--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Of all social institutions language is…" description: "\"Of all social institutions language is least amenable to initiative. It blends with the life of society, and the latter, inert by nature, is a prime co..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/815/ferdinand-de-saussure-19549_amenable_of-all-social-institutions-language-is-l_706752.jpg" --- # Of all social institutions language is least amenable to… ![“Of all social institutions language is least amenable to initiative. It blends with the life of society, and the latter, inert by nature, is a prime conservative force.” quote by Ferdinand de Saussure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/815/ferdinand-de-saussure-19549_amenable_of-all-social-institutions-language-is-l_706752.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/815/ferdinand-de-saussure-19549_amenable_of-all-social-institutions-language-is-l_706752.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/815/ferdinand-de-saussure-19549_amenable_of-all-social-institutions-language-is-l_706752.jpg) > “Of all social institutions language is least amenable to initiative. It blends with the life of society, and the latter, inert by nature, is a prime conservative force.” [Ferdinand de Saussure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ferdinand-de-saussure/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Language is deeply embedded in societal structures, making it resistant to individual change and reinforcing existing norms. **In simple terms:** Language resists change because it’s tied to society. Key Takeaway Recognize language’s social constraints. Themes language society conservatism initiative Mood reflective analytical Type philosophical critical When to use this quote - policy reform - education curricula - media messaging - community organizing Key Concepts structuralism social dynamics Questions to Reflect On - How does societal inertia affect linguistic innovation? - Can language be deliberately reformed? A Different Perspective Individual attempts to reshape language may be limited by entrenched social habits. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Amenable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amenable/) [Conservative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conservative/) [Force](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/force/) [Initiative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/initiative/) [Institutions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/institutions/) [Institutions Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/institutions-language-2658073/) [Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) [Latter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/latter/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Prime](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prime/) [Prime Conservative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prime-conservative-5583321/) [Social](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social/) [Social institutions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social-institutions/) [Society Inert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/society-inert-5583320/) [Translations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/translations/) ## Related quotes > [When I started off, I always used to do parodies and impressions, mimicking people... and then institutions. You become aware that some institutions have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/armando-iannucci/when-i-started-off-i-always-used-to-do-parodies-and-impressions/) [Armando Iannucci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/armando-iannucci/) > [All official institutions of language are repeating machines: school, sports, advertising, popular songs, news, all continually repeat the same structure, the same meaning, often…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/all-official-institutions-of-language-are-repeating-machines-school/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [Written forms obscure our view of language. They are not so much a garment as a disguise.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferdinand-de-saussure/written-forms-obscure-our-view-of-language-they-are-not-so-much-a/) [Ferdinand de Saussure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ferdinand-de-saussure/) > [Man is an Animal, formidable both from his Passions and his Reason; his Passions often urging him to great Evils, and his Reason furnishing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-berkeley/man-is-an-animal-formidable-both-from-his-passions-and-his-reason-his/) [George Berkeley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-berkeley/) > [Babies just change everything. You have to become super-selfless and super-tired and super-amenable to change. They just change all the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-patrick-harris/babies-just-change-everything-you-have-to-become-super-selfless-and/) [Neil Patrick Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-patrick-harris/) > [Science does not promise absolute truth, nor does it consider that such a thing necessarily exists. Science does not even promise that everything in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/science-does-not-promise-absolute-truth-nor-does-it-consider-that/) [Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/) > [Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/democracy-demands-that-the-religiously-motivated-translate-their-2/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [ We \[ with Emilio Estevez\] asked if we could take some things \[ in Breakfast Club\] that weren't in the shooting draft, but from… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judd-nelson/we-with-emilio-estevez-asked-if-we-could-take-some-things-in/) [Judd Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judd-nelson/) > [“In short, I am amenable to criticism, but only within the sphere of what I am trying to do; I will not pretend to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/in-short-i-am-amenable-to-criticism-but-only-within-the-sphere-of/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [Like most young physicists, when I was a kid enraptured with physics, I thought, "Everything can be explained by the theory of the atom!"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-frank/like-most-young-physicists-when-i-was-a-kid-enraptured-with-physics-i/) [Adam Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-frank/) > [And, speaking generally, passion seems not to be amenable to reason, but only to force.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/and-speaking-generally-passion-seems-not-to-be-amenable-to-reason-but/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [If asked how to cope with a great host of the enemy in orderly array and on the point of marching to the attack,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-tzu/if-asked-how-to-cope-with-a-great-host-of-the-enemy-in-orderly-array/) [Sun Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-tzu/) > [I've been very lucky. Directors I've worked with have been very amenable to changes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felicity-jones/i-ve-been-very-lucky-directors-i-ve-worked-with-have-been-very/) [Felicity Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/felicity-jones/) > [And the Truth turns out to be nothing less than the amazing but undeniable fact that the whole outer world -whether it be the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emmet-fox/and-the-truth-turns-out-to-be-nothing-less-than-the-amazing-but/) [Emmet Fox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emmet-fox/) > [In the old days, people thought that wouldn't be amenable to life. Modern studies with computers have shown that it's okay to be tidally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-seager/in-the-old-days-people-thought-that-wouldn-t-be-amenable-to-life/) [Sara Seager](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-seager/) ## More by Ferdinand de Saussure > [Nearly all institutions, it might be said, are based on signs, but these signs do not directly evoke things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferdinand-de-saussure/nearly-all-institutions-it-might-be-said-are-based-on-signs-but-these/) [Ferdinand de Saussure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferdinand-de-saussure/in-general-the-philological-movement-opened-up-countless-sources/) [Ferdinand de Saussure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferdinand-de-saussure/the-ultimate-law-of-language-is-dare-we-say-that-nothing-can-ever/) [Ferdinand de Saussure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferdinand-de-saussure/it-is-useful-to-the-historian-among-others-to-be-able-to-see-the/) [Ferdinand de Saussure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferdinand-de-saussure/it-is-only-since-linguistics-has-become-more-aware-of-its-object-of/) [Ferdinand de Saussure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ferdinand-de-saussure/) > [A language presupposes that all the individual users possess the organs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferdinand-de-saussure/a-language-presupposes-that-all-the-individual-users-possess-the/) [Ferdinand de Saussure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferdinand-de-saussure/the-business-task-or-object-of-the-scientific-study-of-languages-will/) [Ferdinand de Saussure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferdinand-de-saussure/the-first-of-these-phases-is-that-of-grammar-invented-by-the-greeks/) [Ferdinand de Saussure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ferdinand-de-saussure/) > [Written forms obscure our view of language. They are not so much a garment as a disguise.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferdinand-de-saussure/written-forms-obscure-our-view-of-language-they-are-not-so-much-a/) [Ferdinand de Saussure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferdinand-de-saussure/everyone-left-to-his-own-devices-forms-an-idea-about-what-goes-on-in/) [Ferdinand de Saussure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ferdinand-de-saussure/) > [Time changes all things; there is no reason why language should escape this universal law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferdinand-de-saussure/time-changes-all-things-there-is-no-reason-why-language-should-escape/) [Ferdinand de Saussure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ferdinand-de-saussure/) > [Linguistics will have to recognise laws operating universally in language, and in a strictly rational manner, separating general phenomena from those restricted to one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferdinand-de-saussure/linguistics-will-have-to-recognise-laws-operating-universally-in/) [Ferdinand de Saussure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ferdinand-de-saussure/) > [Without language, thought is a vague, uncharted nebula.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferdinand-de-saussure/without-language-thought-is-a-vague-uncharted-nebula/) [Ferdinand de Saussure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ferdinand-de-saussure/) > [I’m almost never serious, and I’m always too serious. Too deep, too shallow. Too sensitive, too cold hearted. I’m like a collection of paradoxes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferdinand-de-saussure/i-m-almost-never-serious-and-i-m-always-too-serious-too-deep-too/) [Ferdinand de Saussure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ferdinand-de-saussure/) > [A linguistic system is a series of differences of sound combined with a series of differences of ideas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferdinand-de-saussure/a-linguistic-system-is-a-series-of-differences-of-sound-combined-with/) [Ferdinand de Saussure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ferdinand-de-saussure/) [Explore all 30 Ferdinand de Saussure quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ferdinand-de-saussure/) ## More Amenable quotes > [In the old days, people thought that wouldn't be amenable to life. Modern studies with computers have shown that it's okay to be tidally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-seager/in-the-old-days-people-thought-that-wouldn-t-be-amenable-to-life/) [Sara Seager](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-seager/) > [And the Truth turns out to be nothing less than the amazing but undeniable fact that the whole outer world -whether it be the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emmet-fox/and-the-truth-turns-out-to-be-nothing-less-than-the-amazing-but/) [Emmet Fox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emmet-fox/) > [I've been very lucky. Directors I've worked with have been very amenable to changes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felicity-jones/i-ve-been-very-lucky-directors-i-ve-worked-with-have-been-very/) [Felicity Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/felicity-jones/) > [If asked how to cope with a great host of the enemy in orderly array and on the point of marching to the attack,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-tzu/if-asked-how-to-cope-with-a-great-host-of-the-enemy-in-orderly-array/) [Sun Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-tzu/) > [And, speaking generally, passion seems not to be amenable to reason, but only to force.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/and-speaking-generally-passion-seems-not-to-be-amenable-to-reason-but/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [Like most young physicists, when I was a kid enraptured with physics, I thought, "Everything can be explained by the theory of the atom!"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-frank/like-most-young-physicists-when-i-was-a-kid-enraptured-with-physics-i/) [Adam Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-frank/) > [“In short, I am amenable to criticism, but only within the sphere of what I am trying to do; I will not pretend to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/in-short-i-am-amenable-to-criticism-but-only-within-the-sphere-of/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [ We \[ with Emilio Estevez\] asked if we could take some things \[ in Breakfast Club\] that weren't in the shooting draft, but from… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judd-nelson/we-with-emilio-estevez-asked-if-we-could-take-some-things-in/) [Judd Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judd-nelson/) > [Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/democracy-demands-that-the-religiously-motivated-translate-their-2/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [Science does not promise absolute truth, nor does it consider that such a thing necessarily exists. Science does not even promise that everything in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/science-does-not-promise-absolute-truth-nor-does-it-consider-that/) [Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/) > [Babies just change everything. You have to become super-selfless and super-tired and super-amenable to change. They just change all the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-patrick-harris/babies-just-change-everything-you-have-to-become-super-selfless-and/) [Neil Patrick Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-patrick-harris/) > [Man is an Animal, formidable both from his Passions and his Reason; his Passions often urging him to great Evils, and his Reason furnishing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-berkeley/man-is-an-animal-formidable-both-from-his-passions-and-his-reason-his/) [George Berkeley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-berkeley/) > [The artist's work, it is sometimes said, is to celebrate. But really that is not so; it is to express wonder. And something terrible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-hampl/the-artist-s-work-it-is-sometimes-said-is-to-celebrate-but-really/) [Patricia Hampl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-hampl/) > [In the etheric body are centered the forces animating man's physical vehicle, so disease is evidenced in the etheric before it manifests in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/corinne-heline/in-the-etheric-body-are-centered-the-forces-animating-man-s-physical/) [Corinne Heline](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/corinne-heline/) > [Dostoevsky believed that the gods of rationalism and materialist utilitarianism had joined in conspiracy against all other ethical systems. ... The accumulation of capital,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carroll/dostoevsky-believed-that-the-gods-of-rationalism-and-materialist/) [John Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carroll/) [Browse all 35 Amenable quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amenable/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Of all social institutions language is least amenable to initiative. 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