Usage Quotes

115 quotes by 102 authors

IMPALE, v.t. In popular usage, to pierce with any weapon which remains fixed in the wound . . . . properly, to put to death… — Ambrose Bierce
My role is to find strategic insights as to where design can have the most business impact. A designer can bring a viewpoint of not… — John Maeda
Manners are the happy ways of doing things; each once a stroke of genius or of love, now repeated and hardened into usage. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
If even a small fraction of the money we now spend on trying to enforce drug prohibition were devoted to treatment and drug rehabilitation, in… — Milton Friedman
We were postwar middle-class white kids living in the slipstream of the greatest per-capita rise in income in the history of Western civilization; we were… — John Lahr
In passing I draw attention to another English expression which often occurs in Dutch texts: "the real world". In Dutch - and I am afraid… — Edsger Dijkstra
The Epistles in the New Testament have all of them a particular reference to the condition and usages of the Christian world at the time… — Joseph Butler
That's one of the ways language evolved, by some very obscure form becoming common usage. And I must say that I'm very intrigued by use… — Ricky Jay
I've sort of closed my mind off to reality shows: I just don't watch them, don't care about them, don't know who the characters are,… — Joe Dante
What's the shelf life of a 1931 movie? If it still exists, there will always be film buffs and a niche audience who will want… — Joe Dante
Ah, this is obviously some strange usage of the word 'safe' that I wasn't previously aware of. — Douglas Adams
The abbreviations (e.g. NATO, UN, USSR - E.W.) denote that and only that which is institutionalized in such a way that the transcending connotation is… — Herbert Marcuse
If it is possible to have a linear unit that depends on no other quantity, it would seem natural to prefer it. Moreover, a mensural… — Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet
As a work progresses, its power to elicit and dictate response mounts. There seems to be an optimum moment when this power is at its… — Richard Diebenkorn
There is this school of thought that says the usage of all mystical and occult powers is bad. I find that thought is usually propounded… — Frederick Lenz
I am not engaged to Christianity by decent forms, or saving ordinances; it is not usage, it is not what I do not understand, that… — Ralph Waldo Emerson
I have heard my fill of hurtful words. I think it's especially egregious when citizens like me, who point out abuses in their country, are… — Gunter Grass
Those who are seeking ways to tap into the potential of e-mail will find themselves in a position to capitalize on the pending explosion in… — Alexander Haig
Micropayments are great if you use them for a product or service with certain properties. It must be one where you can get away with… — Nathan Myhrvold
Language pedants hew to an oral tradition of shibboleths that have no basis in logic or style, that have been defied by great writers for… — Steven Pinker

Who Wrote These Usage Quotes

102 authors contributed a total of 115 Usage Quotes, led by these top contributors: