1001Philosophers

Ferdinand de Saussure Quotes on Truth

Ferdinand de Saussure was a Swiss linguist and semiotician whose posthumously assembled Course in General Linguistics (1916) became the foundational text of structural linguistics and, through it, of twentieth-century structuralism in anthropology, literary theory, and philosophy. This page collects quotes attributed to Ferdinand de Saussure on the topic of truth, drawn from across the philosopher's works.

Quotes

  • Attributed to Ferdinand de Saussure:

    “Language is a system of signs that express ideas.”

  • Attributed to Ferdinand de Saussure:

    “In language there are only differences, without positive terms.”

  • Attributed to Ferdinand de Saussure:

    “The linguistic sign unites a concept and a sound-image.”

  • Attributed to Ferdinand de Saussure:

    “The bond between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary.”

  • Attributed to Ferdinand de Saussure:

    “Language is form, not substance.”