English Language Quotes

• Language is the armory of the human mind, and at once contains the trophies of its past and the weapons of its future conquests.

  Samuel Taylor Coleridge

  Business, Communication, Past

  Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1840). “The Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Prose and Verse: Complete in One Volume”, p.313

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• A different language is a different vision of life.

  Federico Fellini

  Life, Work, Communication

  Federico Fellini, Bert Cardullo (2006). “Federico Fellini: Interviews”, p.180, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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• English poetry begins whenever we decide to say the modern English language begins, and it extends as far as we decide to say that the English language extends.

  James Fenton

  Language, Modern, English Poetry

  2002 An Introduction to English Poetry.

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• A foreign observer is struck by our gentleness: by the orderly behaviour of the English crowds, the lack of pushing and quarrelling, the willingness to form queues.

  George Mikes

  Behaviour, Crowds, Pushing

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• When two Eglishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather.

  Samuel Johnson

  Weather, Two, Firsts

  "The Idler" by Samuel Johnson, No. 11, June 24, 1758.

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• The most beautiful words in the English language are 'not guilty'.

  Maxim Gorky

  Beautiful, Money, Business

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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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• The most important words in the English language are not 'I love you' but 'it's benign.'

  Woody Allen

  Love You, Important, Language

  Deconstructing Harry, www.imdb.com. 1997.

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• 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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• An Englishman is content to say nothing when he has nothing to say.

  Samuel Johnson

  Language, Englishmen

  In James Boswell 'The Life of Samuel Johnson' (1791) vol. 4, p. 15 (1780) Sir, your wife, under pretence of keeping a bawdy-house, is a receiver of stolen goods. During an exchange of coarse raillery customary among people travelling upon the Thames, in James Boswell 'The Life of Samuel Johnson' (1791) vol. 4, p. 26 (1780)

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• My least favorite phrase in the English language is 'I don't care.'

  James Caan

  Phrases, Care, Language

  "James Caan: What I've Learned". Interview with Ross Johnson, www.esquire.com. January 29, 2007.

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• The Divinity could be invoked as well in the English language as in the French.

  Wilfrid Laurier

  Divinity, Language, Wells

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• The English gentleman is a combination of silence, courtesy, dignity, sport, newspapers and honesty.

  Karel Capek

  Sports, Honesty, Silence

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• Every Englishman is an average Englishman: it is a national characteristic.

  E. M. Delafield

  Average, Language, Characteristics

  E. M. Delafield (2015). “The Collected Works of E. M. Delafield (Illustrated): The Provincial Lady Series, Zella Sees Herself, The War-Workers, Consequences, Gay Life, The Heel of Achilles, Humbug, Messalina of the Suburbs (Including Short Stories and Plays)”, p.2680, e-artnow

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• When the English language gets in my way, I walk over it.

  Billy Sunday

  Way, Language, Walks

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• We all live in a small unique world, that's why we need at least one sole common language.

  William C. Brown

  Unique, Needs, World

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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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• The English love for privacy is proverbial, and has not been exaggerated. A stranger who strikes up a conversation is looked upon with suspicion - unless he happens to be an American, when his ignorance of good manners is indulged.

  Henry Steele Commager

  Ignorance, Good Man, Privacy

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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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• He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Book, Communication, Humor

  Abraham Lincoln (1992). “The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln”, Plume

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• A man of true science... thinks, that by mouthing hard words, he proves that he understands hard things.

  Herman Melville

  Communication, Men, Thinking

  "White-Jacket" by Herman Melville, (Ch. 64), 1850.

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• Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Travel, Communication, Inspiration

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• Language ought to be the joint creation of poets and manual workers.

  George Orwell

  Communication, Joints, Language

  George Orwell (1986). “The complete works of George Orwell”

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• I speak two languages, Body and English.

  Mae West

  Two, Body, Language

  "Body Language Pocketbook". Book by Max A. Eggert (p. 17), September 1, 2012.

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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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