Human beings do not wish to be modest; they want to be as expressive - that is, as immodest - as fear allows; fashion helps them solve that paradoxical problem.

Language is the most massive and inclusive art we know, a mountainous and anonymous work of unconscious generations.

Language is an anonymous, collective and unconscious art; the result of the creativity of thousands of generations.

We see and hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of interpretation.

Nonverbal communication is an elaborate secret code that is written nowhere, known by none, and understood by all.

Cultural anthropology is not valuable because it uncovers the archaic in the psychological sense. It is valuable because it is constantly rediscovering the normal.

I am convinced that the stratigraphic method will in the future enable archaeology to throw far more light on the history of American culture than it has done in the past.

The fact of the matter is that the 'real world' is to a large extent unconsciously built up on the language habits of the group.

In a sense, every form of expression is imposed upon one by social factors, one's own language above all.

No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality.

One of the glories of English simplicity is the possibility of using the same word as noun and verb.

The three boys stood in the darkness, striving unsuccessfully to convey the majesty of adult life

Nothing is more pleasing than to see an arrogant prick fail.

Sometimes, our greatest obstacles are breathtakingly beautiful challenges. Rise to the challenge!

I am dying but otherwise I am quite well.

No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority.

It's been my experience that people who make proclamations about themselves are usually the opposite of what they claim to be.

Nudes are the greatest to paint. Everything you can find in a landscape or a still life or anything else is there: darkness and light, character dimension, texture. I painted heads too, of course.

If I have said something to hurt a man once, I shall not get the better of this by saying many things to please him.

Blaming the system is soothing because it lets you off the hook. But when the system is broken, we wonder why you were relying in the system in the first place.

I have tons of fans in Canada. I've sold hundreds of thousands of books there.