4.12.2010

Aphorisms: Language


62. Whereas they were formerly allowed to die, the weak and sickly are the protected. Without language they would die. Only the combination of reason and its corollary, morality, keeps them alive.

65. Only in language is there a 'right to exist'.

96. Talk is for those without the character or strength for action.

100. Action has obvious and direct consequences. The link between cause and effect is clearer, and with it a heightened sense of responsibility. With language the link is weaker. It is a difference of degree. It is the difference between physics and comparative literature. It is the difference between experimentation that confirms a 'natural law', and an endless talking-about that confirms a 'multiplicity of interpretations'.

101. To put language ahead of action is to shirk responsibility.

107. Rhetoric as the greatest of the feminine powers--the power to make things happen without action, without the use of force, to change the world while lying down.

110. Language emerged when she told him what to do, what to bring back from the hunt, how to fix the cave...and he did it.

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