“There was a whole language that I could never make function for myself; it revolved around words like 'tortured', 'struggle'. 'pain'.. .I could never see these qualities in paint - I could see them in life and art that illustrates life. But I could not see such conflicts in the materials and I knew that it had to be in the attitude of the painter.” ArtWholePainLanguageAttitudeQualityStruggleMaterialsConflictFunctionPaintPainter Author:Robert Rauschenberg
“The primary function of the creative use of language - in our age - is to try to constantly restore words to their meanings, to keep the living tissue of responsibility alive.” TryingUseAgeLanguageResponsibilityCreativeAliveFunctionPrimariesTissuesUse Of Language Author:Jorie Graham
“The poem is not only the point of origin for all the language and narrative arts, the poem returns us to the very social function of art as such.” ArtPoetryLanguageSocialReturnFunctionNarrativeNarrative Art Author:Ron Silliman
“Think of the tools in a tool-box: there is a hammer, pliers, a saw, a screwdriver, a rule, a glue-pot, nails and screws.--The function of words are as diverse as the functions of these objects.” ThinkingLanguageSawsObjectsToolsFunctionBoxesPotDiverseNailsScrewsHammersGlueScrewdriversPliersTool Boxes Author:Ludwig Wittgenstein
“The standard "foundation" for mathematics starts with sets and their elements. It is possible to start differently, by axiomatising not elements of sets but functions between sets. This can be done by using the language of categories and universal constructions.” DoneLanguageElementsStandardsUniversalFunctionMathematicsFoundationCategoriesConstruction Book:Mathematics, form and function Source: Mathematics, form and function
“Genitive is a funny word because it means "from," but it also is the gender in European languages for objects: the masculine, feminine, and neuter. So if you have a genitive present, there's room for everybody to fit in. I just did a project in Vienna about rock, paper, scissor; you change the gender and it simply changes the whole thing. Rock is no longer a male. It doesn't function the same way.” IfsWayMeanWholeLanguageRoomsRocksObjectsFitPaperProjectsFunctionMalesGenderFeminineMasculineVienna Author:Lawrence Weiner
“Poetry doesn't function by saying things straightforwardly because the language is too imprecise, too limited often, to address the underlying subject of most poems.” LanguageSubjectsFunctionAddresses Author:Pattiann Rogers
“From watching my own mind deteriorate circuit by circuit, I learned that every ability I have, from wiggling my finger to creating language, is dependent on a group of cells inside of my brain functioning in a healthy, happy way. I realized in order to get well I had to make the cells that performed those functions well again. It gave me an entirely different way to look at myself as an individual and at all of us as people.” PeopleWayMindWellsLooksDifferentOrderIndividualLanguageMy OwnAbilityBrainGroupsHealthyCreatingFunctionFingersI RealizedCellsDifferent WaysDependentCircuitsGet WellHealthy HappyWiggling Author:Jill Bolte Taylor
“Every legend, moreover, contains its residuum of truth, and the root function of language is to control the universe by describing it.” TruthUniverseLiteratureLanguageRootsFunctionLegendsDescribing Author:James A. Baldwin
“Because beyond their practical function, all gestures have a meaning that exceeds the intention of those who make them; when people in bathing suits fling themselves into the water, it is joy itself that shows in the gesture, notwithstanding any sadness the divers may actually feel. When someone jumps into the water fully clothed, it is another thing entirely: the only person who jumps into the water fully clothed is a person trying to drown; and a person trying to drown does not dive headfirst; he lets himself fall: thus speaks the immemorial language of gestures.” PeopleFeelsTryingMayPersonsDoeShowsJoyFallSpeakLanguageWaterSadnessFunctionIntentionPracticalsSuitsGesturesExceedFlingBathingBathing Suits Author:Milan Kundera
“Let me just acknowlege that the function of grammar is to make language as efficent and clear and transparent as possible. But if we’re all constantly correcting each other’s grammar and being really snotty about it, then people stop talking because they start to be petrified that they’re going to make some sort of terrible grammatical error and that’s precisely the opposite of what grammar is supposed to do, which is to facilitate clear communication.” PeopleIfsLanguageTalkingClearCommunicationTerribleOppositesLet MeFunctionErrorsGrammarTransparentCorrectingFacilitateClear Communication Author:John Green
“I would like a world full of love. But remember, that love has no opposite to it. It is simply because you inside yourself have been able, through awareness, to transform your hate into love. Even to say that you have been able to transform it is not right, but what else to do with language? Whatever you say, something is wrong in saying it, something goes wrong in saying it. The fact is, awareness itself transforms your hate into love, not that you transform it. Your work and function is simply to remain aware. Don't let anything happen in your life without awareness.” WorldLoveHas BeensFactsHappensAbleRememberHateLanguageAwarenessOppositesFunctionThings HappenWhatever You Say Author:Rajneesh
“Any translation which intends to perform a transmitting function cannot transmit anything but information-hence, something inessential. This is the hallmark of bad translations.” LanguageInformationFunctionTranslationsTransmitHallmark Book:Illuminations Source: Illuminations
“An immune system of enormous complexity is present in all vertebrate animals. When we place a population of lymphocytes from such an animal in appropriate tissue culture fluid, and when we add an antigen, the lymphocytes will produce specific antibody molecules, in the absense of any nerve cells. I find it astonishing that the immune system embodies a degree of complexity which suggests some more or less superficial though striking analogies with human language, and that this cognitive system has evolved and functions without assistance of the brain.” HumansCultureLanguageAnimalBrainProduceDegreesFunctionAddPopulationEnormousCellsComplexityAppropriateNervesSuperficialAssistanceAstonishingFluidImmuneMoleculesAnalogiesCognitiveTissuesImmune SystemHuman LanguageVertebratesAntibodies Author:Niels Kaj Jerne
“There was a whole language that I could never make function for myself in relationship to painting, and that was attitudes like tortured, struggle, pain.” WholePainLanguageAttitudeStrugglePaintingFunction Author:Robert Rauschenberg
“It's important, therefore, to know who the real enemy is, and to know the function, the very serious function of racism, which is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language and so you spend 20 years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn't shaped properly so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Someone says you have no art so you dredge that up. Somebody says you have no kingdoms and so you dredge that up. None of that is necessary. There will always be one more thing.” YearsArtReasonFactsLanguageSeriousProveRacismScientistFunctionTwentiesKingdomsWorking ItDistractionExplaining Author:Toni Morrison
“In an age when other fantastically speedy, widespread media are triumphing, and running the risk of flattening all communication onto a single, homogenous surface, the function of literature is communication between things that are different simply because they are different, not blunting but even sharpening the differences between them, following the true bent of written language.” DifferentRunningAgeLiteratureLanguageDifferencesWrittenRiskMediaCommunicationFunctionFollowingSurfaceBentSharpeningWritten Language Author:Italo Calvino