Quotes About Interpretation

Lovers, of course, are notoriously frantic epistemologists, second only to paranoiacs (and analysts) as readers of signs and wonders.

Above the desk there was this framed picture of Jesus. He was reaching his hand out and making this face like he was about to get shot.

We can't agree definitively on what happened in the last decade. Newspapers record stories with biases firmly in place.

though the data should be pure and straightforward, science is done by people, who are never either.

Warren Buffett puts it all rather well: "What the human being is best at doing is interpreting all new information so that their prior conclusions remain intact.

Most cultures agree that killing other people is forbidden, and it is even enshrined in the Abrahamic commandments, though it seems this is interpreted as more of a guideline than a rule, given the enthusiasm with which the disciples of Christ and Muhammad have engaged with the snuffing out of other people's light.

Maybe, it was incredulity that two people could go through something together but still see it so differently.

Thus it is written in the Talmud: "He who translates a passage as it seems to be, is a deceiver.

However, in contrast to the consistency of meaning of imagery concepts used in the Kabbala, which, as we have seen, resemble symbols, the situation in the Bible and the Talmud is quite different. There, the significance of any given concept is not uniform, and even in those cases where there is no doubt that such a covert meaning is intended, no standard key exists for its interpretation. Furthermore, there may well be more than one key for different aspects of its meaning.

When I recognize a concept as correct, I not only have the duty to convey this to my fellow citizens, but moreover the duty to eliminate contrary interpretations.

Pochi capiscono che l'insegnamento della storia non consiste nel mandare a memoria e recitare pappagallescamente date e fatti. Studiare la storia significa cercare le forze le quali conducono agli effetti che noi abbiamo davanti ai nostri occhi come fatti storici contemporanei. L'arte dell'imparare è ricordare l'essenziale e dimenticare il contingente

purpose of teaching history is not the memorizing of some dates and facts, that the student is not interested in knowing the exact date of a battle or the birthday of some marshal or other

Yahudi'nin gerçek gayesi hiçbir zaman yaz?n?n tamam?nda aranmamal?d?r. Yahudi gayesini sat?rlar?n aras?nda gizler.

L'architecture éveille en l'homme des états d'âme.. La tâche des architectes est de préciser ces états d'âmes.

The work of art still has something in common with enchantment: it posits its own, self-enclosed area, which is withdrawn from the context of profane existence, and in which special laws apply. Just as in the ceremony the magician first of all marked out the limits of the area where the sacred powers were to come into play, so every work of art describes its own circumference which closes it off from actuality.

Plenty of Westerners come, though, to pick through its jumble for something off the peg that fits; they do yoga as exercise, which is a bit like walking the stations of the cross as aerobics.

Written poetry is different. Best thing is to see it in performance first, then read it. Performance is more provocative.

Beware the things of this world that can mean everything or nothing.

There is no 'the truth,' 'a truth'--truth is not one thing, or even a system. It is an increasing complexity.

A language is a map of our failures

Poetry is, among other things, a criticism of language.

I feel like life imitates art, or art imitates life. I always take on roles that I'm passionate about.

Nothing changes more constantly than the past; for the past that influences our lives does not consist of what actually happened, but of what men believe happened.

No one really has any idea about me. To me, what I give you is what happens onscreen, and past that, anything you're coming up with in your own head, you're creating in your own mind.