Human beings do not wish to be modest; they want to be as expressive - that is, as immodest - as fear allows; fashion helps them solve that paradoxical problem.

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.

Language is an anonymous, collective and unconscious art; the result of the creativity of thousands of generations.

Fashion is custom in the guise of departure from custom

One of the glories of English simplicity is the possibility of using the same word as noun and verb.

A common allegiance to form of expression that is identified with no single national unit is likely to prove one of the most potent symbols of the freedom of the human spirit that the world has yet known.

A second type of direct evidence is formed by statements, whether as formal legends or personal information, regarding the age or relative sequence of events in tribal history made by the natives themselves.