The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean

The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean

Language is a city to the building of which every human being brought a stone.

Language is a city to the building of which every human being brought a stone.

Language tethers us to the world; without it we spin like atoms.

Language tethers us to the world; without it we spin like atoms.

Americans who travel abroad for the first time are often shocked to discover that, despite all the progress that has read more

Americans who travel abroad for the first time are often shocked to discover that, despite all the progress that has been made in the last 30 years, many foreign people still speak in foreign languages

To God I speak Spanish, to women Italian, to men French, and to
my horse--German.

To God I speak Spanish, to women Italian, to men French, and to
my horse--German.

Grammar, which knows how to lord it over kings, and with high
hands makes them obey its laws.
read more

Grammar, which knows how to lord it over kings, and with high
hands makes them obey its laws.
[Fr., La grammaire, qui sait regenter jusqu'aux rois,
Et les fait, la main haute, obeir a ses lois.]

We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our read more

We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.

If language had been the creation not of poetry but of logic, we should only have one.

If language had been the creation not of poetry but of logic, we should only have one.

Mechanical difficulties with language are the outcome of internal difficulties with thought.

Mechanical difficulties with language are the outcome of internal difficulties with thought.