Wilhelm von Humboldt
German statesman and philologist
WORDS ABOUT WORDS
Words well up freely from the breast, without necessity or intent, and there may well have been no wandering horde in any desert that did not already have its own songs. For man, as a species, is a singing creature, though the notes, in this case, are also coupled with thought.
—Wilhelm von Humboldt, German statesman and philologist, On Language, 1836
Posted on October 19, 1998 at 6:58 PM
WORDS ABOUT WORDS
There can never be a moment of true standstill in language, just as little as in the ceaseless flaming thought of men. By nature it is a continuous process of development.
—Wilhelm von Humboldt, German statesman and philologist
Posted on May 3, 2002 at 4:57 PM
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