"pity the poor in spirit who know neither the enchantment nor the beauty of language."

Paloma, 12-year old co-narrator of The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery:

"Personally I think that grammar is a way to attain beauty.  When you speak, or read, or write, you can tell if you've said or read or written a fine sentence.  You can recognize a well-turned phrase or an elegant style.  But when you are applying the rules of grammar skillfully, you ascend to another level of the beauty of language.  When you use grammar you peel back the layers, to see how it is all put together, see it quite naked, in a way.  And that's where it becomes wonderful, because you say to yourself, "Look how well-made this is, how well-constructed it is!  How sold and ingenious, rich and subtle!"  I get completely carried away just knowing there are words of all different natures, and that you have to know them in order to be able to infer their potential usage and compatibility.  I find there is nothing more beautiful, for example, than the very basic components of language, nouns and verbs.  When you've grasped this, you've grasped the core of any statement.  It's magnificent, don't you think?  Nouns, verbs..."

Ah.