UNDERSTANDING QUOTES
quotations about understanding
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.
SOREN KIERKEGAARD
journal, 1844
To understand everything is to hate nothing.
ROMAIN ROLLAND
Jean-Christophe
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
CARL SAGAN
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
The greater our level of understanding, the harder the tests become.
MUHAMMAD ALI
The Soul of a Butterfly
Understanding is a process by which something that is external to us loses its externality and gains access to our inner self.
HANS HEINRICH EGGEBRECHT
Understanding Music: The Nature and Limits of Musical Cognition
Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it isn't so.
LEMONY SNICKET
The Blank Book
In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it's impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves.
ORSON SCOTT CARD
Ender's Game
A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.
BERTRAND RUSSELL
A History of Western Philosophy
If there were a little more silence, if we all kept quiet ... maybe we could understand something.
FEDERICO FELLINI
attributed, Auditioning: An Actor-Friendly Guide
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
ALBERT EINSTEIN
Notes on Pacifism
One understands only in proportion to becoming himself that which he understands.
SOREN KIERKEGAARD
attributed, The Logic of Subjectivity
No one understands now. Those who could
hear a song this deeply vanished long ago.
LI BAI
"Listening to Lu Tzu-Hsun Play the Ch'in on a Moonlit Night"
I think that hate is a thing, a feeling, that can only exist where there is no understanding.
TENNESSEE WILLIAMS
foreword, Sweet Bird of Youth
If you only hear one side of the story, you have no understanding at all.
CHINUA ACHEBE
The Atlantic Online, August 2, 2000
A journey toward tolerance and understanding often starts with inconvenient truths about ourselves.
PETER G. SZILAGYI
"The Road to Tolerance and Understanding", AAP News, May 3, 2017
You can explain things to people, but you can't understand things to people.
JEFF BEZOS
Business Insider, April 28, 2018
Understanding is a result of intellectual integration, and often, is not attainable until all the facts are laid out in a way that "makes sense". It happens in the mind and is virtually automatic once all the necessary pieces fit, and pierce through our mental filters and limitations. But understanding will not happen unless those pieces are part of the mix and fit into a logical sequence that the conscious, linear mind can digest. It is not so much an effect of conscious will as it is a mechanism of the mind.
CARLI BAUZA FELICIANO
"Tired of Arguing? Stop It In Its Tracks", The Good Men Project, May 10, 2017
Seek to understand the root. It is futile to argue as to which single leaf, which design of branch, or which attractive flower you like; when you understand the root, you understand all its blossoming.
BRUCE LEE
Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee's Wisdom for Daily Living
People usually consider these two, distinct processes--understanding and acceptance--to be only one when it comes to arguments. Knowing that they are separate gives both parties more power, not over each other, but together.
CARLI BAUZA FELICIANO
"Tired of Arguing? Stop It In Its Tracks", The Good Men Project, May 10, 2017
Every man hears only what he understands.
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
The Maxims and Reflections of Goethe