English Language Quotes

• The English language was carefully, carefully cobbled together by three blind dudes and a German dictionary

  Dave Kellett

  Together, Three, Brilliant

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• My favorite three words in the English language are: ’I don’t know’, because every time I say them, I learn something new.

  Timothy Leary

  Three, Language, My Favorite

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• Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.

  William Penn

  Writing, Language Words, Plain Language

  William Penn (1792). “Fruits of Solitude: In Reflections and Maxims Relating to the Conduct of Human Life”, p.130

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• English language is the most universal language in history, way more than the Latin of Julius Caesar. Its the most punderful language because its vocabulary has a certain critical mass that makes a lingo good for punning.

  Richard Lederer

  Latin, Vocabulary, Way

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• The English language is an arsenal of weapons. If you are going to brandish them without checking to see whether or not they are loaded, you must expect to have them explode in your face from time to time.

  Stephen Fry

  Faces, Weapons, Language

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• When I read some of the rules for speaking and writing the English language correctly, I think any fool can make a rule, and every fool will mind it.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Writing, Thinking, Mind

  Henry David Thoreau, Odell Shepard (1961). “The Heart of Thoreau's Journals”, p.213, Courier Corporation

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• Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.

  Rita Mae Brown

  Inspiration, Learning, People

  Rita Mae Brown (2011). “Starting from Scratch: A Different Kind of Writers' Manual”, p.47, Bantam

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  Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.

  Mark Twain

  Inspirational, Relationship, Positive

  Mark Twain (2015). “Bite-Size Twain: Wit and Wisdom from the Literary Legend”, p.18, St. Martin's Press

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• My God! The English language is a form of communication! Conversation isn't just crossfire where you shoot and get shot at! Where you've got to duck for your life and aim to kill! Words aren't only bombs and bullets — no, they're little gifts, containing meanings!

  Philip Roth

  Communication, Ducks, Bombs

  "Portnoy's Complaint". Book by Philip Roth, 1969.

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  Never make fun of someone who speaks broken English. It means they know another language.

  H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

  Fun, Mean, Broken

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• Viewed freely, the English language is the accretion and growth of every dialect, race, and range of time, and is both the free and compacted composition of all.

  Walt Whitman

  Communication, Race, Growth

  Walt Whitman (2003). “The Portable Walt Whitman”, p.557, Penguin

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• In the English language there are orphans and widows, but there is no word for the parents who loses a child.

  Jodi Picoult

  Sad, Children, Parent

  Jodi Picoult (2009). “My Sister's Keeper: A Novel”, p.493, Simon and Schuster

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• The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

  Ronald Reagan

  Funny, Business, Military

  "Biography / Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• More has been screwed up on the battlefield and misunderstood in the Pentagon because of a lack of understanding of the English language than any other single factor.

  John W. Vessey, Jr.

  Understanding, Misunderstood, Language

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• The English language has a deceptive air of simplicity; so have some little frocks; but they are both not the kind of thing you can run up in half an hour with a machine.

  Dorothy L. Sayers

  Running, Writing, Hype

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• The English language is rather like a monster accordion, stretchable at the whim of the editor, compressible ad lib.

  Robert Burchfield

  Communication, Editors, Monsters

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• FEAR is an acronym in the English language for 'False Evidence Appearing Real'.

  Neale Donald Walsch

  Fear, Real, Acronyms

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• 'I am' is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that 'I do' is the longest sentence?

  George Carlin

  Funny, Marriage, Sarcastic

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• High thoughts must have high language.

  Aristophanes

  Book, Communication, Beer

  Aristophanes (1962). “Four comedies”

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• 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.

  Nelson Mandela

  Leadership, Travel, Crazy

  "Biography/Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Our major obligation is not to mistake slogans for solutions.

  Edward R. Murrow

  Mistake, Problem Solving, Obligation

  Edward R. Murrow (1967). “In Search of Light: The Broadcasts of Edward R. Murrow, 1938-1961”

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• Every American child should grow up knowing a second language, preferably English.

  Mignon McLaughlin

  Children, Growing Up, Knowing

  Mignon McLaughlin (2014). “Aperçus: The Aphorisms of Mignon McLaughlin”, p.34, BookBaby

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• The English language is nobody's special property.

  Derek Walcott

  Special, Language, Property

  "Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews, Eighth Series". Book edited by George Plimpton, 1988.

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• The gentleman is generous and treats all men as his equals, especially those whom he feels to be inferior in rank and wealth.

  Hilaire Belloc

  Men, Gentleman, Language

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• Most Englishmen are convinced that God is an Englishman, probably educated at Eton.

  E. M. Delafield

  Eton, Language, Educated

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