“Since the classical language has an easy grammar and limited vocabulary, a few months should suffice for the mastering of it.”

—  Arthur Waley

Japanese Poetry: The Uta (1919), Introduction, p. 8

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Since the classical language has an easy grammar and limited vocabulary, a few months should suffice for the mastering …" by Arthur Waley?
Arthur Waley photo
Arthur Waley21
British academic 1889–1966

Related quotes

Robert Graves photo

“I believe that every English poet should read the English classics, master the rules of grammar before he attempts to bend or break them, travel abroad, experience the horror of sordid passion and — if he is lucky enough — know the love of an honest woman.”

Robert Graves (1895–1985) English poet and novelist

Lecture at Oxford as quoted in Time (15 December 1961).
General sources

R. Venkataraman photo

“The vocabulary of growth must be held in position by the grammar of financial discipline and the punctuations of a social ideology.”

R. Venkataraman (1910–2009) seventh Vice-President of India and the 8th President of India

Source: Commissions and Omissions by Indian Presidents and Their Conflicts with the Prime Ministers Under the Constitution: 1977-2001, p. 180.

“Sanskrit is a scientific and systematic language. Its grammar is perfect and has attracted scholars worldwide. Sanskrit has a perfect grammar which has been explained to us by the world's greatest grammarian Panini.”

Pāṇini ancient Sanskrit grammarian

An Analytical Study of 'Sanskrit' and 'Panini' as Foundation of Speech Communication in India and the World

P. J. O'Rourke photo

“The Australian language is easier to learn than boat talk. It has a vocabulary of about six words.”

P. J. O'Rourke book Holidays in Hell

Holidays in Hell (1989)

“Pāṇini's grammar defines Classical Sanskrit, so Pāṇini by definition lived at the end of the Vedic period. He notes a few special rules, marked chandasi ("in the hymns") to account for forms in the Vedic scriptures that had fallen out of use in the spoken language of his time. These indicate that Vedic Sanskrit was already archaic, but still a comprehensible dialect.”

Pāṇini ancient Sanskrit grammarian

An Analytical Study of 'Sanskrit' and 'Panini' as Foundation of Speech Communication in India and the World

Marshall McLuhan photo

“Print altered not only the spelling and grammar but the accentuation and inflection of languages, and made “bad grammar” possible.”

Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980) Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar-- a professor of English literature, a literary critic, and a …

Source: 1960s, The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962), p. 263

Richard Whately photo

“No one complains of the rules of Grammar as fettering Language; because it is understood that correct use is not founded on Grammar, but Grammar on correct use. A just system of Logic or of Rhetoric is analogous, in this respect, to Grammar..”

Richard Whately (1787–1863) English rhetorician, logician, economist, and theologian

Introduction, p. 17
Elements of Rhetoric (1828)

Subhash Kak photo

“Since language is linear, whereas the unfolding of the universe takes place in a multitude of dimensions, language is limited in its ability to describe reality.”

Subhash Kak (1947) Indian computer scientist

The Circle of Memory, An Autobiography (2016)

David Crystal photo

“The structural properties of the language are many and complex, but at least they are finite and fairly easy to identify: there are only so many sounds, letters, and grammatical constructions, and although there is a huge vocabulary, at least the units are determinate and manageable.”

David Crystal (1941) British linguist and writer

Source: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, 1987, p. 286

Michael Halliday photo

“… language has evolved in the service of particular human needs … what is really significant is that this functional principle is carried over and built into the grammar, so that the internal organization of the grammar system is also functional in character.”

Michael Halliday (1925–2018) Australian linguist

Source: 1970s and later, Learning How to Mean--Explorations in the Development of Language, 1975, p. 16 cited in Constant Leung, Brian V. Street (2012) English a Changing Medium for Education. p. 5.

Related topics