Quotes about Semantics

Logos is a Greek word which denotes meaning.

To employ words is not the same as to understand what they mean. Moreover, the relation between words and their meanings is elastic. Words remain, while meanings are subject to change.

Terminological inexactitude

It is a sad truth, but we have lost the faculty of giving lovely names to things.

God wants us to walk in obedience - not victory. Obedience is oriented toward God; victory is oriented toward self. This may seem to be merely splitting hairs over semantics, but there's a subtle, self-centered attitude at the root of many of our difficulties with sin. Until we deal with this attitude, we won't consistently walk in holiness.

So here's a question for you. How old did you say you were?' Alice made a short calculation, and said 'Seven years and six months.' 'Wrong!' Humpty Dumpty exclaimed triumphantly. 'You never said a word like it!' 'I though you meant How old ARE you?' Alice explained. 'If I'd meant that, I'd have said it,' said Humpty Dumpty. Alice didn't want

The truth always carries the ambiguity of the words used to express it.

you have to discover the meaning of a word you do not understand by using the meanings of all the other words in the context that you do understand.

When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more, nor less.

You cannot begin to deal with terms, propositions, and arguments—the elements of thought—until you can penetrate beneath the surface of language.

Golden years' must have been coined by the young. It is doubtful that anyone over seventy would have described this phase of life with such a symbolic word.

When I use a word, Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.