Poetry has an indirect way of hinting at things. Poetry is feminine. Prose is masculine. Prose, the very structure of it, is logical; poetry is basically illogical. Prose has to be clear-cut; poetry has to be vague - that's its beauty, its quality. Prose simply says what it says; poetry says many things. Prose is needed in the day-to-day world, in the marketplace. But whenever something of the heart has to be said, prose is always found inadequate - one has to fall back to poetry.
French sounds flat. In English, you can play with pitch.
I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to my horse.
French is the most beautiful,” he said, “and Italian is the most poetic, and Russian the most powerful, German the most solid. But more business is done in English than in any other.
It's odd, and a little unsettling, to reflect upon the fact that English is the only major language in which "I" is capitalized; in many other languages "You" is capitalized and the "i" is lower case." --
Romanian is a very beautiful, sensual, poetic language.
In Spanish it is very difficult to make things flow, because words are over-long. But in English, you have light words.
To learn English you must begin by thrusting the jaw forward, almost clenching the teeth, and practically immbilizing the lips. In this way the English produce the series of unpleasant little mews of which their language consists.
The Yiddish language is so rich and unusual that I've always been hooked on its sounds, although I don't speak it.
The Greek language seems different than other languages. I'm not the only person to think this. Usually, I come up with some kind of dopey metaphor for why it's different. But it seems, somehow, more original, more like being in the morning of language.
I love the English language, the colors of it, the many, many nuances, the different influences. I find German stilted, in a way, by comparison.
French is a language that makes those who speak it both calm and dynamic.
German is of stone, limestone, pudding stone, marble, granite even, and so to a considerable degree is English, whereas French is bronze and gives out a metallic resonance with tones that neither German nor English tolerate.
Most metaphysical words in Hopi are verbs, not nouns as in European languages.
[Dennis Mathis] was very sensitive about keeping the unique way that I spoke English - it had a lot of Mexicanisms or Mexican syntax. So you keep it in because it's adding something unique.
Italian is the language of song. German is good for philosophy and English for poetry. French is best at precision; it has a rigour to it.
These examples of the lack of simplicity in English and French, all appearances to the contrary, could be multiplied almost without limit and apply to all national languages.
English dialogue is the best in the world. So dry and direct. The Italian language is beautiful, but it is too literary.
Greek is the embodiment of the fluent speech that runs or soars, the speech of a people which could not help giving winged feet toits god of art. Latin is the embodiment of the weighty and concentrated speech which is hammered and pressed and polished into the shape of its perfection, as the ethically minded Romans believed that the soul also should be wrought.
The top 10 verbs in the English language are all irregular, even though irregular verbs make up only 3 per cent of the language.
A French politician once wrote that it was a peculiarity of the French language that in it words occur in the order in which one thinks them.
As you know, there are certain languages that lend themselves very easily to vocal use.
The Swedish language combines the strong manhood of the German with the delicate beauty of the Italian.
The Australian accent is sort of like going down a step in smartness, you could say, because you guys pronounce things as they're spelled. We add and abbreviate stuff.
[On Italian:] One may almost call it a language that talks of itself, and always seems more witty than its speakers.
