“They gave us the language but it is only we who know how to use it”

— Hanif Kureishi

The Black Album, Uncle Asif, Chapter One, (1995).

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Hanif Kureishi 23

English playwright, screenwriter, novelist 1954

Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Argentinian poet

Si no nos dieran nada quienes no nos deben nada, !pobres de nosotros!
Voces (1943)

“We are facing an external attack against us, which is more dangerous than any other previous wars… We are dealing with those who are extremists, who only know the language of killing and criminality.”

Bashar al-Assad (1965) President of Syria

As quoted by Holly Yan et. al. Al-Assad touts plan for resolution, says enemies of Syria 'will go to hell' http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/06/world/meast/syria-civil-war/?hpt=hp_t1, CNN (Jan. 17, 2013)

“The violent subjugation of the Palestinians, Iraqis, and Afghans will only ensure that those who oppose us will increasingly speak to us in the language we speak to them—violence.”

Chris Hedges (1956) American journalist

“Nothing like one honest look, one honest thought of Christ upon His cross. That tells us how much He has been through, how much He endured, how much He conquered, how much God loved us, who spared not His only begotten Son, but freely gave Him for us. Dare we doubt such a God? Dare we murmur against such a God?”

Charles Kingsley (1819–1875) English clergyman, historian and novelist

Source: Attributed, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 72.

“But how can we avoid the use of human language? The… symbol. Only by using a symbolic language not yet usurped by those vague ideas of space, time, continuity which have their origin in intuition and tend to obscure pure reason—only thus may we hope to build mathematics on the solid foundation of logic.”

Tobias Dantzig (1884–1956) American mathematician

p, 125
Number: The Language of Science (1930)

“The Greeks understood the mysterious power of the underside of things. They are the ones who gave us one of the most beautiful words in our language, the word enthusiasm.”

Louis Pasteur (1822–1895) French chemist and microbiologist

Εν Θεος - A God within.

Variant translation: "The Greeks have given us one of the most beautiful words of our language, the word "enthusiasm" Εν Θεος .— a God within. The grandeur of the acts of men are measured by the inspiration from which they spring. Happy is he who bears a God within." (As quoted in Spiritual Literacy : Reading the Sacred in Everyday Life (1998) by Frederic Brussat and Mary Ann Brussat)

Original: Les Grecs avaient compris la mystérieuse puissance de ce dessous de choses. Ce sont eux qui nous ont légué un des plus beaux mots de notre langue, le mot enthousiasme. —Εν Θεος. — Un Dieu intérieur.
Discours de réception de Louis Pasteur (1882)