Quotes About Communication

Things are not as easily understood nor as expressible as people usually would like us to believe. Most happenings are beyond expression; they exist where a word has never intruded.

I am so afraid of people's words.They describe so distinctly everything: And this they call dog and that they call house, here the start and there the end. I worry about their mockery with words, they know everything, what will be, what was; no mountain is still miraculous; and their house and yard lead right up to God. I want to warn and object: Let the things be! I enjoy listening to the sound they are making. But you always touch: and they hush and stand still. That's how you kill.

To make myself understood and to diminish the distance between us, I called out: "I am an evening cloud too." They stopped still, evidently taking a good look at me. Then they stretched towards me their fine, transparent, rosy wings. That is how evening clouds greet each other. They had recognized me.

And if the world has ceased to hear you, say to the silent earth: I flow. To the rushing water, speak: I am.

Across the moment, aeons speak with aeons. More than we experienced has gone by.

Du, dem ich's nicht sage, daß ich bei Nacht weinend liege, dessen Wesen mich müde macht wie eine Wiege. Du, der mir nicht sagt, wenn er wacht meinetwillen: wie, wenn wir diese Pracht ohne zu stillen in uns ertrügen? Sieh Dir die Liebenden an, wenn erst das Bekennen begann, wie bald sie lügen.

Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angels' hierarchies?

Nothing could be less conducive to reaching an art-work than critical remarks:it's always simply a matter of more or less fortunate misunderstandings. Everything cannot be so easily grasped and conveyed as we are generally led to believe; most events are unconveyable and come to pass in a space that no word has ever penetrated; more unconveyable than all else are art-works, whose mysterious existences, whose lives run alongside ours, which perishes, whereas theirs endure.

Tout ce qui nous émeut, tu le partages. Mais ce qui t'arrive, nous l'ignorons. Il faudrait être cent papillons pour lire toutes tes pages. Il y en a d'entre vous qui sont comme des dictionnaires; ceux qui les cueillent ont envie de faire relier toutes ces feuilles. Moi, j'aime les roses épistolaires.

Things are not as easy to understand or express as we are mostly led to believe; most of what happens cannot be put into words and takes place in a realm which no word has ever entered.

For even the best err in words when they are meant to mean most delicate and almost inexpressible things.

If one think he can live without writing, perhaps he should not write at all.

I rouse you with loud knocking, I do so only because I seldom hear you breathe

There is no more wretched prison than the fear of hurting someone who loves you.

I don't like to write letters while I am traveling, because for letter writing I need more than the most necessary tools: some silence and solitude and a not too familiar hour.

Maybe we're here only to say: house, bridge, well, gate, jug, olive tree, window — at most, pillar, tower … but to say them, remember, oh, to say them in a way that the things themselves never dreamed of existing so intensely.

Here I feel that there is no one anywhere who can answer for you those questions and feelings which, in their depths, have a life of their own; for even the most articulate people are unable to help, since what words point to is so very delicate, is almost unsayable.

Bir dünya girer benim görüÅŸ alan?ma, belki ay gibi insan bar?nmayan bir yer; onlar tek duyguyu haline b?rakmaz ama, orta mal?d?r kulland?klar? bütün sözler.

Of course, you must know that every letter of yours will always give me pleasure, and you must be indul

Of course, you must know that every letter of yours will always give me pleasure, and you must be indulgent with the answer, which will perhaps often leave you empty-handed; for ultimately, and precisely in the deepest and most important matters, we are unspeakably alone; and many things must happen, many things must go right, a whole constellation of events must be fulfilled, for one human being to successfully advise or help another.

No hay nada menos apropiado para aproximarse a una obra de arte que las palabras de la crítica: de ellas se derivan siempre malentendidos más o menos desafortunados.

As coisas em geral não são tão fáceis de apreender e dizer como normalmente nos querem levar a acreditar; a maioria dos acontecimentos é indizível, realiza-se em um espaço que nunca uma palavra penetrou, e mais indizíveis do que todos os acontecimentos são as obras de arte, existências misteriosas, cuja vida perdura ao lado da nossa, que passa.

because letter-writing requires more of me than just the basic wherewithal:

There is nothing less apt to touch a work of art than critical words: all we end up with there is more or less felicitous misunderstandings. Things are not all as graspable and sayable as on the whole we are led to believe;