east-slavic-languages

"In the Belarusian language, which is called Ruthenian and Litvinian-Ruthenian <...> spoken by about ten million people; it is the richest and purest speech, it was a long time and well-designed."

"Because it [Belarusian language] has enough lightness and strength at the same time, it transmits soft and tender feelings in its poetry. It has easy and accurate expressions in live conversation. The Belarusian language does not have many expressions for uttering things for which our nation has no necessity. But the Belarusian language has deep roots and is able to develop words and expressions that were absent in those roots. Every language experienced an era of childhood."

"I listen to Belarusian language as music when I walk the streets of Minsk."

"People who speak Belarusian cannot do anything except talk about it, because it is impossible to express anything great in Belarusian. The Belarusian language is a poor language. There are only two great languages in the world, Russian and English."

"The pro-imperial dictatorship of Lukashenka promotes the policy of unification with Russia, destroying the national culture and the Belarusian language."

"I can speak Belarusian, although my brain works in Russian due to circumstances. There is no practice, because our language has been purposefully destroyed since the mid-1990s."

"This language is only ours. No other country has this language. And this is how our language was committed by our government, this is a crime. I believe this crime will still need to be investigated."

"The Russian language is able to express by means of one pitiless word the idea of a certain widespread defect for which the other three European languages I happen to know possess no special term. The absence of a particular expression in the vocabulary of a nation does not necessarily coincide with the absence of the corresponding notion but it certainly impairs the fullness and readiness of the latter's perception."

"It is a rather curious thing, that Russia, which has never had a parliamentary government, and where political history has been very little influenced by the spoken word, should have so much finer an instrument of expression than England, where matters of the greatest importance have been settled by open and public speech for nearly three hundred years. One would think that the constant use of the language in the national forum for purposes of argument and persuasion would help to make it flexible and subtle; and that the almost total absence of such employment would tend toward narrowness and rigidity. In this instance exactly the contrary is the case. If we may trust the testimony of those who know, we are forced to the conclusion that the English language, compared with the Russian, is nothing but an awkward dialect. Compared with Russian, the English language is decidedly weak in synonyms, and in the various shades of meaning that make for precision. Indeed, with the exception of Polish, Russian is probably the greatest language in the world, in richness, variety, definiteness, and elegance. It is also capable of saying much in little, and saying it with tremendous force."

"[F]or a man whose mother tongue is Russian to speak about political evil is as natural as digestion [...]"

"Во дни сомнений, во дни тягостных раздумий о судьбах моей родины, — ты один мне поддержка и опора, о великий, могучий, правдивый и свободный русский язык! Не будь тебя — как не впасть в отчаяние при виде всего, что совершается дома? Но нельзя верить, чтобы такой язык не был дан великому народу!"

"This endless mobilization in Ukraine, the hysteria, the domestic problems – sooner or later it all will result in an agreement. You know, this will probably sound strange given the current situation but the relations between the two peoples will be rebuilt anyway. It will take a lot of time but they will heal. I will give you very unusual examples. There is a combat encounter on the battlefield, it is a specific example: Ukrainian soldiers got encircled (this is an example from real life), our soldiers were shouting to them: “There is no chance! Surrender yourselves! Come out and you will be alive!” Suddenly the Ukrainian soldiers were shouting back in Russian, perfect Russian: “Russians never surrender!” and all of them perished. They still identify themselves as Russians. What is happening is, to a certain extent, an element of a civil war. Everyone in the West thinks that the Russian people have been split by hostilities forever. No. They will be reunited. The unity is still there."

"[T]here is the wonderful wealth of the language, which, as a popular tongue, is more flexible, more expressive of thought than any other living tongue I know of."

"[Moscow-based linguistic scholar Ivan] Levan is far from alone among Russian scholars who insist that Russian as spoken in Russia and elsewhere is one of the most diverse languages in the world – even though the Kremlin continues to speak as if Russian were a unified language and Moscow its definer (journal.tinkoff.ru/list/dialect-russia/)."

"Сердцеведением и мудрым познаньем жизни отзовется слово британца; легким щеголем блеснет и разлетится недолговечное слово француза; затейливо придумает свое, не всякому доступное, умно-худощавое слово немец; но нет слова, которое было бы так замашисто, бойко так вырвалось бы из-под самого сердца, так бы кипело и животрепетало, как метко сказанное русское слово."

"[А] вот только русским ничем не наделят, разве из патриотизма выстроят для себя на даче избу в русском вкусе. Вот каковы читатели высшего сословия, а за ними и все причитающие себя к высшему сословию! А между тем какая взыскательность! Хотят непременно, чтобы все было написано языком самым строгим, очищенным и благородным, — словом, хотят, чтобы русский язык сам собою опустился вдруг с облаков, обработанный как следует, и сел бы им прямо на язык, а им бы больше ничего, как только разинуть рты да выставить его."

"Карл V, римский император, говаривал, что ишпанским языком с Богом, французским с друзьями, немецким с неприятелем, италианским с женским полом говорить прилично, но если бы он российскому языку был искусен, то к тому присовокупил бы, что им со всеми оными говорить пристойно, ибо нашёл бы в нём великолепие ишпанского, живость французского, крепость немецкого, нежность италианского, сверх того богатство и сильную в изображении краткость греческого и латинского языка. Обстоятельное всего сего доказательство требует другого места и случая. Меня долговременное в российском слове упражнение о том совершенно уверяет. Сильное красноречие Цицероново, великолепная Виргилиева важность, Овидиево приятное витийство не теряют своего достоинства на российском язы́ке. Тончайшие философские воображения и рассуждения, многоразличные естественные свойства и перемены, бывающие в сем видимом строении мира и в человеческих обращениях, имеют у нас пристойные и вещь выражающие речи."

"La langue russe, qui est, autant que j'en puis juger, le plus riche des idiomes de l'Europe, semble faite pour exprimer les nuances les plus delicates. Douée d'une merveilleuse concision qui s'allie à la clarté, il lui suffit d'un mot pour associer plusieurs idées, qui, dans une autre langue, exigeraient des phrases entières."