Skip to content

The causes of continuity are a priori within the scope of the observer, but the causes of change in time are not. It is better not to attempt giving an exact account at this point, but to restrict discussion to the shifting of relationships in general. Time changes all things; there is no reason why language should escape this universal law.

— Ferdinand de Saussure Cours de linguistique générale (1916)

Another quote →

More quotes by Ferdinand de Saussure

Time changes all things; there is no reason why language should escape this universal law.

Cours de linguistique générale (1916)

Psychologically our thought-apart from its expression in words-is only a shapeless and indistinct mass.

Cours de linguistique générale (1916)

Without language, thought is a vague, uncharted nebula.

Cours de linguistique générale (1916)

Language is a system in which all the parts can and should be considered from the viewpoint of their synchronic interrelatedness.

Cours de linguistique générale (1916)

Speech has both an individual and a social side, and we cannot conceive of one without the other.

Cours de linguistique générale (1916)

All Ferdinand de Saussure quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Ferdinand de Saussure (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.