Nearly all institutions, it might be said, are based on signs, but these signs do not directly evoke things.
Ferdinand de SaussureEveryone, left to his own devices, forms an idea about what goes on in language which is very far from the truth.
Ferdinand de SaussureIn 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.
Ferdinand de Saussure