Editor's Quotes

I never got used to the way the house Trots fell into the jargon back in Grimsby I mean, on any other subject, like the death of the novel, or the sex life of the editor's secretary, they spoke ordinary English, but as soon as they started trying to get me to join the strike it was as if their brains had been taken out and replaced by one of those little golf-ball things you get in electric typewriters... "Betrayal"... "Confrontation"... "Management"... My God, you'd need a more supple language than that to describe an argument between two amoebas.

Tom Stoppard

More Editor's Quotes

Citizens of a modern society need [...] more than that ordinary "common sense" which was defined by Stuart Chase as that which tells you that the world is flat. They need to be systematically aware of the powers and limitations of symbols, especially words, if they are to guard against being driven into complete bewilderment by the complexity of their semantic environment. The first of the principles governing symbols is this: The symbol is NOT the thing symbolized; the word is NOT the thing; the map is NOT the territory it stands for. (editor's link)

s. i. hayakawa

— pp. 29-30
— See also: The Meaning of Meaning (1923)
— See also: Science and Sanity (1933)

Tags: Citizens, modern, society, need, more, ordinary, common, sense, defined

Editor's Quotes

More Editor's Quotes

Join YourDictionary today