Speak English Quotes

• To write or even speak English is not a science but an art. There are no reliable words.... Whoever writes English is involved in a struggle that never lets up even for a sentence.

  George Orwell

  Art, Struggle, Writing

  George Orwell (1968). “The Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell: As I please, 1943-1945”

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• I hope God speaks English. If I get up to heaven and have to point at a menu, I'm gonna be pissed.

  Daniel Tosh

  Funny, Humor, Heaven

  "True Stories I Made Up". Comedy album by Daniel Tosh, 2005.

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• My accent was horrible. In Mexico, nobody says, 'You speak English with a good accent.' You either speak English, or you don't: As long as you can communicate, no one cares.

  Salma Hayek

  Long, Mexico, Care

  "Oprah Talks to Salma Hayek". Interview with Oprah Winfrey, www.oprah.com. September 2003.

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• To write or even speak English is not a science but an art. There are no reliable words. Whoever writes English is involved in a struggle that never lets up even for a sentence. He is struggling against vagueness, against obscurity, against the lure of the decorative adjective, against the encroachment of Latin and Greek, and, above all, against the worn-out phrases and dead metaphors with which the language is cluttered up.

  George Orwell

  Art, Latin, Struggle

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• Anyone who doesn't speak English isn't worth speaking to

  Bernie Ecclestone

  Speak

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• Dreams do come true, even for someone who couldn't speak English and never had a music lesson or much of an education.

  Lawrence Welk

  Dream, Lessons, Dreams Come True

  Lawrence Welk, Bernice McGeehan (1971). “Wunnerful, Wunnerful: The Autobiography of Lawrence Welk”, Prentice Hall Direct

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• We can only converse if we can speak the same language. So if we are going to build One Nation, we need to start with everyone in Britain knowing how to speak English.

  Ed Miliband

  Party, Knowing, Needs

  "David Cameron attacks Ed Miliband's immigration plans" by Rajeev Syal and Nicholas Watt, www.theguardian.com. December 14, 2012.

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• Speak English!' said the Eaglet. 'I don't know the meaning of half those long words, and I don't believe you do either!

  Lewis Carroll

  Believe, Long, Wonderland

  Lewis Carroll (2015). “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: That CUPCAKE was off her head!”, p.23, Oldcastle Books

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• I have traveled more than anyone else, and I have noticed that even the angels speak English with an accent.

  Mark Twain

  Angel, Accents, Traveled

  Mark Twain, Howard G. Baetzhold, Joseph B. Mccullough (1996). “The Bible According to Mark Twain”, p.354, Simon and Schuster

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• It is always a taut moment in a foreign country waiting to see if your English-speaking guide speaks English.

  Peg Bracken

  Country, Travel, Waiting

  Peg Bracken (1973). “But I Wouldn't Have Missed it for the World!: The Pleasures and Perils of an Unseasoned Traveler”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P

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• Because you've been on dates where y'know, you forget to open your eyes and wear pants and speak English.

  David Cross

  Funny, Humor, Eye

  "David Cross: The Pride Is Back". TV Special, September 18, 1999.

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• The East End of Glasgow is like the Olympics. Lots of foriegners in tracksuits struggling to speak English.

  Frankie Boyle

  Funny, Struggle, Humor

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• We know the goats are imported because they don't speak English.

  Scott Adams

  Goats, Speak, Knows

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• I always like a charity with people who don't speak English because I get them to do all kinds of things around my house.

  Joan Rivers

  People, House, Charity

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• Jesus is not from Georgia. Jesus does not speak English. And Jesus is not a member of the NRA.

  Robert Wright

  Jesus, Party, Reality

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• You forget, when you're in the Scandinavian countries, you forget they don't speak English first and they speak better than I do.

  Doug Stanhope

  Country, Firsts, Forget

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• Nowadays, anyone who cannot speak English and is incapable of using the Internet is regarded as backward.

  Al-Waleed bin Talal

  Knowledge, Internet Users, Incapable

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

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• The most significant event of the 20th century will be the fact that the North Americans speak English.

  Otto von Bismarck

  Events, Facts, Significant

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• I have a funny story to tell about English and how I came to fall in love with the language. I was desperate to fit in and spoke English all the time. Trouble was, in my household it was a no-no to speak English because somehow it is disrespectful to call parents and grandparents "you" - impersonal pronouns are offensive in Vietnamese.

  Andrew Lam

  Falling In Love, Grandparent, Stories

  "‘Birds of Paradise Lost’: A Conversation With Author Andrew Lam". Interview with Anna Challet, www.huffingtonpost.com. March 5, 2013.

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• I could speak to you and say, 'Laytay-chai, paisey, paisey.' ... Why aren't you responding? Oh, you don't speak Swahili. Well, I've got news for you. The dog doesn't speak English, or American, or Spanish, or French.

  Ian Dunbar

  Dog, Motivation, Inspiration

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• In a small village near Calcutta, in 1998, a villager who could not speak English sang me What Did You Learn In School Today? in Bengali! Tom Paxton’s songs are reaching around the world more than he is, or any of us could have realized. Keep on, Tom!

  Tom Paxton

  Song, School, Small Villages

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• If your computer speaks English, it was probably made in Japan.

  Alan Perlis

  Japan, Computer, Made

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• Every German child learns to speak English in school.

  Cornelia Funke

  Children, School, Speak

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• You'll hear people say it's racist to test. Folks, it's racist not to test. Because guess who gets shuffled through the system oftentimes? Children whose parents don't speak English as a first language, inner-city kids. It's so much easier to quit on somebody than to remediate.

  George W. Bush

  Children, Humor, Kids

  "President Bush Addresses Taxes, Social Security in Independence, Missouri". CNN Live Event/Special, www.cnn.com. August 21, 2001.

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• I speak English, Portuguese, and French. One day I'd love to learn Italian.

  Izabel Goulart

  Italian, One Day, Portuguese

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