Babel: The SUNDAY TIMES and #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestseller
The whole nation slid into doublespeak. Words became divorced from reality, responsibility, and people’s real thoughts. Lies were told with ease because words had lost their meanings—and had ceased to be taken seriously by others.
Jung Chang • Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
There are many things to take from this story — about beginner's mind, the diversity of human experience, and the interoperability of language
Elan Ullendorff • Should This Be a Map or 500 Maps?
The more powerful communication technologies become, the more people will fight wars over words instead of territory. Language, when wielded at scale, is among man's most powerful weapons.
Schopenhauer, who translated the book, observes that there is nothing like it in German, and there is certainly none approaching it in English, and if France or Italy can produce its superior, it is strange that its fame has remained so confined to its native country.