Every Word Is a Bird We Teach to Sing Quotes

“We are the teachers, not they. To possess fluency, or “verbal intelligence,” is to animate words with our imagination. Every word is a bird we teach to sing.”
― Daniel Tammet, Every Word Is a Bird We Teach to Sing: Encounters with the Mysteries and Meanings of Language

“Words were not mere abstractions; they were “speech objects,” things that talkers used purposefully to create and shape every kind of social activity.”
― Daniel Tammet, Every Word Is a Bird We Teach to Sing: Encounters with the Mysteries and Meanings of Language

“I sat still, my head down, staring at a spot between the numbered tiles. I could feel his inquisitive brown eyes on me. Finally, I shrugged and said, 'I don't know.”
― Daniel Tammet, Every Word Is a Bird We Teach to Sing: Encounters with the Mysteries and Meanings of Language