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We live in a highly competitive society, each of us trying to outdo the other in wealth, in popularity or social prestige, in dress, in scholastic grades or golf scores. One is often tempted to say that conflict, rather than cooperation, is the great governing principle of human life.

S. I. Hayakawa

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S. I. Hayakawa
Age: 85 †
Born: 1906
Born: July 18
Died: 1992
Died: February 27
Anthropologist
Former United States Senator
Linguist
Politician
Psychologist
University Teacher
Vancouver
British Columbia
S. I. Hayakawa
Life
Rather
Dress
Governing
Often
Dresses
Popularity
Social
Principle
Tempted
Live
Golf
Competitive
Outdo
Human
Conflict
Grades
Scholastic
Humans
Wealth
Cooperation
Scholastics
Great
Principles
Highly
Scores
Trying
Society
Score
Prestige

More quotes by S. I. Hayakawa

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The last thing a scientist would do is cling to a map because he inherited it from his grandfather, or because it was used by George Washington or Abraham Lincoln.
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In the age of television, image becomes more important than substance.
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English, our common language, binds our diverse people.
S. I. Hayakawa
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English is the key to full participation in the opportunities of American life.
S. I. Hayakawa
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We should keep [the Panama Canal]. After all, we stole it fair and square.
S. I. Hayakawa
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Agreement is brought about by changing people's minds - other people's.
S. I. Hayakawa
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You guys are both saying the same thing. The only reason you're arguing is because you're using different words.
S. I. Hayakawa
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Patriotic societies seem to think that the way to educate school children in a democracy is to stage bigger and better flag-saluting.
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Those terrifying verbal jungles called laws are simply such directives, accumulated, codified, and systematized through the centuries.
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Learning to write is learning to think. You don't know anything clearly unless you can state it in writing.
S. I. Hayakawa
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America is an open society, more open than any other in the world. People of every race, of every color, of every culture are welcomed here to create a new life for themselves and their families. And what do these people who enter into the American mainstream have in common? English, our shared common language.
S. I. Hayakawa
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The language we share is at the core of our identity as citizens, and our ticket to full participation in American political life. We can speak any language we want at the dinner table, but English is the language of public discourse, or the marketplace and of the voting booth.
S. I. Hayakawa
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Good teachers never say anything. What they do is create the conditions under which learning takes place.
S. I. Hayakawa
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Republicans are people who, if you were drowning 50 feet from shore, would throw you a 25-foot rope and tell you to swim the other 25 feet because it would be good for your character. Democrats would throw you a hundred-foot rope and then walk away looking for other good deeds to do.
S. I. Hayakawa
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Bilingualism for the individual is fine, but not for a country.
S. I. Hayakawa
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There is only one thing age can give you, and that is wisdom.
S. I. Hayakawa
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I'm going to speak my mind because I have nothing to lose.
S. I. Hayakawa