#age

We have that illusion that we are 'deciding' what to make a character do, in order to 'convey our message' or something like that. But, at least in my experience, you are often more like a river-rafting guide who's been paid a bonus to purposely steer your clients into the roughest possible water. ↗

— George Saunders

#bonus #character #clients #convey #deciding

When something really bad is going on in a culture, the average guy doesn't see it. He can't. He's average and is surrounded by and immersed in the cant and discourse of the status quo. ↗

— George Saunders

#average guy #bad #cant #culture #discourse

The first of these phases is that of grammar, invented by the Greeks and carried on unchanged by the French. It never had any philosophical view of a language as such. ↗

— Ferdinand de Saussure

#carried #first #french #grammar #greeks

A language presupposes that all the individual users possess the organs. ↗

— Ferdinand de Saussure

#language #organs #possess #presupposes #users

In general, the philological movement opened up countless sources relevant to linguistic issues, treating them in quite a different spirit from traditional grammar; for instance, the study of inscriptions and their language. But not yet in the spirit of linguistics. ↗

— Ferdinand de Saussure

#different #general #grammar #inscriptions #instance

Linguistics will have to recognise laws operating universally in language, and in a strictly rational manner, separating general phenomena from those restricted to one branch of languages or another. ↗

— Ferdinand de Saussure

#branch #general #language #languages #laws

The business, task or object of the scientific study of languages will if possible be 1) to trace the history of all known languages. Naturally this is possible only to a very limited extent and for very few languages. ↗

— Ferdinand de Saussure

#extent #few #history #known #languages

The very special place that a language occupies among institutions is undeniable, but there is much more to be said-, a comparison would tend rather to bring out the differences. ↗

— Ferdinand de Saussure

#bring #comparison #differences #institutions #language

Whitney wanted to eradicate the idea that in the case of a language we are dealing with a natural faculty; in fact, social institutions stand opposed to natural institutions. ↗

— Ferdinand de Saussure

#dealing #eradicate #fact #faculty #idea

Sometimes I'll go by and there are a couple of swans, the next day it's a few ducks. I'd like to stop there every day for a year and capture how it changes, then put it all together to create an incredible image of a traditional English scene. ↗

— Graeme Le Saux

#changes #couple #create #day #ducks