Compare Quote by Ferdinand de Saussure

Nearly all institutions, it might be said, are based on signs, but these signs do not directly evoke things.

— Ferdinand de Saussure

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

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

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

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

A language presupposes that all the individual users possess the organs.

— Ferdinand de Saussure

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

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

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

Written forms obscure our view of language. They are not so much a garment as a disguise.

— Ferdinand de Saussure

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

Time changes all things; there is no reason why language should escape this universal law

— Ferdinand de Saussure