“It is mankind's discovery of language which more than any other single thing has separated him from the animal creation.”

— Robertson Davies

On Seeing Plays (1990).
Context: It is mankind's discovery of language which more than any other single thing has separated him from the animal creation. Without language, what concept have we of past or future as separated from the immediate present? Without language, how can we tell anyone what we feel, or what we think? It might be said that until he developed language, man had no soul, for without language how could he reach deep inside himself and discover the truths that are hidden there, or find out what emotions he shared, or did not share, with his fellow men and women. But because this greatest gift of all gifts is in daily use, and is smeared, and battered and trivialized by commonplace associations, we too often forget the splendour of which it is capable, and the pleasures that it can give, from the pen of a master.

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Robertson Davies 282

Canadian journalist, playwright, professor, critic, and nov… 1913–1995

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“It is mankind's discovery of language which more than any other single thing has separated him from the animal creation.”

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