Quotes About Subjectivity

What superficiality—and what stupidity—there is in trying to depict in a pretty manner things which one has thought pretty. The masters through their subjective perceptions created beauty out of trivialities. They did not hide their interest even in things which were nauseatingly ugly, but soaked themselves in the pleasure of depicting them. In other words, they seemed not to rely in the least on the misconceptions of others.

They did not hide their interest even in things which were nauseatingly ugly, but soaked themselves in the pleasure of depicting them. In other words, they seemed not to rely in the least on the misconceptions of others.

What superficiality- and what stupidity- there is in trying to depict in a pretty manner things which one has thought pretty. The masters through their subjective perceptions created beauty out of trivialities. They did not hide their interest on things which were nauseatingly ugly, but soaked themselves in the pleasure of depicting them. In other words, they seemed not to rely in the least on the misconceptions of others.

The likable weeds and the not likable weeds looked exactly the same but were somehow clearly divided into those that seemed innocuous and those that seemed horrible. It didn't stand to reason. What a girl likes and what she hates seems rather arbitrary to me.

There are two sides to every question: my side and the wrong side.

One can give a really unbiased opinion only about things that do not interest one

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written.

In the psychical sphere there are no facts, but only interpretations of them.

No one can understand himself, for to do that he would have to get outside himself; the subject of the knowing and willing activity would have to become its own object.

I only care for the subjective life; I am very German, you see: The woods interest me, and the world does not.

Judgement of beauty can err, what with the wine and the dark.

Many an act that man does is right or wrong according to the time and place which form, so to speak, its context; strip it of its surrounding circumstances, and you tear away its meaning.

Beauty?... To me it is a word without sense because I do not know where its meaning comes from nor where it leads to.

My feeling says there is history here. But sometimes a thing might feel true to me, not because it is, but because the writer believes it is.

One researcher, J.P. Gump found that the most profound shame results from the destruction of your subjectivity when "what you need, what you desire, and what you feel are of complete and utter insignificance.

The world can't decide what's beautiful. So you decide, okay?

The academic bias against subjectivity not only forces our students to write poorly ("It is believed...," instead of, "I believe..."), it deforms their thinking about themselves and their world. In a single stroke, we delude our students into believing that bad prose turns opinions into facts and we alienate them from their own inner lives.

Some people's happiness is always other people's kitsch.

Another person's life, observed from the outside, always has a shape and definition that one's own life lacks.

I've learned to write the truth. But to do that, I had to figure out what the truth was-and I had to realize that the truth isn't always the same for everyone. I had to realize that my truth may not be the same as your truth.

The prism through which the world shows itself to me is mine.

Poetry was something everyone could agree on because no one could be certain of what it was about.

But I don't care what you think, not about these things anyway. If you don't think they're real or important or you think that we'll all grow out of this nonsense, well, that's not really my business. I can't tell you what's real for you. But in return, you can't say what's real for me either. I get to choose. Not you.

A feeling may or may not be true, but you still feel it.