Quotes About Understanding

Any conversation with Smith turned up at least one bit of human behavior which could not be justified logically, at least in terms that Smith could understand, and attempts to do so were endlessly time-consuming.

Was there any basis for preferring any one sufficient hypothesis over another? When you simply did not understand a thing: No! And Jubal readily admitted to himself that a long lifetime had left him completely and totally not understanding the basic problems of the Universe.

Well, I suppose it did.

We necessarily sift a great many pebbles, much sand, for each nugget—but the nuggets

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. My

Correct morals arise from knowing what Man is—not what do-gooders and well-meaning old Aunt Nellies would like him to be.

Harshaw had the arrogant humility of a man who has learned so much that he is aware of his own ignorance; he saw no point in "measurements

Girls are interesting, Mike; they can reach conclusions with even less data than you can.

anyone who "won" a family argument had in fact lost it.

Thou are God," Mike repeated serenely. "That which groks. Anne is God. I am God. The happy grasses are God. Jill groks in beauty always. Jill is God. All shaping and making and creating together—" He croaked something in Martian and smiled.

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

I spent time then soothing Mike down and trying to make him happy, having figured out what troubled him—thing that makes puppies cry and causes people to suicide: loneliness.

Magic," I stated, "is a symbol for any process not understood.

No one partner in life can supply all the possible richnesses of living to another. I speak now not only of physical sexual associations, but also of associations mental and spiritual

A present should show that you considered that person's tastes. Something he would enjoy but probably would not buy.

But I could if I took the time and sweat to learn the language of electronics; it's not miraculous—just complex. Teleportation is simple, once you learn the language—it's the language that is difficult.

Love' is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.

No. 'Grok' is the most important word in the language—and I expect to spend years trying to understand it.

Love' is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own." Ben

She was relaxed with what she was - liked herself as Lazarus thought of it - and liking yourself was the necessary first step toward loving other people.

What's that got to do with it? Learning isn't a means to an end; it is an end in itself.

All normal human beings have soi-disant mixed-up glands. The race is divided into two parts; those who know this and those who do not.

There are things which cannot be taught in ten easy lessons, nor popularized for the masses; they take years of skull sweat. This be treason in an age when ignorance has come into its own and one man's opinion is as good as another's.

Most people can't think, most of the remainder won't think, the small fraction who do think mostly can't do it very well.