Quotes About Understanding

I had no sympathy for him and still haven't. That old saw about "To understand all is to forgive all" is a lot of tripe. Some things, the more you understand the more you loathe them.

A poisonous snake is not dangerous, not any more than a loaded gun is dangerous—in each case, if you handle it properly. The thing that made that coral snake dangerous was that I hadn't known what it was, what it could do. If, in my ignorance, I had handled it carelessly, it would have killed me as casually and as innocently as a kitten scratches.

Getting a problem analyzed is two-thirds of solving it.

One can lead a child to knowledge but one cannot make him think.

Forgiveness and thanks go hand in hand.

Study it yourself. If I told you, you would not know; you simply would have been told.

Women and cats do what they do; there is nothing a man can do about it

Do you speak English? Certainly. And I understand American.

When did you ever worry about offending me?' 'Always, Man, once I understood that you could be offended.

Only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches.

Anne is God. I am God. The happy grass are God, Jill groks in beauty always. Jill is God. All shaping and making and creating together.

An Englishman and an Arab can learn to think each other's thoughts, in the other's language.

Hendrick, I have explained these matters to you because it is useless to punish a man unless he knows why he is being punished.

a friend who offers help without asking for explanations is a treasure beyond price.

One damn sure thing!—he wasn't going to let them be rough with that Smith lad. He was a nuisance, granted, but he was a nice lad and rather appealing in a helpless, half-witted way.

Harshaw had the arrogant humility of the man who has learned so much that he is aware of his own ignorance and he saw no point in "measurements" when he did not know what he was measuring.

You evaded my question." "Then perhaps you had better assume that I intended to evade it.

Basic truths cannot change and once a man of insight expresses one of them it is never necessary, no matter how much the world changes, to reformulate them.

If a word for a concept isn't in a language, then its culture simply doesn't have the referent the missing word would symbolize." "Oh, twaddle, Stinky! Animals fight—and ants even conduct wars. Are you trying to tell me they have to have words for it before they can do it?

What was "grokking"? He had been using the word for a week—and he didn't grok it.

When, after a week, Jubal had had no other message, he sent a stat care of Ben's office: What the hell are you doing? Ben's answer came back, somewhat delayed: Studying Martian and the rules for hopscotch -- fraternally yours -- Ben.

Smith used English as one might use a code book, with tedious and imperfect translation for each symbol.

Everybody else specializes. Daddy knows everything, and he puts the pieces together.

Eh? I don't grok your answer." Mike hesitated. "I will try. But words are . . . are not . . . rightly. Not 'putting.' Not 'mading.' A nowing, World is. World was. World shall be. Now." " 'As it was in the beginning, so it is now and ever shall be, World without end—