people.

Faith is different from proof; the latter is human, the former is a Gift from God.

We must distinguish between speaking to deceive and being silent to be reserved.

Human language appears to be a unique phenomenon, without significant analogue in the animal world.

I can’t say that my disability has helped my work, but it has allowed me to concentrate on research without having to lecture or sit on boring committees.

Everywhere the human soul stands between a hemisphere of light and another of darkness; on the confines of the two everlasting empires, necessity and free will.

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.

No man means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous.

Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say ‚infinitely‘ when you mean ‚very‘; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.

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.

A man will turn over half a library to make one book.

Few professors would dare to publish research or teach a course debunking the claims made in various ethnic, gender, or other ‚studies‘ courses.

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 grew up cursing a lot. It felt natural. My parents told me to stop.

The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world… to see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion all in one.

Black men don’t like to be called ‚boys,‘ but women accept being called ‚girls.‘

Money has a language of its own.

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

As soon as you have a language that has a past tense and a future tense you’re going to say, ‚Where did we come from, what happens next?‘ The ability to remember the past helps us plan the future.