Edward Sapir

The fact of the matter is that the 'real world' is to a large extent unconsciously built up on the language habits of the group.

National languages are all huge systems of vested interests which sullenly resist critical inquiry.

In a sense, every form of expression is imposed upon one by social factors, one's own language above all.

No important national language, at least in the Occidental world, has complete regularity of grammatical structure, nor is there a single logical category which is adequately and consistently handled in terms of linguistic symbolism.

No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality.

It would, of course, be hopeless to attempt to crowd into an international language all those local overtones of meaning which are so dear to the heart of the nationalist.

It is quite an illusion to imagine that one adjusts to reality essentially without the use of language and that language is merely an incidental means of solving specific problems of communication or reflection.

A standard international language should not only be simple, regular, and logical, but also rich and creative.

What fetters the mind and benumbs the spirit is ever the dogged acceptance of absolutes.

Language is the most massive and inclusive art we know, a mountainous and anonymous work of unconscious generations.

Human beings do not live in the objective world alone, nor alone in the world of social activity as ordinarily understood, but are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has become the medium of expression for their society.

The psychology of a language which, in one way or another, is imposed upon one because of factors beyond one's control, is very different from the psychology of a language which one accepts of one's free will.