History does not merely touch on language, but takes place in it.

It is a luxury to be understood.

How absurd men are! They never use the liberties they have, they demand those they do not have. They have freedom of thought, they demand freedom of speech.

I sometimes think of what future historians will say of us. A single sentence will suffice for modern man: he fornicated and read the papers.

I have often repented speaking, but never of holding my tongue.

Making a film means, first of all, to tell a story. That story can be an improbable one, but it should never be banal. It must be dramatic and human. What is drama, after all, but life with the dull bits cut out?

The gift of a common tongue is a priceless inheritance and it may well some day become the foundation of a common citizenship.

Speech is the mirror of the soul; as a man speaks, so is he.

My language is the common prostitute that I turn into a virgin.

Man is the one name belonging to every nation upon earth: there is one soul and many tongues, one spirit and various sounds; every country has its own speech, but the subjects of speech are common to all.

When action grows unprofitable, gather information; when information grows unprofitable, sleep.

I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigrees of nations.

Language is a part of our organism and no less complicated than it.