“The language of sin was universal, the original Esperanto.”
Joe Hill (1879–1915) Swedish-American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World
Source: Horns
“It was just as the 1914 War burst on me that I made the discovery that 'legends' depend on the language to which they belong; but a living language depends equally on the 'legends' which it conveys by tradition. … Volapuk, Esperanto, Ido, Novial, &c &c are dead, far deader than ancient unused languages, because their authors never invented any Esperanto legends…”
No. 180: To a Mr. Thompson (incomplete draft of a letter, 1956).
The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien (1981)
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John Ronald Reuel Tolkien78
British philologist and author, creator of classic fantasy … 1892–1973Related quotes
“Esperanto was a very useful language, because wherever you went, you found someone to speak with.”
George Soros (1930) Hungarian-American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist
"How Do You Say ‘Billionaire’ in Esperanto?" in The New York Times (December 16, 2010) http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/how-do-you-say-billionaire-in-esperanto/
“C (it's not just a language, it's a grade)”
Jamie Zawinski (1968) American programmer
alt. religion. emacs http://groups.google.com/group/alt.religion.emacs/msg/991308e21103bb76
“Like legend and myth, magic fades when it is unused”
Charles de Lint (1951) author
hence all the old tales of elfin Kingdoms moving further and further away from our world, or that magical beings require our faith, our belief in their existence, to survive. … That is a lie. All they require is our recognition.
Goninan in Part One: The Hidden People, "Border Spirit" p. 337
The Little Country (1991)
“[C has] the power of assembly language and the convenience of … assembly language.”
Dennis M. Ritchie (1941–2011) American computer scientist
Quoted in Cade Metz, "Dennis Ritchie: The Shoulders Steve Jobs Stood On", http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2011/10/thedennisritchieeffect/ Wired, 13 October 2011.
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892–1973) British philologist and author, creator of classic fantasy works
"A Philologist on Esperanto" in The British Esperantist (May 1932).
Years later, in a 1956 letter (quoted more extensively below) he stated that Esperanto and other constructed languages were "dead, far deader than ancient unused languages, because their authors never invented any Esperanto legends."
Michael Moorcock (1939) English writer, editor, critic
Book 3, Chapter 2 “The Destruction in the Fortress” (p. 260)
The Elric Cycle, The Fortress of the Pearl (1989)
“If you want to program in C, program in C. It's a nice language. I use it occasionally…”
Larry Wall (1954) American computer programmer and author, creator of Perl
[7577@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV, 1990]
Usenet postings, 1990
