Possession, it is true, crowns exertion with rest; but it is only in the illusions of fancy that it has power to charm us.
Wilhelm Von HumboldtRead
Language makes infinite use of finite media.
Interpretation
Language is a powerful tool that conveys limitless thoughts through limited forms of expression.
This quote by Wilhelm Von Humboldt illustrates the extraordinary capacity of language to express an endless array of ideas and emotions, using only a finite number of words and grammatical structures. It highlights the richness and creativity inherent in human communication, where the limitations of language are often transcended by the depth and variety of human thought and experience.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of language in education.
Possession, it is true, crowns exertion with rest; but it is only in the illusions of fancy that it has power to charm us.
Only what we have wrought into our character during life can we take with us.
Wherever the citizen becomes indifferent to his fellows, so will the husband be to his wife, and the father of a family toward the members of his household.
Joy mingled with sadness, even with grief, is the deepest human joy. It winds itself about the soul with indescribable sweetness, with a dim but unerring sense for what will some day be born of it.
All situations in which the interrelationships between extremes are involved are the most interesting and instructive.
It is an absolutely vain endeavor to attempt to reconstruct or even comprehend the nature of a human being by simply knowing the forces which have acted upon him. However deeply we should like to penetrate, however close we seem to be drawing to truth, one unknown quantity eludes us: man's primordial energy, his original self, that personality which was given him with the gift of life itself. On it rests man's true freedom; it alone determines his real character.
I am not patriotic or nationalistic, but the French language is like a country where I take refuge when I have nowhere else to go. It consoles me for everything. For me, the language no longer belongs to the colonialists.
We are surrounded by hundreds of 'tribes,' each speaking their own distinct slanguage of colourful words, jokes and phrases that together form an idiosyncratic phrasebook, years in the making.
People have been warning us that language was going to the dogs ever since Latin started turning into French. Yet the dogs in question never seem to emerge yelping on the horizon.
Purists behave as if there was a vintage year when language achieved a measure of excellence which we should all strive to maintain. In fact, there was never such a year. The language of Chaucer's or Shakespeare's time was no better and no worse than that of our own - just different.
The Hebrew language will go from the synagogue to the house of study, and from the house of study to the school, and from the school it will come into the home and... become a living language
The living language is like a cowpath: it is the creation of the cows themselves, who, having created it, follow it or depart from it according to their whims or their needs. From daily use, the path undergoes change. A cow is under no obligation to stay
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