The connection between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary.

Without language, thought is a vague, uncharted nebula.

Written forms obscure our view of language. They are not so much a garment as a disguise.

The critical principle demanded an examination, for instance, of the contribution of different periods, thus to some extent embarking on historical linguistics.

In the lives of individuals and societies, language is a factor of greater importance than any other. For the study of language to remain solely the business of a handful of specialists would be a quite unacceptable state of affairs.

Speech has both an individual and a social side, and we cannot conceive of one without the other.

Nearly all institutions, it might be said, are based on signs, but these signs do not directly evoke things.