Aunt Quote by Madeleine L'Engle

How astonishing it is that language can almost mean, and frightening that it does not quite.

— Jack Gilbert

Language is a very difficult thing to put into words.

— Voltaire

Language is the most beautiful and destructive thing because it allows you to express yourself, but it totally confuses everything.

— Nate Lowman

One of the great skills in using any language is knowing what not to use, what not to say. There's that simplicity thing again.

— Ron Jeffries

Remember that, however patient your study, you will never in adult life learn any language perfectly; the best you can hope for is to…

— Evelyn Waugh

It was all completely incomprehensible to me. I was fearful of the language. You had to look up every third word.

— Kevin Kline

“There are a lot of human experiences that challenge the limits of our language,”

— Ava Dellaira

Simple English is no one’s mother tongue. It has to be worked for.

— Jacques Barzun

“Our language is an imperfect instrument created by ancient and ignorant men. It is an animistic language that invites us to talk about stability…

— Semanticist Wendell Johnson

There are times when the power of language is not the power that is needed.

— Leon Wieseltier

All true language is incomprehensible, like the chatter of a beggar's teeth.

— Antonin Artaud

The common faults of American language are an ambition of effect, a want of simplicity, and a turgid abuse of terms.

— James F. Cooper