"Language can be compared to a sheet of paper: thought is its recto and sound its verso: one cannot cut the verso without simultaneously cutting the recto. Similarly, in the matter of language, one can separate neither sound from thought nor thought from sound; such separation could be achieved only by abstraction, which would lead either to pure psychology, or to pure phonology."

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Added on April 10, 2026
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Original Language: English

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p. 157; as cited in: Schaff (1962:11)

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Saussure