Syntax Quotes

49 quotes by 46 authors

I have myself always been terrified of plagiarism - of being accused of it, that is. Every writer is a thief, though some of us… — Joseph Epstein
Each person is an idiom unto himself, an apparent violation of the syntax of the species. — Gordon Allport
Most students of literature can pick apart a metaphor or spot an ethnic stereotype, but not many of them can say things like: 'The poem's… — Terry Eagleton
Syntax and vocabulary are overwhelming constraints --the rules that run us. Language is using us to talk --we think we're using the language, but language… — Harry Mathews
We're talking about the struggle to drag a thought over from the mush of the unconscious into some kind of grammar, syntax, human sense; every… — Anne Carson
My favorite language for maintainability is Python. It has simple, clean syntax, object encapsulation, good library support, and optional named parameters. — Bram Cohen
When you translate poetry in particular, you're obliged to look at how the writer with whom you're working puts together words, sentences, phrases, the triple… — Marilyn Hacker
The pull between sound and syntax creates a kind of musical tension in the language that interests me. — Marilyn Hacker
A critical discourse that had respect for the mystery of art would look to the sense of life which finds expression in paradox, metaphor, tautology,… — Denis Donoghue
If Henry James were still with us, he'd not only approve of Paris, He Said, he could have written it himself, though without his serpentine… — Rosellen Brown
Bush is almost always clear when he's speaking cruelly. For example, when the subject is the punitive infliction of great pain, there is no problem… — Mark Crispin Miller
I ascribe a basic importance to the phenomenon of language. To speak means to be in a position to use a certain syntax, to grasp… — Frantz Fanon
The ambiguities of language, both in terms of vocabulary and syntax, are fascinating: how important connotation is, what is lost and what is gained in… — Marilyn Hacker
I come from not just a household but a country where the finesse of language, well-balanced sentence, structure, syntax, these things are driven into us,… — Daniel Day-Lewis
Syntax, my lad. It has been restored to the highest place in the republic. — John Steinbeck
since feeling is first who pays any attention to the syntax of things will never wholly kiss you; wholly to be a fool while Spring… — E E Cummings
Long looking at paintings is equivalent to being dropped into a foreign city, where gradually, out of desire and despair, a few key words, then… — Jeanette Winterson
Muddled syntax is the outward and audible sign of confused minds, and the misuse of grammar the result of illogical thinking. — Quentin Crisp
I read," I say. "I study and read. I bet I've read everything you read. Don't think I haven't. I consume libraries. I wear out… — David Foster Wallace
who pays any attention to the syntax of things will never wholly kiss you — E E Cummings

Who Wrote These Syntax Quotes

46 authors contributed a total of 49 Syntax Quotes, led by these top contributors: