Whorf Quotes

#1. Whorf, even though he died in 1941, lent us a meme.

Anonymous

#2. Without network neutrality, cable and phone companies could stifle innovation.

Marvin Ammori

#3. We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native language.

Benjamin Whorf

#4. Alex: 'Cole, did you not like Saturday night? Because I loved it. It was quite possibly the best sex I've ever had.'
Cole: Damn straight.

Mia London

#5. My analysis was directed toward purely physical conditions, such as defective wiring, presence of lack of air spaces between metal flues and woodwork, etc., and the results were presented in these terms.

Benjamin Whorf

#6. Though she had not had the strength to shake off the spell that bound her to him she had lost all spontaneity of feeling, and seemed to herself to be passively awaiting a fate she could not avert.

Edith Wharton

#7. At the same time, new concepts and abstractions flow into the picture, taking up the task of describing the universe without reference to such time or space - abstractions for which our language lacks adequate terms.

Benjamin Whorf

#8. Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about.

Benjamin Lee Whorf

#9. Most metaphysical words in Hopi are verbs, not nouns as in European languages.

Benjamin Whorf

#10. A change in language can transform our appreciation of the cosmos.

Benjamin Lee Whorf

#11. I make no pretense to accuracy. I shall be quite content if the sensibilities of no one are wounded by anything I may reduce to type.

Thomas R. Marshall

#12. Early rising is no pleasure; early drinking's just the measure.

Francois Rabelais

#13. First and foremost, you want to be truthful as a storyteller.

Terence Winter

#14. But you must live your own life eventually. You have one chance only.

Sebastian Faulks

#15. We cut nature up, organize it into concepts, and ascribe significances as we do, largely because we are parties to an agreement to organize it in this way - an agreement that holds through our speech community and is codified in the patterns of our language.

Benjamin Lee Whorf

#16. Language is not simply a reporting device for experience but a defining framework for it.

Benjamin Whorf

#17. The earth recedes from me into the night, I saw that it was beautiful . . . . and I see that what is not the earth is beautiful.

Walt Whitman

#18. The very natural tendency to use terms derived from traditional grammar like verb, noun, adjective, passive voice, in describing languages outside of Indo-European is fraught with grave possibilities of misunderstanding.

Benjamin Lee Whorf

#19. Speech is the best show a man puts on.

Benjamin Lee Whorf

#20. The duty of responsibility placed on any MP is one of the greatest honours that can be bestowed and I for one don't believe the Conservative Party would abuse that trust by selecting someone who did not have the goods to do the job, just for the sake of media coverage.

Adam Rickitt

#21. No more holding back.
Be reckless.
Tell your Love to everybody.

Rumi

#22. I found out that I was a Christian for revenue only and I could not bear the thought of that, it was so ignoble.

Mark Twain

#23. But in due course it became evident that not only a physical situation qua physics, but the meaning of that situation to people, was sometimes a factor, through the behavior of people, in the start of a fire.

Benjamin Whorf

#24. I could already hear the music inside, the murmur of people, kids I'd gone to school with for the last twelve years, dressed up and pretending to be the adults we'd all eventually turn into, whether we wanted to or not.

Joe Schreiber

#25. If your goal is to be comfortable, chances are you'll never get rich. But if your goal is to be rich, chances are you'll end up mighty comfortable.

T. Harv Eker

#26. Too long has the public mind considered religion to be synonymous with priestcraft.

Benjamin Whorf