Book Quote by Virginia Woolf

The English are such a frightened, nervous, insecure group of people - they no longer rule the world!

— Terry Gilliam

The only books I give up on are texts where the writer's attention is concentrated so heavily on narrative questions that his or her…

— Anthony Doerr

In England only uneducated people show off their knowledge; nobody quotes Latin or Greek authors in the course of conversation, unless he has never…

— George Mikes

So what's really behind the 'English Only' Movement? Fear. Fear of being taken over and one day they will have to learn something different.…

— Cheech Marin

Bad writers are nearly always haunted by the notion that Latin or Greek words are grander than Saxon ones.

— George Orwell

I shall always feel respect for every one who has written a book, let it be what it may, for I had no idea…

— Charles Darwin

“The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just…

— James D. Nicoll

The more you look back into English history, the more you are forced to the conclusion that alongside civility and the deeply held convictions…

— Anna Pavlova

Language does not stand still. Surprisingly, despite this knowledge, most speakers are fearful of change.

— Peter Farb

Nothing could be more inappropriate to American literature than its English source since the Americans are not British in sensibility.

— Wallace Stevens

English, as a subject, never really got over its upstart nature. It tries to bulk itself up with hopeless jargon and specious complexity, tries…

— Zadie Smith

“Eliot was scornful of idle women readers who imagined themselves the heroines of French novels, and of self-regarding folk who saw themselves in the…

— Rebecca Mead