Bill Cosby Quotes

I'm not very good at standard English.

It annoys me when I phone a hotel receptionist in my own country, and they don't understand what I am saying because they don't speak English. I think that's wrong. It's nothing to do with being politically correct or incorrect; it's just not right.

A smattering of English is worse than useless; it is an unnecessary tax on our women.

Learning to speak, therefore, and the power it brings of intelligent converse with others, is a most impressive further step along the path of independence ... Learning to walk is especially significant, not only because it is supremely complex, but because it is done in the first year of life.

Command of English, spoken or written, ranks at the top in business. Our main product is words, so a knowledge of their meaning and spelling and pronunciation is imperative. If a man knows the language well, he can find out about all else.

In 2014, I knew my English was not so bad, but I had no confidence in talking directly to an English-speaking reporter. I had to do a short interview with, I think, Reuters from France. I was so nervous. I practiced memorizing three sentences for two hours. But, I think that these kinds of interviews make me develop a lot, and that helps me.

My English isn't that good, maybe just 40 per cent fine by normal standards.

I always think if you speak to someone in their second language, you speak to their head. If you speak in their first, you speak to their heart. I've always tried to let players see that.

I wish I knew more languages.

I love to see people's faces change when they hear me speak English, and they realize how far I have been able to go.

It is wrong to judge a person based on the language they know.

When the medium of the film is English, even the illiterates also should speak in proper English.

I speak three languages. I'm pretty handsome myself.

If you can speak Spanish, then you can have a stronger connection with the residents of Los Angeles.

Accents are definitely one of my strong suits, and a lot of folks don't know that.

For one thing, my English isn't fantastic, and communicating in the dressing room is not always easy.

People say that I can't speak French. C'est pas vraiment placé. I'm getting better every day. I just have to keep practising. That's the truth.

I can speak French but I cannot understand it.

What a crock. I could easily overemphasize the importance of good grammar. For example, I could say: Bad grammar is the leading cause of slow, painful death in North America, or Without good grammar, the United States would have lost World War II.

Without a knowledge of languages you feel as if you don't have a passport.

How do I speak Spanish? Not too well. Paz taught me a few words that, if people weren't nice to me, I could tell them a few things. I got to study with [chef] Thomas Keller, who we all love as a guy and Jim had a relationship with him at [his restaurant] the French Laundry.

A people that grows accustomed to sloppy writing is a people in the process of losing grip on its empire and on itself.

We have rapidly increasing technology, which is making life very good for people who are good at using words, and not so good for people who are not good at using words.

We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto.

For me, being literate and articulate is a form of judo, of overcoming the [system] by its own method.