There is no discernible instinctive basis in human speech as such [...] however much instinctive tendencies, motor and other, may give a predetermined range or mold to linguistic expression.
- Sapir (1921), a pag.8

[...] language, as a structure, is on its inner face the mold of thought.
- Sapir (1921), a pag.21

It is possible [...] to change every sound, word, and concrete concept of a language without changing its inner actuality in the least, just as one can pour into a fixed mold water or plaster or molten gold.
- Sapir (1921), a pag.218

The attempt to cast English verse into Latin and Greek molds has never been successful.
- Sapir (1921), a pag.229