--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We tend to look through language and not…" description: "\"We tend to look through language and not realize how much power language has\" — Deborah Tannen" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e82/deborah-tannen-9586_language_we-tend-to-look-through-language-and-not_1469102.jpg" --- # We tend to look through language and not realize how much… ![“We tend to look through language and not realize how much power language has” quote by Deborah Tannen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e82/deborah-tannen-9586_language_we-tend-to-look-through-language-and-not_1469102.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e82/deborah-tannen-9586_language_we-tend-to-look-through-language-and-not_1469102.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e82/deborah-tannen-9586_language_we-tend-to-look-through-language-and-not_1469102.jpg) > “We tend to look through language and not realize how much power language has” [Deborah Tannen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-tannen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Language shapes perception; we often overlook its influence on thought and interaction. **In simple terms:** Language influences perception. Key Takeaway Be aware of language’s power. Themes communication perception psychology Mood thoughtful analytical Type educational reflective When to use this quote - teaching - conflict resolution - media analysis Key Concepts linguistics social cognition Questions to Reflect On - How does language shape your reality? - What habits can you change to use language mindfully? A Different Perspective Awareness alone may not change habits. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) [Language Realize](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language-realize-5326745/) [Look](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/look/) [Look Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/look-language-3209070/) [Looks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/looks/) [Power Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/power-language-707946/) [Realize Power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/realize-power-699236/) [Realizing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/realizing/) ## Related quotes > [“... for I had reached a point in my life when I came to view words differently. 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Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [“Striving to convey to this beloved audience of one what was going on around me during those five years, I learned the power of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-russell-sanders/striving-to-convey-to-this-beloved-audience-of-one-what-was-going-on/) [Scott Russell Sanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-russell-sanders/) > [Poetry is above all a concentration of the power of language, which is the power of our ultimate relationship to everything in the universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/poetry-is-above-all-a-concentration-of-the-power-of-language-which-is/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [“The power of language. Preserving the ephemeral; giving form to dreams, permanence to sparks of sunlight.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/penelope-lively/the-power-of-language-preserving-the-ephemeral-giving-form-to-dreams/) [Penelope Lively](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/penelope-lively/) > [“You do not realize the power you have over me,” Asmoday says quietly. He brushes the hair from her shoulders. Keely’s body goes rigid.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dark-calling/you-do-not-realize-the-power-you-have-over-me-asmoday-says-quietly-he/) [Dark Calling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dark-calling/) ## More by Deborah Tannen > [In dialogue, there is opposition, yes, but no head-on collision. Smashing heads does not open minds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-tannen/in-dialogue-there-is-opposition-yes-but-no-head-on-collision-smashing/) [Deborah Tannen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-tannen/) > [Cooperation isn't the absence of conflict but a means of managing conflict.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-tannen/cooperation-isn-t-the-absence-of-conflict-but-a-means-of-managing/) [Deborah Tannen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-tannen/) > [Communication is a continual balancing act, juggling the conflicting needs for intimacy and independence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-tannen/communication-is-a-continual-balancing-act-juggling-the-conflicting/) [Deborah Tannen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-tannen/) > [“A woman will be inclined to repeat a request that doesn't get a response because she is convinced that her husband would do what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-tannen/a-woman-will-be-inclined-to-repeat-a-request-that-doesn-t-get-a/) [Deborah Tannen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-tannen/) > [Like most men, my father is interested in action. 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To survivein the world, we have to act in concert with others,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-tannen/communication-is-a-continualbalancing-act-juggling-the-conflicting/) [Deborah Tannen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-tannen/) > [Treating people the same is not equal treatment if they are not the same.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-tannen/treating-people-the-same-is-not-equal-treatment-if-they-are-not-the/) [Deborah Tannen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-tannen/) > [“One reason it's so difficult to decide what to say became immediately clear: comments and questions that some appreciated were not appreciated by others.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-tannen/one-reason-it-s-so-difficult-to-decide-what-to-say-became-immediately/) [Deborah Tannen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-tannen/) > [All conversation, in addition to whatever else it does, displays, and asks for recognition of, our competence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-tannen/all-conversation-in-addition-to-whatever-else-it-does-displays-and/) [Deborah Tannen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-tannen/) > [When those closest to us respond to events differently than we do, when they seem to see the same scene as part of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-tannen/when-those-closest-to-us-respond-to-events-differently-than-we-do/) [Deborah Tannen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-tannen/) > [For most women, the language of conversation is primarily a language of rapport: a way of establishing connections and negotiating relationships.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-tannen/for-most-women-the-language-of-conversation-is-primarily-a-language-2/) [Deborah Tannen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-tannen/) > [Life is a matter of dealing with other people, in little matters and cataclysmic ones, and that means a series of conversations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-tannen/life-is-a-matter-of-dealing-with-other-people-in-little-matters-and/) [Deborah Tannen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-tannen/) [Explore all 71 Deborah Tannen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-tannen/) ## More Language quotes > [I put myself in the student's place and remember the frustrations, doubts, determination, and desires I felt when I was going through the initial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-martinez/i-put-myself-in-the-student-s-place-and-remember-the-frustrations/) [Ted Martinez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-martinez/) > [Usually male directors have to use foul language to get the job done. 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Maybe it's his first time around.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-simon/a-man-walks-down-the-street-it-s-a-street-in-a-strange-world-maybe-it/) [Paul Simon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-simon/) > [“I only have two words to say More or Less”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timbur/i-only-have-two-words-to-say-more-or-less/) [TimBur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timbur/) > [It's like saying French shouldn't be taught because you don't understand it because it's new. Shakespeare is just like learning a new, exciting language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-barnett/it-s-like-saying-french-shouldn-t-be-taught-because-you-don-t/) [Samuel Barnett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-barnett/) > [I am attracted to looking at the different things language can mean even in one sometimes quite ordinary utterance. 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I ran out of words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raghib-clitso/you-re-beautiful-cute-pretty-gorgeous-and-fuck-i-ran-out-of-words/) [Raghib Clitso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raghib-clitso/) > [The world has a soul and whoever understands that soul can also understand the language of many things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/the-world-has-a-soul-and-whoever-understands-that-soul-can-also/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [“The words for what I want to say right now don't exist. Everything sounds…so cliché.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelly-crane/the-words-for-what-i-want-to-say-right-now-don-t-exist-everything/) [Shelly Crane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelly-crane/) > [A man cannot speak but he judges himself. 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(To action little, less to words inclinded.)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/finxerunt-animi-raro-et-perpauca-loquentis-to-action-little-less-to/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [For comedy action, I must know the language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sammo-hung/for-comedy-action-i-must-know-the-language/) [Sammo Hung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sammo-hung/) [Browse all 21,951 Language quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We tend to look through language and not realize how much power language has", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Deborah Tannen" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-tannen/we-tend-to-look-through-language-and-not-realize-how-much-power/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Language" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-tannen/we-tend-to-look-through-language-and-not-realize-how-much-power/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e82/deborah-tannen-9586_language_we-tend-to-look-through-language-and-not_1469102.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e82/deborah-tannen-9586_language_we-tend-to-look-through-language-and-not_1469102.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e82/deborah-tannen-9586_language_we-tend-to-look-through-language-and-not_1469102.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We tend to look through language and not realize how much power language has” — Deborah Tannen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Deborah Tannen", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-tannen/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "We tend to look through language...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-tannen/we-tend-to-look-through-language-and-not-realize-how-much-power/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-tannen/we-tend-to-look-through-language-and-not-realize-how-much-power/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```