Paul Dickson Quotes

A common language is critical to cohesion and national identity in an ethnically diverse society

Language is at the root of Quebec nationalism.

It is asked of me that I give my first speech in this house in a language [English] other than my mother tongue [French.] …. Even if I knew English as intimately as I knew French, I would still give my first speech in the language of my French Canadian compatriots

Our Constitution has affirmed that Gaelic is the national language. Yet there is scarcely one person in a thousand throughout Ireland who cannot speak English and scarcely one in ten who can speak Irish easily.

Bilingualism is a great asset for any individual, but it has perilous consequences for a nation.

Within a language, you have your roots, your culture, and I think and dream in Bassa. We have 260 languages in Cameroon, but the official ones are French and English.

The language we share is at the core of our identity as citizens, and our ticket to full participation in American political life. We can speak any language we want at the dinner table, but English is the language of public discourse, or the marketplace and of the voting booth.

You know, even growing up going to school, I had teachers that were against bilingual teaching. I never understood that. My parents always had me speak Spanish first knowing I was going to speak English in school.

A nation is the totality of people who speak the same language.

I'm against the idea of force-feeding all of Canada on two languages.

It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual, but it is a curse for a society to be bilingual… A society must be able to talk amongst itself.

I want to live in a Britain whose residents are determined to speak English.

In South Africa, we speak English and sometimes Afrikaans, sometimes Zulu, sometimes Xhosa.

Is calling English our national language racist? Are we at that point?

When I took part in European leaders summits, it was sometimes unpleasant for me to hear Romanian, Polish, Portuguese, and Italian friends speak English, although I admit that on an informal basis, first contacts can be made in this language. Nevertheless, I will defend everywhere the use of the French language.

I am making sure, as the governor of a territory, that our kids speak fluent English. But having said that, I will tell my wife I love her in Spanish, and I will pray in Spanish, and no one from Washington should come down here and tell us how to go about it.

While a people preserves its language; it preserves the marks of liberty.

I've built my homeland, I've even founded my state - in my language.

A nation without a language is a nation without a heart.

The expenditure of county funds for the purpose of utilizing any language other than English, or promoting any culture other than that of the United States is prohibited.

Citizens of Canada of whom any child has received or is receiving primary or secondary school instruction in English or French in Canada, have the right to have all their children receive primary and secondary school instruction in the same language.

A nation is a historical group of men of recognizable cohesion, held together by a common enemy.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly: The official language of the state of Illinois shall hereafter be known as the "American" language and not as the "English" language.

Languages are the pedigrees of nations.

Nationalism usually conquers in the name of a putative folk culture.