Of all social institutions language is least amenable to initiative. It blends with the life of society, and the latter, inert by nature, is a prime conservative force.

The ultimate law of language is, dare we say, that nothing can ever reside in a single term. This is a direct consequence of the fact that linguistic signs are unrelated to what they designate and that, therefore, 'a' cannot designate anything without the the aid of 'b' and vice versa, or, in other words, that both have value only by the difference between them.

In general, the philological movement opened up countless sources relevant to linguistic issues, treating them in quite a different spirit from traditional grammar; for instance, the study of inscriptions and their language. But not yet in the spirit of linguistics.

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

A linguistic system is a series of differences of sound combined with a series of differences of ideas...

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

Without language, thought is a vague, uncharted nebula.