What linguistics is all about

Dire c'est faire

Cambronne lost the battle at Waterloo, but he had the last word.

Socrates taught, and his speech was recorded by Platon and others, but he never wrote a line himself.

Ferdinand de Saussure prepared his classes a lot, but his teachings were written up by auditors to his course.

Reference. Ferdinand de Saussure. Cours de linguistique générale.
[These notes cover courses given at Genève in 1906-1907, 1908-1909, 1910,1911. They are regularly reedited by Payot.]