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Language Quotes

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Language Quotes

“In one of the most brilliant papers in the English language Hume made it clear that what we speak of as 'causality' is nothing more than the phenomenon of repetition. When we mix sulphur with saltpeter and charcoal we always get gunpowder. This is true of every event subsumed by a causal law in other words, everything which can be called scientific knowledge. "It is custom which rules ," Hume said, and in that one sentence undermined both science and philosophy .”

MadeSaidPhilosophyLawSpeakLanguageClearEventsPaperSentencesBrilliantMade ItPhenomenonCustomsRepetitionPapersEnglish LanguageScientific KnowledgeCausalityOne SentenceGunpowderCharcoalHumeScience And Philosophy
Author:Philip K. Dick
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“Those who violate the rules of a language do not enter new territory; they leave the domain of meaningful discourse. Even facts in these circumstances dissolve, because they are shaped by the language and subjected to its limitations.”

FactsLanguageCircumstancesMeaningfulLimitationTerritoryDiscourseDomainNew Territory
Book:Conquest of Abundance: A Tale of Abstraction Versus the Richness of Being
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“Language became a colorless and as indistinct as the business suit which is now worm by everyone, by the scholar, by the businessman, by the professional killer. Being accustomed to a dry and dreary norm and sees in it an obvious sign of arrogance and aggression; viewing authority with almost religious awe he gets into a frenzy when he sees someone pluck the beard of his favorite prophet.”

LanguageReligiousAuthorityObviousSuitsArroganceProphetDryAweScholarKillersAggressionBusinessmanNormWormsAccustomedBeardDrearyPluckFrenzyColorless
Author:Paul Feyerabend
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“In recognizing that words have power to define and to compel, the semanticists are actually testifying to the philosophic quality of language which is the source of their vexation. In an attempt to get rid of that quality, they are looking for some neutral means which will be a nonconductor of the current called "emotion" and its concomitant of evaluation.”

MeanLanguageEmotionQualitySourceCurrentsRecognizingEvaluationPhilosophicVexationTestifying
Book:Ideas Have Consequences: Expanded Edition
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“The semanticists are exactly wrong in regarding language as an obstruction or series of pitfalls. Language, on the contrary, appears as a great storehouse of universal memory, or it may be said to serve as a net, not imprisoning us but supporting us and aiding us to get at a meaning beyond present meaning through the very fact that it embodies others' experiences.”

MaySaidFactsLanguageMemoriesUniversalSeriesContraryPitfallsObstruction
Book:Ideas Have Consequences
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“in order to confer their lost Nationality upon exiled Jews , the British with the help of the League of Nations began to rehabilitate the old Hebrew country, Palestine, with its long lost children. The Jews had maintained their race, religion, culture and language; and all they wanted was their natural territory to complete their Nationality. The reconstruction of the Hebrew Nation on Palestine is just an affirmation of the fact that Country, Race, Religion, Culture and Language must exist unequivocally together to form the Nation idea.”

ChildrenLongIdeasCountryFactsHelpingWantedTogetherFormOrderCultureLostLanguageNationsNaturalRaceJewBritishLeagueTerritoryAffirmationPalestineNationalityHebrewReconstructionLeague Of NationsCulture And LanguageLost Child
Author:M. S. Golwalkar
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“Yiddish, the language which will ever bear witness to the violence and murder inflicted on us, bear the marks of our expulsions from land to land, the language which absorbed the wails of the fathers, the laments of the generations, the poison and bitterness of history, the language whose precious jewels are the undried, uncongealed Jewish tears.”

FatherLanguageViolenceGenerationsLandTearsBearsMarkMurderWitnessPoisonBitternessJewelsLamentYiddishExpulsionPrecious Jewels
Author:I. L. Peretz
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“Have been reading "Genesis" several Sundays, not as a Christian reads for "spiritual consolation," "instruction," etc., not as aninfidel reads to carp and quarrel and criticize, but as one who wishes to be informed and furnished in the earliest and most wonderful of all literary productions. The literature of the Bible should be studied as one studies Shakespeare, for illustration and language, for its true pictures of man and woman nature, for its early historical record.”

MenShouldHas BeensChristianSpiritualReadingLiteratureLanguageWishStudyRecordsWonderfulBibleMen And WomenHistoricalProductionsEtcSundayCriticizeInstructionConsolationQuarrelsGenesisIllustrationCarp
Author:Rutherford B. Hayes
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“Learning to say prayers in a foreign language...is not in itself the way to fulfill our highest human potential; there is nothing of transcending value to be gained from substituting one set of cultural conventions for another. People whose practice remains on this superficial level end up with nothing but confusion, not knowing who they are or what they should do.”

PeopleWayShouldHumansEndsValuesLanguagePrayerLevelsPracticeKnowingLearningHighestRemainsConfusionConventionsNot KnowingSuperficialHuman PotentialForeign LanguageTranscending
Author:Thubten Yeshe
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“Once a century, all of a certain kind of bamboo flower on the same day. Whether they are in Malaysia or in a greenhouse in Minnesota makes no difference, nor does the age or size of the plant. They flower. Some current of an inner language passes between them, through space and separation, in ways we cannot explain in our language. They are all, somehow, one plant, each with a share of communal knowledge.”

WayKindDoeAgeCertainLanguageDifferencesSpaceShareCenturyFlowerPlantSizeCurrentsSeparationGreenhousesMinnesotaMalaysiaBamboo
Author:Linda Hogan
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“I'm getting less good at faking it. People in my family are noticing and asking what's wrong. My friends give me invitations to talk, to cry. I love them for their caring, but I want to run from it. I have lost their language, their facility with words that convey feelings. I am in new territory and feel like a foreigner in theirs.”

PeopleWantGivingFeelsFeelingsRunningLostLanguageCryDepressionMy FriendsMy FamilyGive MeAskingIllnessCaringMental IllnessTerritoryInvitationsFacilityForeignersNoticingFaking ItNew Territory
Author:Martha Manning
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“We live in story like a fish lives in water. We swim through words and images siphoning story through our minds the way a fish siphons water through its gills. We cannot think without language, we cannot process experience without story.”

ThinkingWayMindStoriesLanguageProcessWaterFishesSwim
Book:Storycatcher: Making Sense of Our Lives Through the Power and Practice of Story
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“It takes time and devotion to learn the language of color and lighting in the garden. Your tastes are sure to change over time, reflecting your inner evolution. Seeing the garden as a canvas for your celebration of Nature's palette is a wonderful expression of the soul's love of beauty and artistry. Your own inner intuition, however, is often your best teacher, but don't forget that Mother Nature will always have a few surprises up Her sleeve as well.”

WellsSoulMotherLanguageForgetTeacherWonderfulSeeingColorExpressionEvolutionTasteGardenSurpriseIntuitionDevotionCelebrationTake TimeCanvasReflectingLightingSleevesArtistryMother NatureBest TeacherPaletteIt Takes TimeChanges Over Time
Author:Christopher McDowell
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“All fear of 'offensive' speech is bourgeois and reactionary. Historically, profane or bawdy language was common in both the upper and the lower classes, who lived together in rural areas amid the untidy facts of nature. Notions of propriety and decorum come to the fore in urbanized periods ruled by an expanding middle class, which is obsessed with cleanliness, respectability, and conformism.”

FactsTogetherLanguageCommonClassMiddleInternetPeriodsSpeechAreasNotionObsessedMiddle ClassFree SpeechOffensiveExpandingBourgeoisCleanlinessReactionariesProprietyProfaneRespectabilityDecorumLower ClassRural Areas
Author:Camille Paglia
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