
“Brute animals have the vowel sounds; man only can utter consonants.”
20 August 1833
Table Talk (1821–1834)
Quote attributed by Max Müller (1823–1900), Lectures on the Science of Language (2003), Kessinger Publishing, p. 238
Attributed
L'étymologie est une science où les voyelles ne font rien et les consonnes fort peu de chose.
Attributed
“Brute animals have the vowel sounds; man only can utter consonants.”
20 August 1833
Table Talk (1821–1834)
Context: At the very least, the ill-advised rush to "peace" is a likely candidate for the historical annals of self-destructive appeasement. The great sacrifices made by Americans in the Korean War, the legacy of the close US-South Korea relationship over the past 60 years, and future US strategic interests in and around the Korean Peninsula should not be sacrificed at the altar of diplomatic peace. Real peace is won by resolve and sacrifice, while ephemeral peace is all too often concocted only by vowels and consonants. (talking about a potential peace treaty between North Korea and the U. S., to replace the decades-long armistice signed in 1953)
The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody (1950), Part II: Ancient Greeks and Worse, Hannibal
Source: History of Mathematics (1925) Vol.2, p. 430; footnote
Source: Letters to Vera
Source: A Mathematical Dictionary: Or; A Compendious Explication of All Mathematical Terms, 1702, p. 1, The Introduction; Lead paragraph
Merton (1938) "Science and the Social Order". In: Philosophy of Science Vol 5, nr 3, p. 326
Talk of the Nation (3 May 1996)