Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner

Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner (14 October 1840 – 22 March 1899), also known as Dr. Leitner, was a British orientalist.

Quotes

 * If the man laughs, change the Order.
 * Writings of Dr. Leitner, Chapter: On the Science of Language and Ethnography,  p. 173
 * Many disasters can be traced to our linguistic shortcomings. Millions of money and multitudes of men have been sacrificed in order to save the prestige of a mistake in translation committed "by authority."
 * Writings of Dr. Leitner, Chapter: Oriental Translations of English Texts, p. 151
 * The human mind is extremely limited, and amongst the limits imposed upon it are those of, in early life, connecting an idea, fact, or process, with certain words; and unless two languages, at least, are learnt, and those two are as dissimilar as possible, one is always, more or less, the slave of routine in the perception and in the application of new facts and of new ideas, and in the adaptation of any matter of either theoretical or practical importance. It is great advantage, for linguistic purposes, which are far more practically important than may be generally believed, that the study of Classical languages still holds the foremost place in this country (India); because, however necessary scientific "observation" may be, it cannot take the place of a cultured imagination.
 * Writings of Dr. Leitner, Chapter: On the Science of Language and Ethnography,  p. 172
 * A good deal of our misconception with regard to the difficulty of the inquiry lies in ourselves that ideas of multitude connected with the peculiar customs of the race that have yet to be ascertained, are at the bottom of the inability of that race to follow our numeration.
 * Writings of Dr. Leitner, Chapter: On the Science of Language and Ethnography,  p. 173