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Quote by Mario Pei

“Of all the words that exist in any language only a bare minority are pure, unadulterated, original roots. The majority are "coined" words, forms that have been in one way or another created, augmented, cut down, combined, and recombined to convey new needed meanings, The language mint is more than a mint; it is a great manufacturing center, where all sorts of productive activities go on unceasingly.”

Quote by Mario Pei

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Mario Pei
Mario Pei

Mario Pei (1901-1978) was an Italian-born linguist, translator, and educator, renowned for his contributions to the field of linguistics. more

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“What is considered to be “right” is kindness, love, and charity, and what is considered to be “wrong” is hatred, fighting, and selfishness. These things seem to be right and wrong in religious texts like the Bible and in many cultures. From what I perceive, a common theme in righteousness and wrongness is human interaction. Specifically, how a person is treated. Doing something with one of the “right” traits is considered to be a good intention, because it has the benefit of others in mind. Kindness, love, and charity are meant to aid people; those who express these traits have the benefit of the recipient in mind. So, in morality, there is a benefit-intention duality. That is what standards for morality comprise; a benefit-intention duality, which is my own neologism that describes that actions are considered moral through the consideration of the benefit of others. So, the benefit is important, but in morality, a person must intend to be doing something for the benefit of others.”

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Book:The Reformation
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“Simpson, the student of divinity, it was who arranged his conclusions probably with the best, though not most scientific, appearance of order. Out there, in the heart of unreclaimed wilderness, they had surely witnessed something crudely and essentially primitive. Something that had survived somehow the advance of humanity had emerged terrifically, betraying a scale of life monstrous and immature. He envisaged it rather as a glimpse into prehistoric ages, when superstitions, gigantic and uncouth, still oppressed the hearts of men: when the forces of nature were still untamed, the Powers that may have haunted a primeval universe not yet withdrawn. To this day he thinks of what he termed years later in a sermon 'savage and formidable Potencies lurking behind the souls of men, not evil perhaps in themselves, yet instinctively hostile to humanity as it exists.' ("The Wendigo")”

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Book:Monster Mix
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