Quotes About Understanding

The subtext of every question is, Am I making progress by asking questions and trying to understand the answers? And the subtext of every answer is, Yes, you are going somewhere while sitting here talking or reading. This is progress. Be at peace. You are progressing and well-progressed. That's the obvious lie we want to hear and those who tell it most convincingly are the most respected and revered and sought after.

Wrong way to think about it. Don't try to figure it out all at once.

Emma, okay, enough with the singing. Mommy's getting a three-pill headache.

No, I don't know what it's like to be an amnesiac teenager. I do know what it's like to feel overwhelmed, or alone, or as if no one understands you or likes you. We've all been there. But the specifics of what a person feels at a certain point in their life is of course different. I just tried to use my imagination responsibly and respectfully.

I don't hate you. I don't know that I understand you yet. I may never. But I will try. But I'm not sure what my next step is.

The right words communicate; the wrong words obfuscate.

So much of leadership is learning to give a damn about other people, something that we programmers are notoriously bad at.

Being an expert isn't telling other people what you know. It's understanding what questions to ask, and flexibly applying your knowledge to the specific situation at hand. Being an expert means providing sensible, highly contextual direction.

As we know, There are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know There are known unknowns. That is to say We know there are some things We do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, The ones we don't know We don't know.

He loved him and considered him his best friend, yet he hated some of the things he did.

I am not the kind of person women fall in love with. I sort of grow on them, like a fungus. I need to either work alongside somebody or take a series of classes with her -- you know, get to know her over a period of time to let her see that my goofiness is actually an attribute, not a fatal flaw.

I can see how a relationship with a writer would be an easy thing.

unless you can explain Zen in words that a fisherman will comprehend, you don't know what you're talking about.

Mrs. Lambchop sighed and shook her head. "You're at the office all day, having fun," she said. "You don't realize what I go through with the boys. They're very difficult." Kids are like that," Mr. Lambchop said. "Phases. Be patient, dear.

There's no time for hatred, only questions. Where is love? Where is happiness? What is life? Where is peace?

Sensitivity isn't being wimpy. It's about being so painfully aware that a flea landing on a dog is like a sonic boom.

Grace is what matters, in anything... That's a quality I admire quite greatly. It keeps you from reaching for the gun too quickly, keeps you from destroying things too foolishly. It keeps you alive and it keeps you open for more understanding.

A smart man only believes half of what he hears, a wise man knows which half.

Two monologues do not make a dialogue.

When things get personal, we need to resist the natural male instinct to run for cover, man the defenses, or--worst of all--reach for the big guns. Much better to set aside our natural defensiveness and focus on listening well even though we feel under attack. Because we're probably not.

The life you are trying to understand is identical with the 'you' that is trying to understand it.

Love is the answer. The question is unimportant.

It's a weird sensation to be mad and learning at the same time.

No one listening [to Jones' sermons], even those who were the most devoted to him, could take it all in. But at some point each follower heard something that reaffirmed his or her personal reason for belonging to Peoples Temple, and for believing in Jim Jones. As Jonestown historian Fielding McGehee observes, "What you thought Jim said depended on who you were.