Quotes About Meaning

Literature says something and, at the same time, it denies what it has said; it doesn't destroy signs, it make them play and it plays them. If and whether literature is liberation from the power of the given language depends on the nature of this power.

no theory of hermeneutic legitimation can be indeed legitimate if not by the process of hermeneutic reading… At the origin of the hermeneutic practice, there is a circle; it does not matter how holy or how vicious.

Whenever a poet or preacher, chief or wizard spouts gibberish, the human race spends centuries deciphering the message.

Astfel este magia vorbirilor omeneÅŸti, care prin înÅ£elegere omeneasc? însemneaz? adesea, cu sunete egale, lucruri deosebite.

The good of a book lies in its being read. A book is made up of signs that speak of other signs, which in their turn speak of things. Without an eye to read them, a book contains signs that produce no concepts; therefore it is dumb.

We make lists because we don't want to die

Tudo, até o irrelevante, pode ser útil um dia.

It would be atrocious," I said, "to kill a man in order to say bu-ba-baff!

Binele unei c?rÅ£i const? în a fi citit?. O carte este f?cut? din semne, care vorbesc de alte semne, carele, la rândul lor, vorbesc despre lucruri. F?r? un ochi care s? le citeasc?, o carte poart? semne care nu produc concepte, ÅŸi deci mut?.

What is frequently appreciated in many so-called symbols is exactly their vagueness, their openness, their fruitful ineffectiveness to express a 'final' meaning, so that with symbols and by symbols one indicates what is always beyond one's reach.

Sin unos ojos que lo lean, un libro contiene signos que no producen conceptos. Y por tanto, es mudo.

Telle est la force du vrai qui, comme le bien, se diffuse de soi-même.

JednÄ… tylko rzecz pisze siÄ™ dla siebie i jest to lista zakupów. SÅ'u?y do zapamiÄ™tania, co masz kupi?, a kiedy ju? kupiÅ'eÅ›, mo?esz jÄ… podrze?, bo do niczego innego siÄ™ nie przyda. Wszystko inne piszesz, ?eby coÅ› komuÅ› powiedzie?.

Verba vana aut risui apta non loqui (????? ??????, ? ??? ????????? ?????, ?? ?? ????????).

Not all journeys seek an end. Some are their own purpose.

And now was one to believe that there was nowhere a god of hogs, to whom this hog personality was precious, to whom these hog squeals and agonies had a meaning?

telling you things which he not merely knew were not true, but which he knew that you knew were not true. A bitter lesson you had to learn, soon or late, that truth had no meaning to any Communist; the only question that concerned him was the advancement of his cause.

It is the nature of despotism all over the world that no man can trust any other, or be sure of the meaning of any spoken word.

Love of children--ah, yes, all scandal-bureaus know what that means!

What are we, really; and how do we come to be, and for what purpose are we placed here, and what becomes of us when we depart? Above all, what is the origin of that strange faculty in us which we call conscience? Why do we have a sense of duty, and what is the basis of its validity, and of our assurance concerning it? If we are as the beasts of the field that perish, why do we owe any obligation to the world, or to our fellow men, or to ourselves?

He had been among diplomats enough to learn how they said something which seemed to mean something but didn't; how they put in weasel words which would sneak away with the substance of any sentence.

The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less.

Isn't it the moment of most profound doubt that gives birth to new certainties? Perhaps hopelessness is the very soil that nourishes human hope; perhaps one could never find sense in life without first experiencing absurdity.

But the people I found, the people I was attracted to were not unlike myself. They were trying to find order in their world, looking for the centre..