Ferdinand de Saussure

“The arbitrary nature of the sign explains in turn why the social fact alone can create a linguistic system.”

“Language is a form, not a substance.”

“A linguistic system is a series of differences of sound combined with a series of differences of ideas.”

“The linguistic sign unites, not a thing and a name, but a concept and a sound-image.”

“The bond between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary.”

“The linguistic sign unites not a thing and a name, but a concept and a sound-image.”

“In the language itself, there are only differences... without positive terms.”

“The bond between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary.”

“A linguistic system is a series of differences of sound combined with a series of differences of ideas.”

“In language there are only differences.”

“In language there are only differences.”

“Language is a system of interdependent terms in which the value of each term results solely from the simultaneous presence of the others.”

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

“Psychologically, our thought—apart from its expression in words—is only a shapeless and indistinct mass.”

“Language is a system of interdependent terms in which the value of each term results solely from the simultaneous presence of the others.”

“Without language, thought is a vague, uncharted nebula.”

“Without language, thought is a vague, uncharted nebula.”

“Language is a system of signs that express ideas.”

“The arbitrary nature of the sign explains in turn why the social fact alone can create a linguistic system.”

“The signifier, being auditory, is unfolded solely in time from which it gets the following characteristics: (a) it represents a span, and (b) the span is measurable in a single dimension; it is a line.”