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A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged, it is the skin

A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged, it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and the time in which it is used. – Oliver Wendell Holmes

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The English language is rather like a monster accordion, stretchable at the whim of the editor, compressible ad lib. – Robert Burchfield

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Language

If everything is perfect, language is useless. This is true for animals. If animals dont speak, its because everythings perfect for them. If one day they start to speak, it will be because the world has lost a certain sort of perfection. – Jean Baudrillard

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Language

Dictionaries are like watches; the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true. – Samuel Johnson

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Language

He swore at us in German (which I should judge to be a singularly effective language for that purpose)… – Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog), 1889

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Language

Random Quotes

It was an interesting question as to whether the BBC had a future in the digital world, and what form of market failure could justify the licence fee system. – Gavyn Davies

Category:
Failure

I write for those women who do not speak, for those who do not have a voice because they were so terrified, because we are taught to respect fear more than ourselves. Weve been taught that silence would save us, but it wont. – Audre Lorde

Category:
Fear

I have always been an admirer. I regard the gift of admiration as indispensable if one is to amount to something; I dont know where I would be without it. – Thomas Mann

Category:
Admiration

Man is an idea, and a precious small idea once he turns his back on love. – Albert Camus

Category:
Love