Benjamin Lee Whorf
An amateur linguist who, with Sapir, developed the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, exploring the profound influence of language on perception and cognition.
Quotes by Benjamin Lee Whorf
The common idea that language is a means of expressing thought is a misleading half-truth.
The fact that a language has a certain grammatical structure does not mean that it is 'better' or 'worse' than another language, but simply that it organizes reality in a different way.
The linguistic system of each language is not merely a reproducing instrument for voicing ideas but rather is itself the shaper of ideas.
We are not free to describe nature with absolute impartiality, but are constrained to certain modes of interpretation even while we think ourselves most free.
The world is not a raw given, but a cooked one, cooked by the language we speak.
The study of language is the study of the human mind.
Language is the lens through which we view the world.
The categories and types that we isolate from the world of phenomena we do not find there because they stare every observer in the face.
The linguistic relativity principle is not a theory about what people can think, but about what they habitually do think.
The world is not a collection of objects, but a collection of events, and language helps us to organize these events into meaningful patterns.
The study of language is the study of the universe, for language is the universe of human thought.
Language is the most powerful tool for shaping human consciousness.
The world is not a given, but a construction, and language is the blueprint.
The linguistic relativity principle is a challenge to the idea of a universal human reason.
Language is not a mirror of reality, but a filter.
The world is not a collection of facts, but a collection of interpretations, and language is the interpreter.
The study of language is the study of culture, for language is the embodiment of culture.
Language is the ultimate expression of human creativity.
The world is not a fixed entity, but a fluid one, and language helps us to give it form.
The linguistic relativity principle is a reminder that our understanding of the world is always partial and provisional.