[H]owever well equipped our language, it can never be forearmed against all possible cases that may arise and call for description: fact is richer than diction. --Austin, Papers 195.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Language can never cover every possible case because reality is more complex than words.
- In plain terms
- Fact is richer than any description we can give.
- What can you take from it?
- Accept that language cannot describe every detail of reality.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Can language ever fully capture reality?
- How do we handle complexity?
Another view
Practical language often succeeds despite these limits.
More from J. L. Austin
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