Syntax quotes

Syntax

33 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.

33 quotes
Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault Philosopher, Social Theorist

"The constitution of madness as a mental illness, at the end of the eighteenth century, affords the evidence of a broken dialogue, posits the separation as already effected, and thrusts into oblivion all those stammered, imperfect words without fixed syntax in which the exchange between madness and reason was made. The language of psychiatry, which is a monologue of reason about madness, has been established only on the basis of such a silence."

Stephen King
Stephen King Author

"Bad writing is more than a matter of (expletive deleted) syntax and faulty observation; bad writing usually arises from a stubborn refusal to tell stories about what people actually do to face the fact, let us say, that murderers sometimes help old ladies cross the street."

Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges Writer, Poet

"Why do you seem so annoyed at what I'm saying?" "Because we're too much like each other. I loathe your face, which is a caricature of mine, I loathe your voice, which is a mockery of mine, I loathe your pathetic syntax, which is my own."

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Noam Chomsky Linguist, Philosopher, Activist
Syntax

"The reason I am a political radical is that I work on syntax. If I worked on semantics (which in fact I do), I'd be a good Thatcherite."

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