Quotations about

English

The English language was carefully, carefully cobbled together by three blind dudes and a German dictionary.

—Dave Kellett

Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing.

—Robert Benchley

Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing.

—Robert Benchley

If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.

—Doug Larson

It is of interest to note that while some dolphins are reported to have learned English—up to fifty words used in correct context—no human being has been reported to have learned dolphinese.

—Carl Sagan

Even if you do learn to speak correct English, whom are you going to speak it to?

—Clarence Darrow

Every English poet should master the rules of grammar before he attempts to bend or break them.

—Robert Graves

Here will be an old abusing of God's patience and the king's English.

—William Shakespeare

I think I succeeded as a writer because I did not come out of an English department. I used to write in the chemistry department. And I wrote some good stuff. If I had been in the English department, the prof would have looked at my short stories, congratulated me on my talent, and then showed me how Joyce or Hemingway handled the same elements of the short story. The prof would have placed me in competition with the greatest writers of all time, and that would have ended my writing career.

—Kurt Vonnegut

I don't have an English accent because this is what English sounds like when spoken properly.

—James Carr