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

Psychologically our thought-apart from its expression in words-is only a shapeless and indistinct mass.

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.

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.

I’m almost never serious, and I’m always too serious. Too deep, too shallow. Too sensitive, too cold hearted. I’m like a collection of paradoxes.

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

Language furnishes the best proof that a law accepted by a community is a thing that is tolerated and not a rule to which all freely consent.