J. L. Austin Quotes

Those who violate the rules of a language do not enter new territory; they leave the domain of meaningful discourse. Even facts in these circumstances dissolve, because they are shaped by the language and subjected to its limitations.

Trying to convey an emotion through words is not easy.

That general warrants, whereby an officer or messenger may be commanded to search suspected places without evidence of a fact committed, or to seize any person or persons not named, or whose offence is not particularly described and supported by evidence, are grievous and oppressive, and ought not to be granted.

History is, and has always been trameled by facts. It may ignore some and deny others; but it cannot accommodate itself unreservedly to theories; it cannot be stripped of things evidenced in favor of things surmised.

We may think we live for wisdom, but in fact we're living for the the pleasure wisdom brings us.

One of the most significant facts about humanity may finally be that we all begin with the natural equipment to a live a thousand kinds of life but end in the end having lived only one

It's the cliches that cause the trouble. A precise emotion seeks a precise expression.

Mathematics and logic have been proved to be one; a fact from which it seems to follow that mathematics may successfully deal with non-quantitative problems in a much broader sense than was suspected to be possible.

My English is not very good-looking.

I could be wrong about that, and [Susan Rice ] may have really wanted [secretary of state place]. But now she has become a liability. If, in fact, it was legitimate. If [Barack Obama] wanted her and she wanted it, they've told her to go pound sand now, and that's purely because of Benghazi.

Truth is used to vitalize a statement rather than devitalize it. Truth implies more than a simple statement of fact. "I don't have any whiskey," may be a fact but it is not a truth.

There may be some substitute for hard facts, but if there is, I have no idea what it can be.

Facts are constituted by older ideologies, and a clash between facts and theories may be proof of progress.

What is the point of trying to put down on paper emotions that are too complex, too huge, too overwhelming to be confined by an alphabet? Love isn't the only word that fails. Hate does, too.

What is false in the science of facts may be true in the science of values.

Politics is largely the process of taking credit and putting the blame on others - regardless of what the facts may be.

I had always suspected language was quite limited in its ability to communicate the intricate mysteries of truth.

Yes, of course, there's something fishy about describing people's feelings. You try hard to be accurate, but as soon as you start to define such and such a feeling, language lets you down. It's really a machine for making falsehoods. When we really speak the truth, words are insufficient. Almost everything except things like "pass the gravy" is a lie of a sort. And that being the case, I shall shut up. Oh, and... pass the gravy.

A belief may be larger than a fact. A faith that is overdefined is the very faith most likely to prove inadequate to the great moments of life.

Theories without facts may be barren, but facts without theories are meaningless.

It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but words can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it

History may never have all the facts, but history always has the last word.

There are ideas it will be easy to say in the future that we just don't have the language for now.

Reason argues the case, but fact may determine the judgment.

Have the courage of your knowledge and experience. If you have formed a conclusion from the facts and if you know your judgment is sound, act on it – even though others may hesitate or differ.