“Some tribes [of monkeys] have taken to washing potatoes in the river before eating them, others have not. Sometimes migrating groups of potato-washers meet non-washers, and the two groups watch each other's strange behavior with apparent bewilderment. But unlike the inhabitants of Lilliput, who fought holy crusades over the question at which end to break the egg, the potato-washing monkeys do not go to war with the non-washers, because the poor creatures have no language which would enable them to declare washing a diving commandment and eating unwashed potatoes a deadly heresy.” TwoWarEndsSometimesLanguagePoorWatchesBreakTakenGroupsSocietyStrangeHolyCreaturesBehaviorEatingRiversEggsCommandmentsTribesMonkeysPotatoesHeresyWashingCrusadesDivingBewilderment Author:Arthur Koestler
“Magicians and scientists are, on the face of it, poles apart. Certainly, a group of people who often dress strangely, live in a world of their own, speak a specialized language and frequently make statements that appear to be in flagrant breach of common sense have nothing in common with a group of people who often dress strangely, speak a specialized language, live in ... er.” PeopleWorldFacesSpeakLanguageCommonMagicGroupsScientistDressesStatementsCommon SenseMagicianBreach Author:Terry Pratchett
“If there are some who talk the same language as myself, then why should I neglect their interests for the sake of some other group of people who are alien and remote? They have their own 'gods and idols' and we have nothing in common. ... If you try to please audiences, uncritically accepting their tastes, it can only mean that you have no respect for them: that you simply want to collect their money.” PeopleIfsWantShouldTryingMeanLanguageInterestCommonAcceptingAudienceGroupsPleaseTasteSakeAliensNeglectIdolsShould INo Respect Author:Andrei Tarkovsky
“Any opinion writer worth his salt would have rejected the quaint notion that certain eternally aggrieved identity groups have exclusive linguistic rights to words in the English language.” CertainLanguageOpinionRightsGroupsIdentityNotionSaltRejectedExclusiveEnglish LanguageQuaint Author:Ilana Mercer
“It will be, I suppose, a foolhardy Government that tries to push through legislation making knowledge of both official languages one of the qualifications for election to the House of Commons or appointment to the Senate, but maybe it will have to come to this as a price we must pay for equality of the two great language groups of our founding fathers.” TryingTwoGovernmentFatherHouseLanguagePayGroupsElectionOfficialsSenateLegislationFoundingOur Founding FathersAppointmentsQualificationsHouse Of CommonsFoolhardy Author:Judy LaMarsh
“Wars are not fought for territory, but for words. Man's deadliest weapon is language. He is as susceptible to being hypnotized by slogans as he is to infectious diseases. And where there is an epidemic, the group-mind takes over.” MenMindWarLanguageGroupsDiseaseWeaponsTerritorySlogansEpidemicsSusceptibleInfectious Diseases Author:Arthur Koestler
“Everybody knows that really intimate conversation is only possible between two or three. As soon as there are six or seven, collective language begins to dominate. That is why it is a complete misinterpretation to apply to the Church the words 'Wheresoever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.' Christ did not say two hundred, or fifty, or ten. He said two or three.” KnowsSaidTwoTogetherThreeNamesLanguageChristChurchGroupsTenConversationSixHundredSevenIntimateFiftyCollectivesMidstMisinterpretationIntimate Conversation Book:Waiting on God (Routledge Revivals) Source: Waiting on God (Routledge Revivals)
“Money, after all, is an abstract artifact, like language - merely symbolized by the paper or coin or whatever. If you can fully grasp its abstractedness, especially in the computer age, it becomes quite clear that no group can monopolize this abstraction, except through a series of swindle. If the usurers had been bolder, they might have monopolized language as well as currency, and people would be saying we can't write more books because we don't have enough words, the way they now say we can't build starships, because we don't have enough money.” PeopleIfsWayWritingWellsBookEnoughMightWould BeAgeLanguageClearGroupsPaperComputerSeriesAbstractCurrencyCoinsAbstractionArtifacts Author:Robert Anton Wilson
“In South America euphemism appears to be the grisly preserve of violent power. 'Liberty' was the name of the biggest prison in Uruguay under the military dictatorship, while in Chile one of the concentration camps was called 'Dignity.' It was the self-styled 'Peace and Justice' paramilitary group in Chiapas [Mexico] that in 1997 shot 45 peasants in the back, nearly all of them women and children, as they prayed in a church. What have the souls of the south done over the past few decades to deserve quite so much liberty and dignity and peace and justice?” ChildrenSoulSelfDoneAmericaPastNamesLanguageChurchJusticeLibertyViolenceGroupsMilitaryShotsDeserveDignityPrisonSouthDecadesViolentOppressionPreservesConcentrationCampsMexicoDictatorshipPeasantsOver The PastPeace And JusticeChileSouth AmericaConcentration CampEuphemism Author:Isabel Fonseca
“It was amusement enough to be with a group of fearless and talkative girls, who said new things in a new language, who were ignorant of tradition and unimpressed by distinctions of rank; but it was soon clear that their young hostesses must be treated with the same respect, if not with the same ceremony as English girls of good family.” IfsSaidEnoughYoungGirlLanguageClearGroupsTraditionIgnorantTreatedFearlessDistinctionNew ThingsCeremonyAmusementTalkativeHostessesGood Family Book:Delphi Complete Works of Edith Wharton (Illustrated) Source: Delphi Complete Works of Edith Wharton (Illustrated)
“A group of psychologists say they have discovered twenty-three different body language indicators that show whether or not a person is lying. If you would like to see all twenty-three at the same time, they recommend taking a guided tour of the White House” IfsPersonsDifferentShowsBodyLyingThreeHouseLanguageWhiteGroupsTwentiesWhite HousePsychologistBody LanguageIndicators Author:Conan O'Brien
“There are some people that aren't into all the words. There are some people who would have you not use certain words. Yeah, there are 400,000 words in the English language, and there are seven of them that you can't say on television. What a ratio that is. 399,993 to seven. They must really be bad. They'd have to be outrageous, to be separated from a group that large. All of you over here, you seven. Bad words. That's what they told us they were, remember? 'That's a bad word.' You know bad words. Bad thoughts. Bad intentions.” PeopleUseRememberCertainLanguageGroupsTelevisionYeahIntentionSevenEnglish LanguageOutrageousRatiosBad WordBad ThoughtsBad Intentions Author:George Carlin
“The idea of an Afrikaner people as a cultural entity and religious group with a special language will be retained in South Africa as long as civilisation stands.” PeopleLongIdeasLanguageReligiousGroupsSpecialSouthSouth AfricaEntityCivilisation Author:P. W. Botha
“I LOVE WAL-MART. I CONSIDER MY JOKES TO BE VERY JEUVINILLE. STUFF A 14 YEAR OLD WOULD LAUGH AT BECAUSE THATS THE SENCE OF HUMOR I HAVE. ALL THE STUFF I TALK ABOUT MAY NOT BE APPROPRIATE FOR CHURCH GROUPS HOWEVER WAL-MART AINT SUNDAY SCHOOL. AS LONG AS I DIDNT USE OFFENSIVE FOUL LANGUAGE I KNEW ID BE FINE. WAL-MART GETS IT, THATS WHY THEY BLOW AWAY THE COMPETITION. BESIDES ITS THERE STORE THEY CAN DO WHAT THEY WANT. THATS AMERICA BABY!” WantYearsMayLongUseSchoolAmericaLanguageStuffCan DoChurchLaughingGroupsBabyFineJokesCompetitionBlowStoresAppropriateSundayOffensiveFoulSunday SchoolFoul Language Author:Larry the Cable Guy
“Therefore, the two processes, that of science and that of art, are not very different. Both science and art form in the course of the centuries a human language by which we can speak about the more remote parts of reality, and the coherent sets of concepts as well as the different styles of art are different words or groups of words in this language.” HumansWellsArtTwoDifferentRealityFormCoursesSpeakLanguageProcessGroupsCenturyStyleConceptsArt And ScienceDifferent StylesHuman Language Author:Werner Heisenberg
“Though representatives of many ethnic groups came together in the United States, English became their common language. Apparently, this was a natural choice. One can imagine what would have happened if members of each nation moving to the U.S. had spoken only their own tongues and refused to learn English.” IfsStatesTogetherMovingChoicesLanguageNationsNaturalUnitedCommonUnited StatesImagineHappenedGroupsMembersTongueRepresentativesEthnic GroupsCommon Language Author:Mikhail Gorbachev
“I believe we are being dishonest with language minority groups if we tell them they can take full part in American life without learning the English language.” IfsBelieveLanguageI BelieveGroupsMinoritiesEnglish LanguageAmerican LifeMinority Groups Author:S. I. Hayakawa
“This is what magic is. It's being able to speak in a voice which makes things happen, being able to speak in a voice which causes facts to be beheld by groups of people in a way that has been purged from profane language, for us relegated to poetry and that sort of thing.” PeopleWayHas BeensFactsHappensAbleSpeakLanguageCausesVoiceMagicGroupsThings HappenProfaneMake Things Happen Author:Terence McKenna