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Language Quotes

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Language Quotes

“Music, as many people have said, is the universal language. Of course points are made which make you think about things, but ultimately it makes you feel. And that's why people remember more songs that have meant something during their life than films. They start to define periods in your life, and that's kind of the beauty of it.”

PeopleThinkingFeelsKindMadeSaidRememberFilmSongCoursesLanguagePeriodsUniversalMake You ThinkUniversal Language
Author:Scott Weiland
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“I feel as though I am trying to describe a three-dimensional experience while living in a two-dimension world. The appropriate words, descriptions, and concepts don't even exist in our current language. I have subsequently read the accounts of other people's near-death experiences and their portrayals of heaven and I am able to see the same limitations in their descriptions and vocabulary that I see in my own.”

PeopleWorldFeelsTryingTwoGodAbleChristianThreeLanguageHeavenReligiousMy OwnConceptsAccountsCurrentsLimitationDimensionsAppropriateDescriptionVocabularyNear DeathPortrayalNear Death Experience
Author:Mary C. Neal
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“Would I describe a preacher, I would express him simple, grave, sincere; In doctrine uncorrupt; in language plain, And plain in manner; decent, solemn, chaste, And natural in gesture; much impress'd Himself, as conscious of his awful charge, And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds May feel it too; affectionate in look, And tender in address, as well becomes A messenger of grace to guilty men.”

MenFeelsWellsLooksMayLanguageNaturalSimpleGraceConsciousGravesDoctrineGuiltyAwfulDecentAddressesSincereAnxiousGesturesPreacherPreachingImpressSolemnFlocksMessengersAffectionateChaste
Book:The Works of William Cowper: His Life, Letters, and Poems. Now First Completed by the Introduction of Cowper's Private Correspondence
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“Reality is very, very contradictory, and so I try to write just perfecting what I see, what I read, what I feel, in a feel-thinking way. Not only giving ideas, or receiving ideas, or trying to explain something, but mainly feel-thinking, a feel-thinking language able to tie the heart and the mind, which have been divorced.”

ThinkingWayGivingFeelsWritingTryingMindHeartHas BeensIdeasRealityAbleLanguageTiesReceivingDivorcedContradictory
Author:Eduardo Galeano
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“It is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard.”

FeelsEnoughWould BeIndividualLanguageCausesAttentionConditionsViolentAlternativesTonightOur SocietyRebellionRiotIrresponsibleUnheardCondemning
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“The "sayings" of a community, its proverbs, are its characteristic comment upon life; they imply its history, suggest its attitude toward the world and its way of accepting life. Such an idiom makes the finest language any writer can have; and he can never get it with a notebook. He himself must be able to think and feel in that speech - it is a gift from heart to heart.”

ThinkingWorldWayFeelsHeartAbleLanguageCommunityAttitudeAcceptingSpeechCharacteristicsCommentFinestNotebookIdiomHeart To HeartAccepting Life
Book:Not Under Forty
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“Literature is the voice of the age and the state; the character, energy, and resources of the country are reflected and imaged forth in the conceptions of its great minds; they are organs of the time; they speak not their own language, they scarce think their own thoughts; but under an impulse like the prophetic enthusiasm of old, they must feel and utter the sentiments which society inspires.”

ThinkingFeelsMindCountryStatesCharacterAgeLiteratureEnergySpeakLanguageVoiceInspireResourcesEnthusiasmImpulseSentimentsConceptionOrgansScarcePropheticGreat Minds
Book:Selections from the Works of Edward Everett: With a Sketch of His Life
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“There were times, especially when I was traveling for 'Eat, Pray, Love,' when, I swear to God, I would feel this weight of my female ancestors, all those Swedish farmwives from beyond the grave who were like, 'Go! Go to Naples! Eat more pizza! Go to India, ride an elephant! Do it! Swim in the Indian Ocean. Read those books. Learn a language.'”

FeelsBookLanguagePrayingOceanFemaleWeightIndiaGravesIndianSwimAncestorSwearElephantsPizzaPray LoveSwedishEat Love PrayNaplesSwear To God
Author:Elizabeth Gilbert
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“Many strange-looking people obviously dress according to deep convictions that are not shared by on-lookers - they clearly do not know how they actually look, but are satisfied with what their clothes make them feel and believe about their looks. These people may be the true originals, even though they are certainly not the best appreciated. The famous messages of dress, the well-known language of clothes, is very often not doing any communicating at all; a good deal of it is a form of private muttering.”

PeopleKnowsFeelsBelieveWellsLooksMayFormLanguageDealsKnownKnow HowStrangeMessagesClothesOriginalsDressesCommunicateConvictionSatisfiedWell KnownAppreciatedMuttering
Book:Sex and Suits: The Evolution of Modern Dress
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“A British imperium enabled Scots to feel themselves peers of the Ebglish in a way still denied them in an island kingdom. The language bears that out very clearly. The English and the foreign are still all too inclined to refer to the island of Great Britain as 'England'. But at no time have they ever customarily referred to an English empire.”

WayFeelsStillsLanguageBearsEnglandBritishKingdomsIslandsBritainEmpiresDeniedPeersGreat BritainBritish HistoryScots
Author:Linda Colley
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“To me, a poem is almost like someone whispering to another person, or you hear the whispering in your head. I hope with my own poems that the reader feels a connection, soul to soul, that'll help us all feel a little less alone on the planet. And it does have the power to direct change. A writer can make the word 'dark' be something positive. You can relieve a word like 'hysterical' of its misogynistic implications. You can make the language your own. That's what poetry is about.”

FeelsLittlesPersonsDoeSoulHelpingLanguageDarkMy OwnPlanetsReaderDirectConnectionsPoetry IsImplicationsWhisperingHysterical
Author:Rita Dove
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“Labels not only free us from the obligation to think creatively; they numb our sensibilities, our power to feel. During the Vietnam War, the phrase body count entered our vocabulary. It is an ambiguous phrase, inorganic, even faintly sporty. It distanced us from the painful reality of corpses, of dead, mutilated people.”

PeopleThinkingFeelsWarBodyRealityLanguagePainfulObligationLabelsPhrasesVietnamSensibilityVocabularyCorpsesVietnam WarNumbAmbiguous
Book:News from the World: Stories and Essays
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“I feel passionately about how I express myself. Language is the greatest motivating force. You can phrase something positively and inspire people to do their best, or negatively and make them feel worried, uncertain, and self-conscious. You can talk at a fast pace and people will get nervous, feel afraid to bring up extraneous thoughts. But those are the very thoughts that might be most important! They might represent that person's best thinking. If you're rushed, you're simply not going to get at that extra level of thinking.”

PeopleIfsThinkingFeelsPersonsImportantSelfMightLanguageForceLevelsInspireConsciousNervousWorriedPhrasesExtrasPaceUncertainPositivelySelf Conscious
Author:Frances Hesselbein
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“Play is a universal language. It gives a sense of joy in being alive. It is one of the healthiest things we have in our culture. When we play, we give a gift of joy to another. Happy and joyous family times are a unifying force. They increase closeness and positive feelings. They increase loyalty to the family team. Everyone relaxes and feels more alive. Love just happens when you're having fun together!”

GivingFeelsPlayFeelingsHappensTogetherJoyCultureLanguageFunForceFamilyAliveTeamUniversalIncreaseLoyaltyHaving FunRelaxJoyousClosenessUnifyingUniversal LanguageLive LoveFamily TimePositive Feelings
Author:Louise Hart
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“Man feels the urge to run up against the limits of language. Think for example of the astonishment that anything at all exists. This astonishment cannot be expressed in the form of a question, and there is also no answer whatsoever. Anything we might say is a priori bound to be nonsense. Nevertheless we do run up against the limits of language. Kierkegaard too saw that there is this running up against something, and he referred to it in a fairly similar way (as running up against paradox). This running up against the limits of language is ethics.”

ThinkingMenWayFeelsMightRunningFormLanguageAnswersSawsExampleLimitsEthicsBoundsNonsenseUrgesParadoxNeverthelessAstonishment
Author:Ludwig Wittgenstein
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“People over the age of thirty were born before the digital revolution really started. We've learned to use digital technology-laptops, cameras, personal digital assistants, the Internet-as adults, and it has been something like learning a foreign language. Most of us are okay, and some are even expert. We do e-mails and PowerPoint, surf the Internet, and feel we're at the cutting edge. But compared to most people under thirty and certainly under twenty, we are fumbling amateurs. People of that age were born after the digital revolution began. They learned to speak digital as a mother tongue.”

PeopleFeelsHas BeensUseAgeMotherSpeakLanguageBornTechnologyCuttingRevolutionInternetAdultsOkayTwentiesCamerasEdgesTongueThirtyExpertsDigitalMailAssistantsSurfLaptopsForeign LanguageCutting EdgeMother TongueDigital TechnologyPowerpointDigital Revolution
Author:Ken Robinson
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“Breakthrough ideas look crazy, nuts. It’s hard to think this way — I see it in other people’s body language, and I can feel it in my own, where I sometimes feel like I don’t even care if it’s going to work, I can’t take more change. O.K., Google, O.K., Twitter—but Airbnb? People staying in each other’s houses without there being a lot of axe murders?”

PeopleIfsThinkingWayFeelsLooksI CanIdeasSometimesHardBodyCareHouseLanguageMy OwnCrazyMurderStayingNutsGoogleGoing To WorkBreakthroughBody LanguageAirbnb
Author:Marc Andreessen
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“I found cause to wonder upon what ground the English accuse Americans of corrupting the language by introducing slang words. I think I heard more and more different kinds of slang during my few weeks' stay in London than in my whole "tenderloin" life in New York. But I suppose the English feel that the language is theirs, and that they may do with it as they please without at the same time allowing that privilege to others.”

ThinkingFeelsKindMayDifferentWholeFoundLanguageCausesWonderHeardWeekNew YorkPleasePrivilegeLondonAllowingDifferent KindsIntroducingSlang
Book:The Essential Writings of James Weldon Johnson
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“Crude men who feel themselves insulted tend to assess the degree of insult as high as possible, and talk about the offense in greatly exaggerated language, only so they can revel to their heart's content in the aroused feelings of hatred and revenge.”

MenFeelsHeartFeelingsLanguageDegreesHatredRevengeInsultOffenseCrudeExaggeratedInsultedHatred And Revenge
Book:Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits
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“There has been in our time a lack of reliance on language and a lack of experimentation which are frightening to anyone who sees them as symptoms. We know the phenomenon of stage-fright: it holds the player shivering, incapable of speech or action. Perhaps there is an audience-fright which the play can feel, which leaves him with these incapacities.”

KnowsFeelsHas BeensPlayActionLanguageAudiencePlayerStageSpeechOur TimePhenomenonFrighteningIncapableSymptomsRelianceExperimentationFrightIncapacityStage Fright
Author:Muriel Rukeyser
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“Beauty is undefinable in language. It's something that you see when you see it, or you feel when you feel it, or you hear when you hear it. It usually encompasses all five of the senses. It can't exist without it being a somehow sensorial experience. But, I don't think it's quantifiable. Nothing is really quantifiable. Nothing is certain in love and friendship. We all try to understand these things.”

ThinkingFeelsTryingCertainLanguageFiveSensesLove And Friendship
Author:Colin Farrell
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“Peter Conners stunning prose poems are packed with keen sensitivity, dreaminess, and wit. I love his time travels, the vibrant layering of image and detail. Try taking walks as you are reading this book- the dazzle of landscapes, inner and outer, feel replenished and rich. This is language and vision I want to come home to again and again.”

WantFeelsTryingBookHomeReadingLanguageWalksVisionRichDetailsWitLandscapeProseComing HomePeterTime TravelAgain And AgainSensitivityStunningDazzle
Author:Naomi Shihab Nye
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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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“Jay-Z is more naturally gifted. He didn't depend as much as 50 did on his personal story. Jay-Z has a great story, he came from a pretty rough background. But 50's early success was so much fueled on the story and where he came from. With Jay-Z, I feel he has a more natural gift for language and for music itself. 50 really had to study and work at it much harder.”

FeelsStoriesLanguageNaturalStudyDependsHarderBackgroundsRoughGiftedNatural GiftsPersonal StoriesStudy And Work
Author:Robert Greene
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