Quotes on Language, Reading and Writing

Language is the dress of thought.

— Samuel Johnson, (ca. 1780), influential English lexicographer, author, man of letters

The evolution of language enabled many individuals to think together... social units could form and work together in novel ways, cooperating as if they were a single superordinate individual.

— George Armitage Miller (1991), American psychologist, linguist, author, a founding father of cognitive psychology

Nothing so sharpens the thought process as writing down one’s arguments. Weaknesses overlooked in oral discussion become painfully obvious on the written page.

— Hyman Rickover (1982), Polish-American Admiral, often called the Father of the Nuclear Navy

 Words are…the most powerful drug used by mankind.

— Rudyard Kipling (1923), influential English writer, novelist, Nobel laureate

This marvelous invention of composing from twenty-five or thirty sounds an infinite variety of words, which although not having any resemblance in themselves to that which passes through our minds, nevertheless do not fail to reveal to others all of the secrets of the mind, and to make intelligible to others who cannot penetrate into the mind all that we conceive and all of the diverse movements of our souls.

           

— Antoine Arnauld and Claude Lancelot (1660), French grammarians at Port Royal, authors

The progress trajectory of Homo sapiens veers upward ever more steeply not just because of our cleverness but because of the ability of our species to crystallize and store knowledge in specialized sounds and language, and then play with it—build and forge and mould it and model with it—using it to grip hold of the past and to imagine and plan the future. 

— Gary Thomas (2013), contemporary British professor of educator, editor, author

Writing not only helps us remember what was thought and said but also invites us to see what was thought and said in a new way.  

— David R. Olson (1994), contemporary Canadian cognitive psychologist, author of the World on Paper

Writing is therefore a process of translating time into space. 


— Amalia Gnanadesikan (2009), contemporary linguist, educator, author

Language forms a kind of wealth, which all can make use of at once without causing any diminution of the store, and which thus admits a complete community of enjoyment; for all, freely participating in the general treasure, unconsciously aid in its preservation.


— Auguste Comte  (1875), French philosopher, author, a founding father of modern sociology

Reading is a technology for perspective-taking. When someone else's thoughts are in your head, you are observing the world from that person's vantage point.  Not only are you taking in sights and sounds that you could not experience firsthand, but you have stepped inside that person’s mind and are temporarily sharing his or her attitudes and reactions.


— Steven Pinker (2011), contemporary Canadian-American experimental psychologist, author, popularizer of science

The fact is that if you have not developed language, you simply don't have access to most of human experience…, and if you don't have access to experience, then you're not going to be able to think properly. 


— Noam Chomsky (ca. 1988), contemporary American theoretical linguist, a founding father of cognitive psychology, social critic

Man’s development and the growth of civilizations have depended, in the main, on progress in a few activities—the discovery of fire, domestication of animals, the division of labor; but, above all, in the evolution of means to receive, to communicate, and to record his knowledge…   

— Colin Cherry (1957), British cognitive sciencist, engineer, author

We need to stop thinking of writing as simply a capture of speech.  It is so much more.  Once we pass from this paradigm, we can see writing in a broader light. 

— Roy Harris (2000), British linguist, educator, author

Books are humanity in print…They are engines of change (as the poet said), windows on the world and lighthouses erected in the sea of time. They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind.

— Barbara Tuchman a slight reorder (1978,1980), American historian, journalist, author, educator, Pulitzer Prize (2), popularizer of history

The question we need to put to any writer must be: does she or he augment our consciousness, and how is it done? 

I find this a rough but effectual test:  however, I have been entertained, has my awareness been intensified, my consciousness widened and clarified? If not, then I have encountered talent, not genius.  What is best and oldest in myself has not been activated.

— Harold Bloom (2002), American literary critic, author, educator