[...] most words, like practically all elements of consciousness, have an associated feeling-tone, a mild, yet none the less real and at times insidiously powerful, derivative of pleasure or pain.
- Sapir (1921), a pag.39

Not only may the feeling-tone change from one age to another [...] but it varies remarkably from individual to individual according to the personal associations of each, varies [...] in a single individual's consciousness as his experiences mold him and his moods change.
- Sapir (1921), a pag.40

[...] there are socially accepted feeling-tones, or ranges of feeling-tone, for many words over and above the force of individual association, but they are exceedingly variable and elusive things at best.
- Sapir (1921), a pag.40

The feeling-tones of words are of no use [...] to science; [...]. But man is rarely engaged in pure science, in solid thinking. Generally his mental activities are bathed in a warm current of feeling and he seizes upon the feeling-tones of words as gentle aids to the desired excitation.
- Sapir (1921), a pag.40