Full Idea
We are prone to talk about physical and abstract objects. It is hard to know how else to talk, because we are bound to adapt any alien pattern to our own in the very process of understanding or translating the alien sentences.
Gist of Idea
We can only see an alien language in terms of our own thought structures (e.g. physical/abstract)
Source
Willard Quine (Speaking of Objects [1960], pt.I,p.1)
Book Reference
Quine,Willard: 'Ontological Relativity and Other Essays' [Columbia 1969], p.1
A Reaction
It is fine for mathematicians (or economists) to refer to their subject matter as 'objects', but ontologists really need to be more careful. Some very silly theories can otherwise result.