The connection between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary.

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It is one of the aims of linguistics to define itself, to recognise what belongs within its domain. In those cases where it relies upon psychology, it will do so indirectly, remaining independent.

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Speech has both an individual and a social side, and we cannot conceive of one without the other.

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The very special place that a language occupies among institutions is undeniable, but there is much more to be said-, a comparison would tend rather to bring out the differences.

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Time changes all things; there is no reason why language should escape this universal law.

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A language presupposes that all the individual users possess the organs.

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Any psychology of sign systems will be part of social psychology - that is to say, will be exclusively social; it will involve the same psychology as is applicable in the case of languages.

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Written forms obscure our view of language. They are not so much a garment as a disguise.

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I’m almost never serious, and I’m always too serious. Too deep, too shallow. Too sensitive, too cold hearted. I’m like a collection of paradoxes.

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Without language, thought is a vague, uncharted nebula.

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