Quotes About Interpretation

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.

Everybody is convinced they have seen something others have not seen, and they delude themselves that they have thought things that other have it thought, but this is just because someone has taken the trouble to tell an ordinary story in an extraordinary way.

Wie weet, flitste 't door mijn brein, of mensen, zo gemoedloos als ik, niet altoos de gewaarwording hebben, dat elke gevoelsuiting van anderen een aanstellerij of een overdrijving is. Ja, misschien acht iedereen zijn evenmens, die hij niet begrijpt en dus niet natuurlijk kan vinden, min of meer een acteur.

We explain the world the way we think about it. There's no way out of our minds.

and [thanks] to Ludmila Parks for explaining to me that the world is divided into two kinds of people: those who have read the Brothers Karamazov and those who have not.

language and attitude

Está pretendiendo que todo se repita en una historia imaginada no por usted sino por Bioy Casares.

Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.

The world you see is seen by you alone. What entices you and what repels you, what strengthens you and what weakens you, is part of a pattern that no one else shares. Therefore, as Mr. Wilde said, no two people can perceive the same "truth," because each person's perspective is different.

Art does many things, but for me where art is at its best is in providing a window into the way another mind works.

Why do we as humans create art? Why is Richter's work regarded as art while a book of Dulux colour samples is not?

It doesn't matter how the paint is put on,' he wrote in describing his method, 'as long as something is said. Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is.

Somebody said (but if it were not said, then I say it now), that " the laws of our civilization have but one interpretation for the poor and ignorant and for those of wealth and power, there are many interpretations, hence the poor are generally convicted on the one, while the rich are freed on the many interpretations.

the Bible is a human product: it tells us how our religious ancestors saw things, not how God sees things.

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.

I think it was T.S. Eliot who talked about good poetry being felt before it's understood. I believe that. There are some bands where I love their lyrics but I don't have a clue what they're on about.

everyone had their own reality, and yours was just one version.

It was a lot to convey with a look, but sometimes words murdered ideas. He

Reminded you that everyone had their own reality, and yours was just one version.

Who holds the ultimate responsibility for the story? The writer or the reader, the reader or the writer . . .

When we read a book, though, we call it ours, don't we, and I have always said that's because readers make a book their own through reading it. They do half the work, with their own imaginations, fleshing things out, painting each character and place and event in more detail than we have actually set out on paper, and we writers merely set the readers on their way.

There is nothing so absurd but some philosopher has said it

The best interpreter of the law is custom.