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Language is a living thing. We can feel it changing. Parts of it become old: they drop off and are forgotten. New pieces bud out, spread into leaves, and become big branches, proliferating.

Language is always evolving. It's difficult to read Shakespeare now because language has shifted. Similarly, kids these days can get to the point really quick in about 140 characters or less because of these new tools.

You should not translate for more than two hours at a time. After that, you lose your edge, the language becomes clumsy, rigid.

A feature of English that makes it different compared with all other languages is its global spread.

Language exerts hidden power, like the moon on the tides.

Languages are something of a mess. They evolve over centuries through an unplanned, democratic process that leaves them teeming with irregularities, quirks, and words like 'knight.'

Political chaos is connected with the decay of language... one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end.

The ways in which language changes never ceases to interest me.

I think we're still in a muddle with our language, because once you get words and a spoken language it gets harder to communicate.

In general, I agree with Jacob Grimm and feel that we ought to permit changes and uncontrolled growth in language. Even though that also allows potentially threatening new words to develop, language needs the chance to constantly renew itself.