"Language, that is to say, is the indispensable mechanism of human life -- of life such as ours that is molded, guided, enriched, and made possible by the accumulation of the past experience of members of our own species. Dogs and cats and chimpanzees do not, so far as we can tell, increase their wisdom, their information, or their control over their environment from one generation to the next. But human beings do. The cultural accomplishment of the ages, the invention of cooking, [...] and the discovery of all the arts and sciences come to us as free gifts from the dead. These gifts, which none of us has done anything to earn, offer us not only the opportunity for a richer life than our forebears enjoyed but also the opportunity to add to the sum total of human achievement by our own contributions, however small they may be."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
p.13
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Language_in_Thought_and_Action
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Language in Thought and Action
Language in Thought and Action is a book on semantics by Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa, based on his previous work Language in Action published in 1939. Early editions were written in consultation with different people. The current 5th edition was published in 1991.
44 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Language in Thought and Action →
Related Quotes
"My deepest debt in this book is to the General Semantics ('non-Aristotelian system') of Alfred Korzybski. I have also…"
"Insight into human symbolic behavior and into human interaction through symbolic mechanisms comes from all sorts of d…"
"People who like to think of themselves as tough-minded and realistic, among them influential political leaders and bu…"
"Indeed, most of the time when we are listening to the noises people make or looking at the black marks on paper that …"
"A human being, then, is never dependent on his own experience alone for his information. Even in a primitive culture …"
"To be able to read and write, therefore, is to learn to profit by and take part in the greatest of human achievements…"
"We live in a highly competitive society, each of us trying to outdo the other in wealth, in popularity or social pres…"
"What such a philosophy overlooks is that, despite all the competition at the surface, there is a huge substratum of c…"
"From the moment [Mr. T.C. Mits -- The Celebrated Man In The Street, creation of Lillian Rosanoff Lieber] switches on …"
"The original version of this book, Language in Action, published in 1941, was in many respects a response to the dang…"