It was Mark Twain who tried learning German at age 15, but gave it up quickly. He revisited Deutsch again 28 years later with a mature mind. Still, he wound up writing an essay in 1880 called The Awful German Language.

There may be obstacles in learning German, but there are also helpful reminders as we go along. On that note, here are some quotes about the German language from the masters, from famous writers to actors and philosophers alike. Click through the links for further reading.

“How charmed I am when I overhear a German word which I understand.”
–Mark Twain

“I remember learning German – so beautiful, so strange – at school in Australia on the other side of the earth. My family was nonplussed about me learning such an odd, ugly language and, though of course too sophisticated to say it, the language of the enemy. But I liked the sticklebrick nature of it, building long supple words by putting short ones together. Things could be brought into being that had no name in English – Weltanschauung, Schadenfreude, sippenhaft, Sonderweg, Scheissfreundlichkeit, Vergangenheitsbewältigung.”
–Anna Funder

“If you’ve never studied German before or think you know nothing about it, you might be in for a little surprise. You already know many German words .And you have the advantage of being an English speaker, which means that your knowledge of that language will be a helpful tool for learning German efficiently and comfortably.”
–Edward Swick

“In German, a young lady has no sex, but a turnip has (die Ruebe).”
–Mark Twain

“America took me into her bosom when there was no longer a country worthy of the name, but in my heart I am German – German in my soul.
–Marlene Dietrich

“The German language speaks Being, while all the others merely speak of Being.”
–Martin Heidegger

“More particularly, having a largely German-oriented education has made me very responsive to 19th-century German literature.”
–John le Carre