Linguistic Manipulation Quotes

When ideas fail, words come in very handy.

As a scholar I am interested in the philosophy of language, semiotics, call it what you want, and one of the main features of the human language is the possibility of lying.

Language is power... Language can be used as a means of changing reality.

I keep going over a sentence. I nag it, gnaw it, pat and flatter it.

One has to watch the new words that are introduced into politics—you never know what you are admitting to.

Try not to be either intimidated by or a captive of jargon. Even though it's language, and language is about communication, it often exists actually to obfuscate and to control power and not to communicate.

We use language that has been designed to keep order, and to keep people in line.

Abuse of words is the foundation of ideology.

Abuse of words has been the great instrument of sophistry and chicanery, of party, faction, and division of society.

The only thing I'd rather own than Windows is English. Then I'd be able to charge you an upgrade fee every time I add new letters like N and T.

Language is a machine for making falsehoods.

The misuse of language induces evil in the soul.

The juggle of sophistry consists, for the most part, in using a word in one sense in all the premises, and in another sense in the conclusion.

Beware of the conversationalist who adds "in other words." He is merely starting afresh.

Perhaps like the many and various meanings of the word "we," liberals use the word "unsubstantiated" to mean "tested repeatedly and proved true."

Language disguises thought.

Words on a page can hypnotize you if the rhythm is right

One of our defects as a nation is a tendency to use what have been called ''weasel words.'' When a weasel sucks eggs the meat is sucked out of the egg. If you use a ''weasel word'' after another there is nothing left of the other.

Language is a serious weapon in shining and sharing Truth. It is also a serious weapon used in its distortion.

We used to have a War Office, but now we have a Ministry of Defence, nuclear bombs are now described as deterrents, innocent civilians killed in war are now described as collateral damage and military incompetence leading to US bombers killing British soldiers is cosily described as friendly fire. Those who are in favour of peace are described as mavericks and troublemakers, whereas the real militants are those who want the war.

Wordsmiths who serve established power...castrate the public imagination by subjecting language to a complexity which renders it private. Elitism is always their aim.

I have a theory that you can make any sentence seem profound by writing the name of a dead philosopher at the end of it.

INTERPRETER, n. One who enables two persons of different languages to understand each other by repeating to each what it would have been to the interpreter's advantage for the other to have said.

One of the special beauties of America is that it is the only country in the world where you are not advised to learn the language before entering. Before I ever set out for the United States, I asked a friend if I should study American. His answer was unequivocal. "On no account," he said. "The more English you sound, the more likely you are to be believed."

By stretching language we'll distort it sufficiently to wrap ourselves in it and hide.