Danny Hillis Quotes

Language is the house of the truth of Being.

In complex trains of thought signs are indispensable.

Without a possibility of change in meanings human communication could not perform its present functions.

Thought itself needs words. It runs on them like a long wire. And if it loses the habit of words, little by little it becomes shapeless, somber.

By speaking, by thinking, we undertake to clarify things, and that forces us to exacerbate them, dislocate them, schematize them. Every concept is in itself an exaggeration.

Writing is still a bit of a miracle - the whole process: I see the world, filter the world, write down abstract squiggles on a page which somebody is then able to connect with. I'm still amazed by it and think I always will be.

We are born into a box of time and space. We use words and communication to break out of it and to reach out to others.

Language is only the instrument of science, and words are but the signs of ideas.

These glorious things-words-are man's right alone...Without words we should know no more of each other's hearts and thoughts than the dog knows of his fellow dog....for, if you will consider, you always think to yourself in words, though you do not speak them aloud; and without them all our thoughts would be mere blind longings, feelings which we could not understand ourselves.

There's one thing that shows up on all of the lists of what makes us human: language. Our ability to share our thoughts and complex information with others far surpasses all the barks, squeaks and growls of our animal friends.

Experience teaches us that thought does not express itself in words, but rather realizes itself in them

It's what you do every time. You isolate what you know, and you create a mental image of what you're doing. Every time you speak you don't have to think about it. Words come out of your mouth based on what you know. That's the same job every time.

Language is memory and metaphor.

Speech is external thought, and thought internal speech.

The perception of what a thing is and the perception of what it means are not separate, either.

In order for sensation to accede to the objectivity of things, it must itself be changed into a thing. The agent of change is language: the sensations are turned into verbal objects.

The best leaders... almost without exception and at every level, are master users of stories and symbols.

Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively using words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble.

We are a unique ape. We have language. Other animals have systems of communication that fall far short of that. They don't have the same ability to communicate complicated conditionals and what-ifs and talk about things that are not present.

I loved teaching English and giving my students confidence.

The most important thing is that you find a way to bring your thoughts into the hearts of the players. The tactical details are important because they can make a big difference.

When I discovered metaphor and what it meant, I got really excited. That was what really pushed me through into music.

I still believe in the power of the word, that words inspire.

So-called "inspiration" is no more than an extreme example of a process which constantly goes on in the minds of all of us.

I can't imagine a mental life, a spiritual existence, not inextricably bound up with language of a formal, mediated nature. Telling stories, choosing an appropriate language with which to tell the story: This seems to me quintessentially human, one of the great adventures of our species.