Quote #14

[O]rdinary language is not the last word: in principle it can everywhere be supplemented and improved upon and superseded. Only remember, it is the first word. --Austin, Papers 185.

More from J. L. Austin

  1. [H]owever well equipped our language, it can never be forearmed against all possible cases that may arise and call for description: fact is…
  2. Infelicity is an ill to which all acts are heir which have the general character of ritual or ceremonial, all conventional acts.
  3. [W]ords are not (except in their own little corner) facts or things: we need therefore to prise them off the world, to hold them apart from…
  4. Let us distinguish between acting intentionally and acting deliberately or on purpose, as far as this can be done by attending to what lang…
  5. Like 'real', 'free' is only used to rule out the suggestion of some or all of its recognized antitheses. As 'truth' is not a name of a char…
  6. There are more ways of outraging speech than contradiction merely.
  7. We become obsessed with 'truth' when discussing statements, just as we become obsessed with 'freedom' when discussing conduct...Like freedo…
  8. When may we hope to see your Harvard lectures published sir?' an undergraduate asked the late Professor Austin. 'You may hope to see them p…

All J. L. Austin quotes