In a sense, every form of expression is imposed upon one by social factors, one's own language above all.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Human beings do not live in the objective world alone, nor alone in the world of social activity as ordinarily understood, but are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has become the medium of expression for their society.
One does, after all, take on many of the givens of a society when one takes on its language.
Language is a social art.
There are times when the power of language is not the power that is needed.
Language is like songs, like food, like dance-it is the expression of what we think.
But behavior in the human being is sometimes a defense, a way of concealing motives and thoughts, as language can be a way of hiding your thoughts and preventing communication.
I think with all my books, language has been their subject as much as anything else. Language can elide or displace or sideline whole groups of people. You can't necessarily change the way language is used, but if it becomes something you're conscious of... that gives you a certain power over it.
Language is an intrinsic part of who we are and what has, for good or evil, happened to us.
Language is the dress of thought.
Language is wild - you can't fence it or tell it what to do - and it's the same with people. Even under the worst excesses of Stalinism or consumerism, the human spirit will still express itself.