“Whenever I read statistical reports, I try to imagine my unfortunate contemporary, the Average Person, who, according to these reports, has 0.66 children, 0.032 cars, and 0.046 TVs.”

“My view is that knowing languages is part of the process of becoming a cultured person.”

“[B]ooks, which can be consulted at any time, questioned again and again, and read into scraps, cannot be rivaled as a language-learning tool.”

“[S]tudy has never been a burden for me but always an inexhaustible source of joy.”

“I feel such a difference between a philologist/linguist and a linguaphile as, say, a choreographer and a ballerina.”

“He who knows other languages feels even closer to his own language.”

“... I never looked for or found national differences in the various places of the world, only common features—eternal human nature.”