#ling

The job of the linguist, like that of the biologist or the botanist, is not to tell us how nature should behave, or what its creations should look like, but to describe those creations in all their messy glory and try to figure out what they can teach us about life, the world, and, especially in the case of linguistics, the workings of the human mind. ↗

— Arika Okrent

#linguistics #nature #life

People like to warn you that by the time you reach the middle of your life, passion will begin to feel like a meal eaten long ago, which you remember with great tenderness. ↗

— Meg Wolitzer

#eaten #emotion #food #life #meal

To reach a port we must set sail – Sail, not tie at anchor Sail, not drift. ↗

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

#perseverance #progress #sailing #sea #perseverance

I walked over to Drake and stomped on his foot. Hard. "What will I give you to help me? What will I give you?" He stood on one leg rubbing his foot, grinning a grin so steamy, it almost melted my underwear. "I never doubted you would defeat her. You are my mate. You could do no less." I pointed a finger at him. "You are too arrogant for your own good. I officially de-mate you. Go away. I never want to see you again. Except maybe tonight. Naked. Your place. But after that, no more. ↗

— Katie MacAlister

#defeat

I must apologize for calling so late," said he, "and I must further beg you to be so unconventional as to allow me to leave your house presently by scrambling over your back garden wall. ↗

— Arthur Conan Doyle

#doctor-watson #escape #late-visit #scrambling #sherlock-holmes

Life is too damn short to not tell someone how you feel. Don't let someone because you're afraid or you'll lose them forever. ↗

— Benjamin Bayani

#life #life-lessons #love #life

I tried to show him things, but he didn't seem to study what I showed him. Usually, he just put whatever I handed him in his mouth. He would try to eat anything. I fed him Tabasco sauce and he yelled. Having a little brother helped me learn to relate to other people. Being a little brother, Snort learned to watch what he put in his mouth. ↗

— John Elder Robison

#brothers #childhood #children #siblings #life

Having begun to feel, people’s desire to feel grew. They wanted to feel more, feel deeper, despite how it sometimes hurt. People became addicted to feeling. They struggled to uncover new emotions. ↗

— Nicole Krauss

#feelings #life #life

Plastic should be a high value material... [It] should be in products that last a long time, and at the end of the life, you recycle it. To take oil or natural gas that took millions of years to produce and then to make a disposable product that last minutes or seconds, and then to just discard it--I think that's not a good way of using this resource. (Robert Haley) ↗

— Susan Freinkel

#plastic #recycling #life

From the managerial perspective, Sir Oliver Humperdink, a heinous sort for most of his career, said the release of pentup emotions might even have been healthy for mind and soul. "As heels, we were able to be as annoying and politically incorrect’ as possible.We were able to say and do what everyone probably wanted to say and do, but, for one reason or another, could never, ever get away with. And, by being able to do so, I generally found that my fellow heels were much more 'easygoing' than our babyface counterparts who had to 'toe the line. ↗

— Greg Oliver

#wrestling #life