It is idle to complain that words have more than one sense. Language is a living thing and words are bound to throw out new senses as a tree throws out new branches.
-Miracles, (HarperCollins, 2001), 279
If you have a vernacular liturgy you must have a changing liturgy: otherwise it will finally be vernacular only in name. The ideal of "timeless English" is sheer nonsense. No living language can be timeless. You might as well ask for a motionless river.-Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, (Harcourt, 1992), 6
Of course language is not an infallible guide, but it contains, with all its defects, a good deal of stored insight and experience. If you begin by flouting it, it has a way of avenging itself later on. We had better not follow Humpty Dumpty in making words mean whatever we please.-The Four Loves, (The Inspirational Writings of C. S. Lewis, (Inspirational Press: 1994), 213-214)
Image courtesy of blog.makezine.com
1 comment:
Very nice...I especially thought that the middle quote on "timeless English" was interesting...a good point in the KJV-only debate.
Post a Comment