John Steinbeck Quotes

Man can no more think without words than see without light.

Words are not brains, you know.

Words are the mind's wings, are they not?

Language is not only the vehicle of thought, it is a great and efficient instrument in thinking.

Language comes first. It's not that language grows out of consciousness, if you haven't got language, you can't be conscious.

Speech is external thought, and thought internal speech.

Man does not speak because he thinks; he thinks because he speaks. Or rather, speaking is no different than thinking: to speak is to think.

Real thinking is possible only in the light of genuine language, no matter how limited, how primitive.

Words are the litmus paper of the mind.

Understanding is nothing else than conception caused by speech.

Language is the mother of thought, not its handmaiden.

If I was asked to say what was the greatest invention of human beings, I would say the sentence.

Language is to the mind more than light is to the eye.

When you use words, you're able to keep your mind alive. Writing is my way of reaffirming my own existence.

Words are the small change of thought.

Words are also actions, and actions are a kind of words.

Speech is the mirror of the mind.

We think in language. We think in words. Language is the landscape of thought.

I say what it occurs to me to say when I think I hear people say things. More I cannot say.

The best clue to what a person thinks is what he says.

Most of us do not use speech to express thought. We use it to express feelings.

We live and breathe words.

Language serves not only to express thought but to make possible thoughts which could not exist without it.

Speech is the index of the mind.

You need language for thought, and you need language to anticipate death. There is no abstract thought without language and no anticipation. I think the anticipation of death without language would be impossible.