Quotes for All
An important United Nations environmental conference went past 6:00 in the evening when the interpreters’ contracted working conditions said they could leave. They left, abandoning the delegates unable to talk to each other in their native languages. The French head of the committee, who had insisted on speaking only in French throughout the week suddenly … Read more
I studied piano from the age of three. My grandmother taught piano. I stayed at her house during the day while my parents worked. I obviously wanted to learn to play. And so she asked if she could teach me, and my mother said don’t you think she’s too young. My grandmother apparently said no. … Read more
May the stars carry your sadness away, may the flowers fill your heart with beauty, may hope forever wipe away your tears. And, above all, may silence make you strong. Chief Dan George
Our native language is like a second skin, so much a part of us we resist the idea that it is constantly changing, constantly being renewed. Casey Miller
How smooth must be the language of the whites, when they can make right look like wrong, and wrong like right. Black Hawk
We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native language. Benjamin Lee Whorf
A woman who utters such disgusting and depressing noise has no right to be anywhere, no right to live. Remember that you are a human being with a soul and the divine gift of articulate speech, that your native language is the language of Shakespeare and Milton and The Bible. Don’t sit there crooning like … Read more