Monique Wittig Quotes

You couldn't have human society without language.

Common experience is the gold reserve which confers an exchange value on the currency which words are; without this reserve of shared experiences, all our pronouncements are checks drawn on insufficient funds.

Language is a social art.

In this world, conversations are negotiations for closeness in which people try to seek and give confirmation and support, and to reach consensus. They try to protect themselves from others' attempts to push them away.

I come from a tradition - from the Jewish tradition, which believes in words, in language, in communication.

Men in plural […] can experience meaningfulness only because they can talk with and make sense to each other and themselves.

Words are like leaves,. . .like people really, fond of their own society.

Human society is inconceivable unless words are to some extent bonds.

I think that people in Mexico talk too much.

I'm really interested in how we understand each other - and whether we can understand each other.

With so many ways to communicate at our disposal, we must not forget the transformative power of a live music experience and genuine human exchange.

Words are what created our world. Words are what keep it going.

An ancient father says that a dog we know is better company than a man whose language we do not understand.

Society not only continues to exist by transmission, by communication, but it may fairly be said to exist in transmission, in communication.

Language. By this we build pyramids, fight battles, ordain and administer laws, shape and teach religion, and knit man to man, cultivate each other, and ourselves.

Language is basic to all of our existences in this world. We depend on it.

Spoken language is merely a series of squeaks.

That's why I've never thought of retiring because I do it all the time whether on the stage or off. I found that in a precarious situation, a smile is the shortest distance between people. When one needs to reach out for sympathy or a link with people, what better way is there?

I suppose there will never be a lack of things to say, of stories to be told and shared.

Language is our way of communicating what we want and who we are. By using bad language, we diminish the divine spark within us that defines our humanity.

Gossip isn't scandal and it's not merely malicious. It's chatter about the human race by lovers of the same. Gossip is the tool of the poet, the shop-talk of the scientist, and the consolation of the housewife, wit, tycoon and intellectual. It begins in the nursery and ends when speech is past.

Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and aspirations, grasp their history, appreciate their poetry, or savor their songs.

Reason and speech we onely bring.

The human need for language is not simply for the transmission of meaning, it is at the same time listening to and affirming a person's existence.

As humans we speak one language.