---
title: "1 Majority World Quotes By Robert Lane Greene"
description: "1 Majority World quotes by Robert Lane Greene. Plus more from Robert Lane Greene and more Majority World sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ba/robert-lane-greene-17719_communication_to-most-of-the-general-public-language-c_2039385.jpg"
---

> [“To most of the general public, language comes down less to wonder than a rather censorious bifurcated sentiment – namely, that the vast majority of the world's humans either speak and something primitive or speak something badly.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lane-greene/to-most-of-the-general-public-language-comes-down-less-to-wonder-than/)

[Robert Lane Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lane-greene/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ba/robert-lane-greene-17719_communication_to-most-of-the-general-public-language-c_2039385.jpg)

## More by Robert Lane Greene

> [“Peeves are like that: my peeves are law, yours are unhealthy obsessions.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lane-greene/peeves-are-like-that-my-peeves-are-law-yours-are-unhealthy-obsessions/)

[Robert Lane Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lane-greene/)

> [“Only 8000 different words appear in the Hebrew Bible, compared to the 20,000 or more that the average adult needs to know in most languages.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lane-greene/only-8000-different-words-appear-in-the-hebrew-bible-compared-to-the/)

[Robert Lane Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lane-greene/)

> [“If you look at the historical record, you will find that language has always been in decline. Which means, really, and it never has.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lane-greene/if-you-look-at-the-historical-record-you-will-find-that-language-has/)

[Robert Lane Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lane-greene/)

> [“to form such harsh unharmonious Sounds, that none but a Northern Ear could endure: They”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lane-greene/to-form-such-harsh-unharmonious-sounds-that-none-but-a-northern-ear/)

[Robert Lane Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lane-greene/)

> [“Arguments about language are usually arguments about politics, disguised and channeled through one of our most distinctive markers of identity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lane-greene/arguments-about-language-are-usually-arguments-about-politics/)

[Robert Lane Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lane-greene/)

> [“Afrikaans was the language of the white minority in South Africa, and the forced learning of it created resentment among blacks. Even so, Nelson…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lane-greene/afrikaans-was-the-language-of-the-white-minority-in-south-africa-and/)

[Robert Lane Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lane-greene/)

> [“I think flexibility, humility, and multilingualism should take the place of sticklerism, arrogance, and nationalism when we think about language. I”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lane-greene/i-think-flexibility-humility-and-multilingualism-should-take-the/)

[Robert Lane Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lane-greene/)

> [“Virtually anything can be translated—“X cannot be translated” usually means nothing more exciting than “We have a word, X, that you need three or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lane-greene/virtually-anything-can-be-translated-x-cannot-be-translated-usually/)

[Robert Lane Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lane-greene/)

> [“America’s short-lived experiment with language planning is so obscure to modern memory that while the Klingon language has a 3,000-word entry on Wikipedia, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lane-greene/america-s-short-lived-experiment-with-language-planning-is-so-obscure/)

[Robert Lane Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lane-greene/)

> [“I'd start to explain with the outward sheepish and inner pride of the nerd.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lane-greene/i-d-start-to-explain-with-the-outward-sheepish-and-inner-pride-of-the/)

[Robert Lane Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lane-greene/)

> [“Knowing the difference between “infer” and “imply” is no more likely to create a skeptical, bullshit-detecting citizen than knowing the atomic weight of uranium…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lane-greene/knowing-the-difference-between-infer-and-imply-is-no-more-likely-to/)

[Robert Lane Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lane-greene/)

> [“It is possible to communicate beautifully or boringly, in every language on Earth. But people don't like to believe this. They make self-aggrandizing myths…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lane-greene/it-is-possible-to-communicate-beautifully-or-boringly-in-every/)

[Robert Lane Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lane-greene/)

> [“Language is not law; it is in fact a lot like music. Speech is jazz – first you learn the basic rules, and then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lane-greene/language-is-not-law-it-is-in-fact-a-lot-like-music-speech-is-jazz/)

[Robert Lane Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lane-greene/)

> [“Other “no-word-for” and “can’t-be-translated” myths include the stories that the Irish have no word for “sex” or even “yes” (how, one wonders, is there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lane-greene/other-no-word-for-and-can-t-be-translated-myths-include-the-stories/)

[Robert Lane Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lane-greene/)

> [“Bryson says we have no word for the Danish hygge, then goes on to tell us exactly what it means: “instantly satisfying and cozy”…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lane-greene/bryson-says-we-have-no-word-for-the-danish-hygge-then-goes-on-to-tell/)

[Robert Lane Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lane-greene/)

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