S.I. Hayakawa: “Cultural and intellectual cooperation is the great principle of human life.”

Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa (1906-1992) was a Canadian-American academic who served as the Junior U.S. Senator from California from 1977-1983. A professor of English and expert in Linguistics, Hayakawa’s 1949 book Language in Thought and Action is one of the landmark works of the 20th century in the fields of Language and Semantics. Hayakawa served one term in the United States Senate, decided not to pursue re-election, and died in 1992 at the age of 85.

“To be able to read and write is to learn to profit by and take part in the greatest of human achievements — that which makes all other achievements possible — namely, the pooling of our experiences in great cooperative stores of knowledge, available to all. From the warning cry of primitive man to the latest newsflash or scientific monograph, language is social. Cultural and intellectual cooperation is the great principle of human life.”

-S.I. Hayakawa, from Language in Thought and Action