Quotes About Context

Remember that it is not right to take a passage out of its context and to draw inferences from it. It is imperative to take into consideration the preceding and following statements in order to fathom the writer's meaning and purpose before making any deductions.

In the act of tearing something apart, you lose its meaning.

It's a college rule: we must always take off our hats when see a fellow scholar.' I pulled a face and she continued, burning with conviction, 'Oh, come on, Mr Knight. Don't tell me you've never seen someone doff a cap before.' 'I'm familiar with the custom, but not in this context. The normal way to make a man remove his hat in that town is to punch him on the jaw.

In a word, a historical phenomenon can never be understood apart from its moment in time. This is true of ever evolutionary stage, our own and all others. As the old Arab proverb has it: 'Men resemble their times more than they do their fathers.

The truth was, though as yet it was hardly apparent, that she was highly intelligent, and that in the things that she said the stupidity was not her own but that of her environment and age

To young mind, work seemed to be the price that was gladly paid for the privilege of living so closely with the earth. Work was a real conversation with the landscape. It was not an abuse or raiding of the landscape. It was amazing to learn how to work in this context.

Now, with the Transparency Act, the government has set out to reveal wrongdoing by chiefs, not the Department. There is nothing wrong with the act except the context, the attitude and the political purpose.

At least be sure you go to the author to find his meaning, not to find yours.

It's the twenty-first century; no one goes by Betsy anymore," Tom said. "But even if they did, there's usually context. If you're saying, 'Betsy has the results from the lab,' it's probably the human. If it's 'Betsy just got pissed off and burned down twenty thousand acres of jungle,' it's probably the kaiju.

Lies do not in themselves lead to poor outcomes, nor does truth in every circumstance lead to good ones. As with so many things, context matters.

Yes, that. You're feeling cognitive dissonance, Jamie. Two contradictory-yet-entirely-valid-within-their-contexts thoughts about the same subject. And humans hate that shit. We hate it so much. The worst answer for us for anything is, 'It depends.

I will communicate that issue to the countess." "Do that. Also communicate to her the part where I said 'fuck you.' Make sure you phrase it precisely that way.

Words pick up flavors and odors like butter in a refrigerator.

trust that you now perceive the same act may wear as many different hues of right or wrong as the rainbow, according to the atmosphere in which it is done.

Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history therefore we must be saved by faith.

I know all those words, but that sentence makes no sense to me.

Woe to the makers of literal translations, who by rendering every word weaken the meaning! It is indeed by so doing that we can say the letter kills and the spirit gives life.

When I hear somebody sigh, Life is hard, I am always tempted to ask, Compared to what?

What you see isn't everything. If you want to understand what's happening before your eyes, look at the past. The present is the result of the past.

ceux qui apprennent sur la vie d'un autre quelque détail exact en tirent aussitôt des conséquences qui ne le sont pas et voient dans le fait nouvellement découvert l'explication de choses qui précisément n'ont aucun rapport avec lui.

There is nothing more dangerous than history used as a defense, or history used for preaching; history used as a tool is no longer history.

Someone bathes in haste; don't say he bathes badly, but in haste. Someone drinks a lot of wine; don't say he drinks badly, but a lot. Until you know their reasons, how do you know that their actions are vicious?

When we read Paul, we are reading somebody else's mail—and unless we know the situation being addressed, his letters can be quite opaque...It is wise to remember that when we are reading letters never intended for us, any problems of understanding are ours and not theirs.

To see Paul positively does not mean endorsing everything he ever wrote.