Quotes About Interpretation

Harry, said Basil Hallward, looking him straight in the face, every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. The sitter is merely the accident, the occasion. It is not he who is revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter who, on the coloured canvas, reveals himself. The reason I will not exhibit this picture is that I am afraid that I have shown in it the secret of my own soul.

Everyone quoted it, it was full of so many words that they could not understand.

Things are because we see them, and what we see, and how we see it, depends on the Arts that influenced us. To look at a thing is very different from seeing a thing. One does not see anything until one sees its beauty. Then, and then only, does it comes into existence.

Well, the way of paradoxes is the way of truth. To test reality we must see it on the tight rope. When the verities become acrobats, we can judge them.

I think life too complex a thing to be settled by these hard and fast rules.

The world is made by the singer for the dreamer.

As it was, we always misunderstood ourselves and rarely understood others. Experience was of no ethical value. It was merely the name men gave to their mistakes.

Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault.

A book is completed only when its finished by a reader.

He let the pieces of the napkin flutter to the floor and said something strange about words being good for saying what things are, but sometimes they don't function for what things aren't.

When a wise man points at the moon the imbecile examines the finger.

Signs and symbols rule the world, not words nor laws.

Where words lose their meaning, people lose their lives.

When words lose their meaning, people lose their freedom.

He answered, How dare I look as high as Hui? When Hui hears one thing, he understands ten; when I hear one thing I understand two.

And enigmatic smile is worth ten pages of dialog.

That's the problem with models—they only include the details people think are relevant

I assumed that Dawson was his valet. Then again, it might be his pet raccoon.

In the language of an actor, to know is synonymous with to feel

Translation work involves knowing not just the structure of the language to be translated, but the cultural framework that surrounds it.

Things separate from their stories have no meaning. They are only shapes.

The road has its own reasons and no two travelers will have the same understanding of those reasons. If indeed they come to an understanding of them at all.

He tried to read her heart in her handclasp but he knew nothing.

She knew that in the end you really cant know. You cant get hold of the world. You can only draw a picture. Whether it's a bull on the wall of a cave or a partial differential equation it's all the same thing.