Benjamin Lee Whorf Quotes

9 Sourced Quotes

We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native language.

Benjamin Lee Whorf
Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about.

Benjamin Lee Whorf
Most metaphysical words in Hopi are verbs, not nouns as in European languages. The verb tunatya contains in its idea of hope something of our words 'thought,' 'desire,' and 'cause,' which sometimes must be used to translate it.

Benjamin Lee Whorf
A change in language can transform our appreciation of the cosmos.

Benjamin Lee Whorf
The very natural tendency to use terms derived from traditional grammar like verb, noun, adjective, passive voice, in describing languages outside of Indo-European is fraught with grave possibilities of misunderstanding.

Benjamin Lee Whorf
We cut nature up, organize it into concepts, and ascribe significances as we do, largely because we are parties to an agreement to organize it in this way - an agreement that holds through our speech community and is codified in the patterns of our language.

Benjamin Lee Whorf
We are thus able to distinguish thinking as the function which is to a large extent linguistic.

Benjamin Lee Whorf
But in due course it became evident that not only a physical situation qua physics, but the meaning of that situation to people, was sometimes a factor, through the behavior of people, in the start of a fire.

Benjamin Lee Whorf
My analysis was directed toward purely physical conditions, such as defective wiring, presence of lack of air spaces between metal flues and woodwork, etc., and the results were presented in these terms.

Benjamin Lee Whorf