Language is the mother, not the handmaiden of thought.

The earliest located instance is a 1909 aphorism by Austrian writer Karl Kraus published in the Viennese periodical "Die Fackel". The line later circulated in English, and W. H. Auden reused it (including as a German epigraph) and also spoke similar versions in interviews, which contributed to later attributions to Auden.

The saying argues that language does not merely serve pre-formed ideas; instead, it actively shapes and generates what people are able to think. In this view, words and linguistic structures can lead thought, not just express it.

language is the mother, not the handmaiden, of thought; words will tell you things you never thought or felt before.

Die Sprache ist die Mutter, nicht die Magd des Gedankens.

Speech is the mistress, not the handmaiden, of thought.

Speech is the mother of thought, not the hand-maiden.

Language is not the handmaiden but the mother of ideas.