The word is merely a form, a definitely molded entity that takes in as much or as little of the conceptual material of the whole thought as the genius of the language cares to allow.
- Sapir (1921), a pag.32

The birth of a new concept is invariably foreshadowed by a more or less strained or extended use of old linguistic material [...]
- Sapir (1921), a pag.17

In most cases the new symbol is but a thing wrought from linguistic material already in existence in ways mapped out by crushingly despotic precedents.
- Sapir (1921), a pag.17

The complete grammatical formula for cor is, then, 'A + (0) + (0) + (0)', though the merely external, phonetic formula would be '(A) -', ' (A)' indicating the abstracted 'stem' 'cord-' , the minus sign a loss of material.
- Sapir (1921), a pag.30

It seems very probable that the psychological attitude of the borrowing language itself towards linguistic material has much to do with its receptivity to foreign words.
- Sapir (1921), a pag.193

Language is the medium of literature as marble or bronze or clay are the materials of the sculptor.
- Sapir (1921), a pag.222

In great art [...] The formal restraints imposed by the material [...] are not perceived; it is as though there were a limitless margin of elbow -room between the artist's fullest utilization of form and the most that the material is innately capable of.
- Sapir (1921), a pag.221

The artist has intuitively surrendered to the inescapable tyranny of the material, made its brute nature fuse easily with his conception. The material 'disappears' precisely because there is nothing in the artist's conception to indicate that any other material exists.
- Sapir (1921), a pag.221