Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes on Language
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Only the great generalizations survive. The sharp words of the Declaration of Independence, lampooned then and since as 'glittering generalities,' have turned out blazing ubiquities that will burn forever and ever.
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Poetry teaches the enormous force of a few words, and, in proportion to the inspiration, checks loquacity.
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It is the fault of our rhetoric that we cannot strongly state one fact without seeming to belie some other.
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Language is the archives of history...Language is fossil poetry.
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We do what we must, and call it by the best names we can.
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Things added to things, as statistics, civil history, are inventories. Things used as language are inexhaustibly attractive.
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Whatever limits us we call Fate.
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By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote.
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Some men's words I remember so well that I must often use them to express my thought. Yes, because I perceive that we have heard the same truth, but they have heard it better.