“Accent is the soul of language; it gives to it both feeling and truth.”
L'accent est l'âme du discours.
English translation as quoted in A Dictionary of Thoughts: Being a Cyclopedia of Laconic Quotations from the Best Authors of the World, Both Ancient and Modern (1908) by Tryon Edwards, p. 2.
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Jean Jacques Rousseau91
Genevan philosopher 1712–1778Related quotes
“He would always speak the language of the heart with an awkward foreign accent.”
Orson Scott Card book Shadow of the Hegemon
Source: Shadow of the Hegemon
Robertson Davies (1913–1995) Canadian journalist, playwright, professor, critic, and novelist
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.
George Orwell book Politics and the English Language
"Politics and the English Language" (1946)
Context: Political language — and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists — is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
Anaïs Nin book Delta of Venus
As quoted in D. H. Lawrence and Nine Women Writers (1996) by Leo Hamalian, p. 90
Source: Delta of Venus
Walter Raleigh (1554–1618) English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer
The Lie (1608)