These quotes are for the English language learner who needs encouragement. Sometimes when learning, it's easy to lose sight of why we are learning in the first place. These quotes help place the emphasis on learning, rather than perfection.
". . . in the world of the future, the new illiterate will be the person who has not learned how to learn."
-- Alvin Toffler, U.S. writer, who with his wife, Heidi, wrote Future Shock, The Third Wave and Powershift: Knowledge, Wealth and Violence at the Edge of the 21st Century.
"Learn your language well and command it well, and you will have the first component to life."
-- Edward Roscoe Murrow (1908-1965), American news broadcaster.
"Never regard study as a duty, but as the enviable opportunity to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the community to which your later work belongs."
-- Albert Einstein (1879-1955), German-Swiss-American mathematical physicist, famous for his theories of relativity.
These quotes provide comic relief to the frustrated English language student. English is comprised of many rules, with several contradictions to those rules, which become frustrating for a non-native learner. The following quotes poke fun at the obscurities of English language, which will make learning the language a lot more fun.
"I am" is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that "I do" is the longest sentence?
-- George Carlin, American commedian.
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.' "
-- Ronald Reagan, 40th president of the United States.
"English is a funny language; that explains why we park our car on the driveway and drive our car on the parkway."
-- Author Unknown
"I personally believe we developed language because of our deep inner need to complain."
-- Jane Wagner, American writer, director and producer.
"If you can speak three languages you're trilingual. If you can speak two languages you're bilingual. If you can speak only one language you're an American."
-- Author Unknown
These quotes may be insulting, but they help to express the importance of learning English in a world that relies on English speaking skills. To be fair, the quotes are equally insulting to the English language and its native spearkers as they are to students of English.
"Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country."
-- Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the United States.
"We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."
-- Booker T. Washington, American political leader, educator, orator and author.
"Apparently Arnold was inspired by President Bush, who proved you can be a successful politician in this country even if English is your second language."
-- Conan O'Brien, American television show host.
"Even if you do learn to speak correct English, whom are you going to speak it to?"
-- Clarence Darrow, American trial lawyer.