“ Language!—the blood of the soul, Sir! into which our thoughts run and out of which they grow! ”
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Professor at the Breakfast-Table (1860). copy citation
| Author | Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. |
|---|---|
| Source | The Professor at the Breakfast-Table |
| Topic | language soul thoughts |
| Date | 1860 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2665/2665-h/2665-h.htm |
Context
“Webster could n't spell, Sir, or would n't spell, Sir,—at any rate, he did n't spell; and the end of it was a fight between the owners of some copyrights and the dignity of this noble language which we have inherited from our English fathers. Language!—the blood of the soul, Sir! into which our thoughts run and out of which they grow! We know what a word is worth here in Boston. Young Sam Adams got up on the stage at Commencement, out at Cambridge there, with his gown on, the Governor and Council looking on in the name of his Majesty, King George the Second, and the girls looking down out of the galleries, and taught people how to spell a word that was n't in the Colonial dictionaries!”
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Meaning and analysis
