“One senses that Hegel was possible only in German, and finds it natural that Locke in a language where large and red precede apple should have arrived at the thing after sorting out its sensory qualities, whereas Descartes in a language where grosse et rouge follows pomme should have come to the attributes after the distinct idea.”
“Every text is unique and, at the same time, it is the translation of another text. No text is entirely original because language itself, in its essence, is already a translation: firstly, of the non-verbal world and secondly, since every sign and every phrase is the translation of another sign and another phrase. However, this argument can be turned around without losing any of its validity: all texts are original because every translation is distinctive. Every translation, up to a certain point, is an invention and as such it constitutes a unique text.”
“You can’t turn a sunset into a string of grunts without losing something.”
“One of the difficulties of thinking clearly about anything is that it is almost impossible not to form our ideas in words which have some previous association for us; with the result that our thought is already shaped along certain lines before we have begun to follow it out. Again, a word may have various meanings, and our use of it in one sense may deceive our readers (or even ourselves) into supposing that we were using it in some other sense.”
“Language lacks the power to describe Faith.”
“You can’t see why anyone wouldn’t want to wallow in the sheer beauty of language.”
“The silent adjustments to understand colloquial language are enormously complicated.”
“Prose consists less and less of words chosen for the sake of their meaning, and more and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated hen-house.”
“I just like the feeling of finding the right word in my mind and employing it. I get pleasure from that feeling. I prefer language to gesture. I figured other people might, too.”
“The language, feminine desires to speak, and her first phrase to express her love to him - *blush*”
“We believe that information is an enlightening agent, but I can assure you it is not. We consume information, but we can’t read. We forgot how to sit down and engage the dense layers of a text. We are so busy devouring information that we forgot how to dance with ideas. We confuse linguistic bits of data for knowledge and ideas. I can assure you, gentlemen, they are not the same. Ideas require effort and the kind of sensibility that engages the subtle layers of meaning. What the hell does information require?”
“A man s words reveal, first, the man. The words are not the man, and yet they reveal him faithfully and are to be identified with him. Out of the abundance of the heart, the man speaks. The foundational nature of all language is therefore metaphorical because every word a man speaks reveals himself—just as God reveals Himself through the Word. Every word spoken ultimately reveals the speaker.”
“Prestare attenzione a ciò che con-viene al dire pensante non implica solo che noi ogni volta meditiamo su che cosa dire dell essere e su come dirlo. Resta altrettanto essenziale riflettere se si possa dire ciò che è da pensare, fino a che punto lo si possa dire, in quale attimo della storia dell essere, in quale dialogo con questa storia, e in base a quale pretesa. Le tre cose menzionate in una mia precedente lettera sono determinate, nella loro reciproca connessione, dalla legge della con-venienza del pensiero della storia dell essere: il rigore della meditazione, la cura del dire, la parsimonia delle parole.”
“Sex is a matter of biology, while gender is a matter of grammar, and there is no earthly reason why sex should be involved in gender distinctions.”
“The world is so big and words are so small!”
“Learning a language is not interesting than knowing how it works.”
“Words in the head are sticky and social creatures – when you finally pull one out, you re liable to get lots of bits of meanings that have rubbed onto them as a result of their palling around with other words.”