Word and Object Quotes

“Language is a social art.”
― Willard Van Orman Quine, Word and Object

“Linguistically, and hence conceptually, the things in sharpest focus are the things that are public enough to be talked of publicly, common and conspicuous enough to be talked of often, and near enough to sense to be quickly identified and learned by name; it is to these that words apply first and foremost.”
― Willard Van Orman Quine, Word and Object

“Language is a social art. In acquiring it we have to depend entirely on intersubjectively available cues as to what to say and when.”
― Willard Van Orman Quine, Word and Object