Vocabulary quotes:

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Vocabulary is a matter of word-building as well as word-using. -- David Crystal
Good art provides people with a vocabulary about things they can't articulate. -- Mos Def
One forgets words as one forgets names. One's vocabulary needs constant fertilizing or it will die. -- Evelyn Waugh
The ambiguities of language, both in terms of vocabulary and syntax, are fascinating: how important connotation is, what is lost and what is gained in the linguistic transition. -- Marilyn Hacker
The two most misused words in the entire English vocabulary are love and friendship. A true friend would die for you, so when you start trying to count them on one hand, you don't need any fingers. -- Larry Flynt
If you're not ready to die for it, put the word 'freedom' out of your vocabulary. -- Malcolm X
Men make angry music and it's called rock-and-roll; women include anger in their vocabulary and suddenly they're angry and militant. -- Ani DiFranco
Sound is the vocabulary of nature. -- Pierre Schaeffer
"Stay" is a charming word in a friend's vocabulary. -- Louisa May Alcott
The last thing a political party gives up is its vocabulary. -- Alexis de Tocqueville
Public speaking is the art of diluting a two-minute idea with a two-hour vocabulary. -- Evan Esar
Retirement is not in my vocabulary. They aren't going to get rid of me that way. -- Betty White
It's interesting to help someone find their vocabulary. There would not have been a De Niro without a Scorsese. -- Jason Patric
Pressure is a word that is misused in our vocabulary. When you start thinking of pressure, it's because you've started to think of failure. -- Tommy Lasorda
I've created a vocabulary of different styles. I draw from many different ways to take a picture. Sometimes I go back to reportage, to journalism. -- Annie Leibovitz
We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary. -- Booker T. Washington
Those who prefer their English sloppy have only themselves to thank if the advertisement writer uses his mastery of the vocabulary and syntax to mislead their weak minds. -- Dorothy L. Sayers
The most important word in the vocabulary of advertising is TEST. If you pretest your product with consumers, and pretest your advertising, you will do well in the marketplace. -- David Ogilvy
Syntax and vocabulary are overwhelming constraints --the rules that run us. Language is using us to talk --we think we're using the language, but language is doing the thinking, we're its slavish agents. -- Harry Mathews
Of course there are big differences in length and character and vocabulary, but each level has its particular pleasures when it comes to the words one can use and the way one uses them. -- Margaret Mahy
So far as the advocates of a constructed international language are concerned, it is rather to be wondered at how much in common their proposals actually have, both in vocabulary and in general spirit of procedure. -- Edward Sapir
So long as we use a certain language, all questions that we can ask will have to be formulated in it and will thereby confirm the theory of the universe which is implied in the vocabulary and structure of the language. -- Michael Polanyi
We live in a time when the words impossible and unsolvable are no longer part of the scientific community's vocabulary. Each day we move closer to trials that will not just minimize the symptoms of disease and injury but eliminate them. -- Christopher Reeve
First, we have to find a common vocabulary for energy security. This notion has a radically different meaning for different people. For Americans it is a geopolitical question. For the Europeans right now it is very much focused on the dependence on imported natural gas. -- Daniel Yergin
The minute we leave south Lebanon we will have to erase the word Hezbollah from our vocabulary, because the whole idea of the State of Israel versus Hezbollah was sheer folly from the outset. It most certainly no longer will be relevant when Israel returns to her internationally recognized northern border. -- Amos Oz
Vocabulary spills I'm ill. -- Nas
They're just words is all. Powerless. Vocabulary. Dialogue. -- Chuck Palahniuk
Vocabulary for aggravation is large. Vocabulary for transcendence is elusive. -- Jennifer Senior
Vocabulary enables us to interpret and to express. If you have a limited vocabulary, you will also have a limited vision and a limited future. -- Jim Rohn
Risk isn't a word in my vocabulary. It's my very existence. -- Slash
I have my own vocabulary. I love linguistics. That surprises people. -- Matthew McConaughey
People say jargon is a bad thing, but it's really a shortcut vocabulary professionals use to understand one another. -- Erin McKean
Failure isn't an option. I've erased the word 'fear' from my vocabulary, and I think when you erase fear, you can't fail. -- Alicia Keys
Give up... it's time to quit,' I don't think I've ever really accepted those kinds of words in my life or vocabulary. -- Willie Aames
Pressure' is a word that is misused in our vocabulary. When you start thinking of pressure, it's because you've started to think of failure. -- Tommy Lasorda
Human vocabulary is still not capable, and probably never will be, of knowing, recognizing, and communicating everything that can be humanly experienced and felt. -- Jose Saramago
When I wear high heels I have a great vocabulary and I speak in paragraphs. I'm more eloquent. I plan to wear them more often. -- Meg Ryan
White rhythm is waltzes, marches, and the polka. In Africa, rhythm is used for a celebratory groove, but white rhythm doesn't have such an enormous vocabulary of spirits. It's basically militant. -- Joni Mitchell
The most important thing is to read as much as you can, like I did. It will give you an understanding of what makes good writing and it will enlarge your vocabulary. -- J. K. Rowling
Profit is the sole criterion used by the establishment to evaluate economic activity. From the rat race to lame ducks. The vocabulary in vogue is a give-away. It's more reminiscent of a human menagerie than human society. -- Jimmy Reid
English language is the most universal language in history, way more than the Latin of Julius Caesar. It's the most punderful language because its vocabulary has a certain critical mass that makes a lingo good for punning. -- Richard Lederer
Scripture is the thing I like to share with people more than anything. My prayer reality is quite kooky. I have this very unique dialogue with the Lord. I utilize my own sort of street vocabulary - nothing slang that would be unacceptable. -- Stephen Baldwin
It might interest you to know that the 1828 Noah Webster Dictionary identifies the optimist in complimentary terms, but says nothing about the pessimist. The word 'pessimist' was not in our vocabulary at that time. It's a modern 'invention' which I believe we should 'dis-invent.' -- Zig Ziglar
I believe that if it were possible to scrap the whole of existing literature, all writers would find themselves inevitably producing something very close to SF ... No other form of fiction has the vocabulary of ideas and images to deal with the present, let alone the future. -- J. G. Ballard
Being a mother gives you an incredible feeling of empowerment, you think if I can go through such pain and that level of sleep and still operate and not be grumpy you can do anything. It can be quite scary, you can't function your brain, forget your vocabulary. -- Anna Friel
Because the blues is the basis of most American music in the 20th century. It's a 12-bar form that's played by jazz, bluegrass and country musicians. It has a rhythmic vocabulary that's been used by rock n' roll. It's related to spirituals, and even the American fiddle tradition. -- Wynton Marsalis
You stand with the least likely to succeed until success is succeeded by something more valuable: kinship. You stand with the belligerent, the surly and the badly behaved until bad behavior is recognized for the language it is: the vocabulary of the deeply wounded and of those whose burdens are more than they can bear. -- Greg Boyle
Many parents and teachers have become irritated to the point of distraction at the way the weed-style growth of 'like' has spread through the idiom of the young. And it's true that in some cases the term has become simultaneously a crutch and a tic, driving out the rest of the vocabulary as candy expels vegetables. -- Christopher Hitchens
People's vocabulary has expanded. -- Michael Snow
Fear isn't in my vocabulary. -- Ernst Happel
Losing is not in my vocabulary. -- Ruud van Nistelrooy
Retirement is not in my vocabulary. -- Betty White
Humor is not far from my vocabulary. -- Edward Herrmann
Tired is not a word in my vocabulary. -- Brittany Murphy
The word "rest" is not in my vocabulary. -- Horace Greeley
I find vocabulary to be a great drawback. -- Elizabeth Taylor
The word 'suffering' is not in my vocabulary. -- Judith Jamison
My only defense is the acquisition of vocabulary. -- Margaret Edson
The word snob belongs to the sour-grape vocabulary. -- Logan Pearsall Smith
My favorite classes were always dumb nerdy vocabulary. -- Karen Russell
Fear is not a part of my vocabulary, actually. -- Alicia Keys
I am working out the vocabulary of my silence. -- Muriel Rukeyser
Few activities are as delightful as learning new vocabulary. -- Tim Gunn
"Reinvention" is a word that doesn't fit into my vocabulary. -- George W. Bush
Like other self-educated men, he was vain of his vocabulary. -- Ross MacDonald
Religious concepts and vocabulary are certainly censored in these textbooks. -- Paul Vitz
Cults use our vocabulary, but they don't use our dictionary. -- Charles R. Swindoll
WHY is the most important word in an actor's vocabulary. -- Sanford Meisner
The vocabulary of pleasure depends on the imagery of pain. -- Marina Warner
The word 'retirement' is not in my vocabulary right now. -- Charlie Daniels
I know what people laugh at. I know their vocabulary. -- Gallagher
Failure was not an option. It just wasn't in my vocabulary. -- Hilary Devey
You must take responsibility for removing I can't from your vocabulary. -- Jack Canfield
Threats are the last resort of a man with no vocabulary. -- Tamora Pierce
In my vocabulary there are two bad words: art and good taste. -- Helmut Newton
The term 'too big to fail' must be excised from our vocabulary. -- Jamie Dimon
The words: never, can't, quit, and fail, are not in my vocabulary. -- Robert Cheeke
By reading so much, my vocabulary automatically improved along with my comprehension. -- Benjamin Carson
By reading so much, my vocabulary automatically improved along with my comprehension. -- Benjamin Carson
In my vocabulary, the word "compromise" is synonymous to the word "life". -- Amos Oz
In seventh and eighth grade, grammar and vocabulary were not my favorite subjects. -- Aaron Lazar
The developers and entrepreneurs must somehow be taught a new vocabulary of values. -- Edward Abbey
Teaching vocabulary lists is inefficient - the time is better spent reading alone. -- Stephen D. Krashen
Unlike sciences, literature as art relies on societal acceptance of a certain vocabulary. -- Jimenez Lai
A vocabulary of truth and simplicity will be of service throughout your life. -- Winston Churchill
Practice the vocabulary of love - unlearn the language of hate and contempt. -- Sathya Sai Baba
I'm learning all the right vocabulary words - 'You're right, I'm wrong.' -- George Stephanopoulos
I always try to think of a vocabulary to match different musical situations. -- Roscoe Mitchell
I've learned to create a palette, a vocabulary of ways to take pictures. -- Annie Leibovitz
To feel the soul without explaining it, without vocabulary, and to represent this sensation. -- Yves Klein
I'm Howard Stern with a vocabulary. I'm the man he wishes he could be. -- Don Imus
Words have power. Use the language of leadership versus the vocabulary of a victim. -- Robin Sharma
I don't use coarse language very often. I have a larger vocabulary than that. -- John McCain
Subconsciously you just pick up things into your sort of musical vocabulary and use them. -- David Gilmour
Loving your language means a command of its vocabulary beyond the level of the everyday. -- John McWhorter
Loving your language means a command of its vocabulary beyond the level of the everyday. -- John McWhorter
Free voluntary reading results in better reading comprehension, writing style, vocabulary, spelling, and grammatical development -- Stephen D. Krashen
We need to remove unworthy from our vocabulary and replace it with hope and work. -- Marvin J. Ashton
Journalism is one set of tools - one toolkit I have. One vocabulary, one lens. -- Michael Pollan
Happiness is so rarely a part of my vocabulary, because for me it's so fleeting -- David Levithan
I was never nervous. That's not me, ... Nervousness, scariness, that's not even in our vocabulary. -- Vince Young
The secret, if one may paraphrase a savage vocabulary, lies in the egg of night. -- Loren Eiseley
Ahimsa is a science. The word 'failure' has no place in the vocabulary of science. -- Mahatma Gandhi
I'm too intellectual. I don't think that the theological vocabulary is as important as the experience. -- Rodger Kamenetz
My mother was a very literate person who had educated herself. She had an exceptional vocabulary. -- Lynn Johnston
My mother was a very literate person who had educated herself. She had an exceptional vocabulary -- Lynn Johnston
With a very few exceptions, every word in the French vocabulary comes straight from the Latin. -- Lytton Strachey
I love the idea of engaging religious sentiment and how that vocabulary has evolved over time. -- Kehinde Wiley
In fact, eloquence in English will inevitably make use of the Latin element in our vocabulary. -- Robert Fitzgerald
Equity, ownership, production fees, license fees: those are the vocabulary words that are exciting to me. -- Ryan Seacrest
Thank God for movie music. It preserves the rich vocabulary in classical music through challenging times. -- Michael Tilson Thomas
In his head, his mother said, 'People shout when they don't have the vocabulary to whisper'. -- Maggie Stiefvater
Symbol and metaphor are as much a part of the architectural vocabulary as stone and steel. -- Ada Louise Huxtable
Banish the words 'I can't' from your vocabulary. Remember: If 'can't' equals 'won't', 'can' equals 'will. -- Phyllis George
A word out of place or an interesting choice of vocabulary can spawn a whole character. -- Sara Sheridan
I'm a man of few words." "If you read more, you might have a larger vocabulary. -- Bill Watterson
I think the most overused words in our vocabulary in the South are black and white. -- Artur Davis
Banish the words 'I can't' from your vocabulary. Remember: If 'can't' equals 'won't', 'can' equals 'will.' -- Phyllis George
If children read 1 million words in a year, atl least 1,000 words will be added to their vocabulary. -- Stephen D. Krashen
Life is tons of discipline. Your first discipline is your vocabulary; then your grammar and your punctuation -- Robert Frost

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