Quotes Archive

Polysyllables obfuscate a preponderant ignorance with so much more style and panache. John Patrick Lowrie, Dancing With Eternity Favorite0

In a language as idiomatically stressed as English, opportunities for misreadings are bound to arise. By a mere backward movement of stress, a verb can become a noun, an act a thing. To refuse, to insist on saying no to what you believe is wrong, becomes at a stroke refuse, an insurmountable

The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary. James D. Nichols Favorite0

“I guess that isn’t the right word,” she said. She was used to apologizing for her use of language. She had been encouraged to do a lot of that in school. Most white people in Midland City were insecure when they spoke, so they kept their sentences short and their words simple,

Writing in English is like throwing mud at a wall. Joseph Conrad Favorite0

You have many flaws, he announced… “But there was one flaw that made all the other imperfections pale in comparison.” “Was?” she asked. “I don’t have this flaw any longer?” “No, you don’t.” “Pray tell,” she muttered in exasperation, “what was this terrible flaw?” He grinned. “You used to be English.” Julie

Dearest creature in creation, Study English pronunciation. I will teach you in my verse Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse. I will keep you, Suzy, busy, Make your head with heat grow dizzy. Tear in eye, your dress will tear. So shall I! Oh hear my prayer. Just compare heart, beard,

Its very variety, subtlety, and utterly irrational, idiomatic complexity makes it possible to say things in English which simply cannot be said in any other language. Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land Favorite0

In the English language there are orphans and widows, but there is no word for the parents who loses a child. Jodi Picoult, My Sister’s Keeper Favorite0

Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life. Cecil Rhodes (attributed). Favorite0