Translation is not a matter of words only: it is a matter of making intelligible a whole culture.
Anthony BurgessRead
There is a satisfactory boniness about grammar which the flesh of sheer vocabulary requires before it can become a vertebrate and walk the earth.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Grammar provides the necessary structure for vocabulary to function effectively in communication.
In this quote, Anthony Burgess illustrates the importance of grammar as a foundational framework for language. He compares grammar to a skeleton that gives shape and support to vocabulary, suggesting that without proper grammatical structure, words alone are insufficient to convey meaning and achieve clarity in communication.
Themes
GrammarVocabularyLanguageCommunicationStructure
In practice
Example use cases
In a writing workshop, during a discussion about the importance of sentence structure, this quote could be used to emphasize the role of grammar.
More from Anthony Burgess
All quotes βThere was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie and Dim, Dim being really dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar making up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening.
Anthony BurgessRead
Violence among young people is an aspect of their desire to create. They don't know how to use their energy creatively so they do the opposite and destroy.
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Only in England is the perversion of language regarded as a victory for democracy.
Anthony BurgessRead
You needn't take it any further, sir. You've proved to me that all this ultraviolence and killing is wrong, wrong, and terribly wrong. I've learned me lesson, sir. I've seen now what I've never seen before. I'm cured! Praise Bog! I'm cured!
Anthony BurgessRead
It may not be nice to be good, little 6655321. It may be horrible to be good. And when I say that to you I realize how self-contradictory that sounds. I know I shall have many sleepless nights about this. What does God want? Does God want goodness or the choice of goodness? Is a man who chooses the bad perhaps in some way better than a man who has the good imposed upon him? Deep and hard questions, little 6655321.
Anthony BurgessRead
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