Quotes about Language

I heard Nelson Mandela’s quote about language a couple of times last week and it inspired to collect my favourite ones together and put them on the blog. Whether you’re working in the language industry, teaching languages, studying language or just here for fun we’re sure one of these will make you smile.

Which one’s your favourite? or do you have any more? let me know in the comments.

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[av_testimonial_single src=’12579′ attachment=” name=’Nelson Mandela’ subtitle=” link=” linktext=” av_uid=’av-7fmvz9e’]
If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.
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[av_testimonial_single src=’12580′ attachment=” name=’Ralph Waldo Emerson’ subtitle=” link=” linktext=” av_uid=’av-7azvw2q’]
Use what language you will, you can never say anything but what you are.
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[av_testimonial_single src=’12581′ attachment=” name=’George Bernard Shaw’ subtitle=” link=” linktext=” av_uid=’av-6u52wbm’]
England and America are two countries separated by the same language.
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[av_testimonial_single src=’12591′ attachment=” name=’Walt Disney’ subtitle=” link=” linktext=” av_uid=’av-69hxn1e’]
Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language.
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[av_testimonial_single src=’12595′ attachment=” name=’Virginia Woolf’ subtitle=” link=” linktext=” av_uid=’av-5ubmaci’]
Language is wine upon the lips.
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[av_testimonial_single src=’12596′ attachment=” name=’George Orwell’ subtitle=” link=” linktext=” av_uid=’av-5doo7s2′]
But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.
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[av_testimonial_single src=’12597′ attachment=” name=’George Carlin’ subtitle=” link=” linktext=” av_uid=’av-4xphc8y’]
Meow means woof in cat.
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[av_testimonial_single src=’12608′ attachment=” name=’J.K. Rowling’ subtitle=” link=” linktext=” av_uid=’av-fi8ahu’]
Anyone can speak Troll. All you have to do is point and grunt.
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[av_testimonial_single src=’12609′ attachment=” name=’Ludwig Wittgenstein’ subtitle=” link=” linktext=” av_uid=’av-3v652f6′]
The limits of my language means the limits of my world.
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[av_testimonial_single src=’12610′ attachment=” name=’Melina Marchetta’ subtitle=” link=” linktext=” av_uid=’av-bwdngi’]
Because without our language, we have lost ourselves. Who are we without our words?
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[av_testimonial_single src=’12611′ attachment=” name=’Douglas Adams’ subtitle=” link=” linktext=” av_uid=’av-a6raci’]
Meanwhile, the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation.
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[av_testimonial_single src=’12612′ attachment=” name=’William S. Burroughs’ subtitle=” link=” linktext=” av_uid=’av-9tf6ea’]
Language is a virus from outer space
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[av_testimonial_single src=’12613′ attachment=” name=’Frank Smith’ subtitle=” link=” linktext=” av_uid=’av-27bs1ya’]
One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way.
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[av_testimonial_single src=’12614′ attachment=” name=’Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’ subtitle=” link=” linktext=” av_uid=’av-1h83lvm’]
Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.
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[av_testimonial_single src=’12615′ attachment=” name=’Oliver Wendell Holmes’ subtitle=” link=” linktext=” av_uid=’av-18el4yq’]
Language is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they grow.
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[av_testimonial_single src=’12616′ attachment=” name=’Rita Mae Brown’ subtitle=” link=” linktext=” av_uid=’av-3afdxe’]
Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.
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