People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for freedom of thought which they seldom use

— Soren Kierkegaard

A language is not just a body of vocabulary or a set of grammatical rules, a language is a flash of the human spirit. It’s a vehicle through which the soul of each particular culture comes into the material world. Every language is an old-growth forest of the mind, a watershed of thought, an ecosystem of spiritual possibilities

— Wade Davis

I am beginning to recognise that real happiness isn’t something large and looming on the horizon ahead but something small, numerous and already here. The smile of someone you love, a descent breakfast, the warm sunset. Your little everyday joys, all lined up in a row.

— Beau Taplin

Western communication has what linguists call a “transmitter orientation” — that is, it is considered the responsibility of the speaker to communicate ideas clearly and unambiguously. …within a Western cultural context, which holds that if there is confusion, it is the fault of the speaker. …But Korea, like many Asian countries, is receiver oriented. It is up to the listener to make sense of what is being said.

— Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers

A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze.

— Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale