Knowledge
1. “Vast quantities of evidence are required before a theory based on scanty knowledge can be dislodged.” (John Wyndham, The Kraken Wakes)
2. “The encyclopedia is crammed full of knowledge, and can do nothing with it; we all know of people who have amazing memories for facts, whit no ability to use them; a computing-engine can roll out knowledge by the ream in multiplicate; but none of this knowledge is of the least use until it is informed by understanding. Knowledge is simply a kind of fuel; it needs the motor of understanding to convert it into power.” (John Wyndham, The Midwich Cuckoos)
The Koran
3. “The Koran is basically a compassionate book, and its principles are not that different from those of the Bible.” (Terry Anderson, Den of Lions – Memoirs of Seven Years)
Bilingual sign (Thai-English) in Bangkok
Language
4. “Language was inadequate. Young as I was, I recognized that words were merely a medium; that they externalized a tiny fraction of what we felt.” (K.S. Maniam, The Return)
5. “Actually, my boy, Latin is the ideal model of the universe. Every noun, adjective, particle knows its ranking and stands proudly to attention, just as, in heaven, the cherubim, seraphim, thrones, domination, virtues, princedoms, powers, archangels and angels all stand in perfect concentric circles about the ineffable glory of God. That is why the proper language of worship is and always will be Latin. It’s the only language that doesn’t offend God’s ears.” (P.S. Somtow, Jasmine Nights)
6. “But the quality of teaching a language is not determined by whether you are a native speaker or a non-native speaker, assuming sociolinguistic competence is achieved.” (Jun Liu, Reflections on Multiliterate Lives)
7. “Dictionaries are the graveyards of language.” (Simon Denith, Bakthinian Thought: an introductory reader)
8. “Language is a guide to ‘social reality.’” (Edward Sapir, The Status of Linguistics as a Science)
9. “I wonder if any name in Chinese is not something special.” (Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club)
10. “Of course two peoples and two languages will never be able to communicate with each other so intimately as two individuals who belong to the same nation and speak the same language.” (Hermann Hesse, Magister Ludi – The Glass Bead Game)
