Sandi Toksvig Quotes

People are under the impression that dictionaries legislate language. What a dictionary does is keep track of usages over time.

The one thing - apart from assumptions about German - that I have to challenge frequently is people assuming that lexicographers are fierce protectors of the language when in fact our job is not to put a lid on it.

Most people who bother with the matter at all would admit that the English language is in a bad way, but it is generally assumed that we cannot by conscious action do anything about it.

People have been warning us that language was going to the dogs ever since Latin started turning into French. Yet the dogs in question never seem to emerge yelping on the horizon.

I'm a person who promotes the concept of accountability to a great extent, and I've spoken in the Parliament and reinforced the need for accountability.

Movies don't make people act a fool. People act a fool because they want to act a fool.

Take responsibility about what you have on your TV, and about what you are out there supporting.

When we, through our educational culture, through the media, through the entertainment culture, give our children the impression that human beings cannot control their passions, we are telling them, in effect, that human beings cannot be trusted with freedom.

I think the most dangerous word in the English language is 'should.' 'I should have done this.' Or 'I should do that.' 'Should' implies responsibility. It connotes demand. Which is just not the case. Life ebbs and flows.

I recognize I have faults. I'm accountable for them, and I try to do what I can to correct them. I will say that it's unfortunate that everything I do is scrutinized to the point that it is. Frankly, I don't watch the news, I stay away from political conversations.

Unlike our neighbours on the mainland of Europe, we have resisted creating an academy to legislate over proper English. We each have our linguistic bugbear, but few of us would want to freeze our mother tongue.

I didn't mean to offend anybody. It's my filter. I constantly work on it.

People see themselves on camera. They're ashamed of the things that they do, so they have a choice: Either they accept responsibility for it, or they blame the show for it. It's a human reaction.

If I have the chance to say something, I will say it - but that doesn't obligate me to always say something, or to shed light on every problem, as if I were a lawmaker.

Everything you say on TV counts. You say it on record, with people watching you.

There's a lot I'd like to be able to talk about with relation to Stephen Harper, particularly why is he afraid to debate in English?

It's easy to give your opinion in front of the television without any responsibility.

In his press conference last night, President Bush said he could not remember a single mistake he had made in the last two years. The president's exact quote was: 'I ain't make none mistakes ever.'

The assumption that rigidly rejecting words and phrases that have existed for centuries will have much impact on public attitudes is rather dubious.

An English tongue, if refined to a certain standard, might perhaps be fixed forever.

People don’t find the personal lives of people with much, much more power than any celebrity would have — don’t find their personal lives interesting. I think if you put the lives of people who controlled billions of dollars on the front news of every single paper, the world would be a better place. It’s the spin culture. If you took away publicists and things and people spoke for themselves, then they’d have to be responsible for their words.

We are all guilty in someone's eyes. More so our own.

Political discourse has been reduced to "Where's the beef?" "Read my lips," and "Make my day." Where are the assassins when we really need them?

People always say, "I don't mean to do this . . . ," and then they do it! If you don't mean to touch on something, then don't touch on it. That's how I feel.

shame should be reserved for the things we choose to do, not the circumstances that life puts on us