In the lives of individuals and societies, language is a factor of greater importance than any other. For the study of language to remain solely the business of a handful of specialists would be a quite unacceptable state of affairs. — Ferdinand de Saussure Copy Share Image
Nearly all institutions, it might be said, are based on signs, but these signs do not directly evoke things. — Ferdinand de Saussure Copy Share Image
In general, the philological movement opened up countless sources relevant to linguistic issues, treating them in quite a different spirit from traditional grammar; for… — Ferdinand de Saussure Copy Share Image
The ultimate law of language is, dare we say, that nothing can ever reside in a single term. This is a direct consequence of… — Ferdinand de Saussure Copy Share Image
It is useful to the historian, among others, to be able to see the commonest forms of different phenomena, whether phonetic, morphological or other,… — Ferdinand de Saussure Copy Share Image
It is only since linguistics has become more aware of its object of study, i.e. perceives the whole extent of it, that it is… — Ferdinand de Saussure Copy Share Image
A language presupposes that all the individual users possess the organs. — Ferdinand de Saussure Copy Share Image
Of all social institutions language is least amenable to initiative. It blends with the life of society, and the latter, inert by nature, is… — Ferdinand de Saussure Copy Share Image
The business, task or object of the scientific study of languages will if possible be 1) to trace the history of all known languages.… — Ferdinand de Saussure Copy Share Image
The first of these phases is that of grammar, invented by the Greeks and carried on unchanged by the French. It never had any… — Ferdinand de Saussure Copy Share Image
Written forms obscure our view of language. They are not so much a garment as a disguise. — Ferdinand de Saussure Copy Share Image
Everyone, left to his own devices, forms an idea about what goes on in language which is very far from the truth. — Ferdinand de Saussure Copy Share Image
Time changes all things; there is no reason why language should escape this universal law — Ferdinand de Saussure Copy Share Image
