Quotes About Interpretation

Cada una de las lenguas europeas es rica, solo que su riqueza no se manifiesta sino en la descripción de su propia cultura, en la representación de su propio mundo. Sin embargo, cuando se intenta entrar en territorio de otra cultura, y describirla, la lengua desvela sus límites, su subdesarrollo, su impotencia semántica.

Para entender hacia dónde vamos no hace falta fijarse en la política, sino en el arte

Pese a un mapamundi totalmente nuevo, el cometido de observar, examinar, interpretar y describir la filosofía y la existencia, el pensamiento y las condiciones de vida de tres cuartas partes de la humanidad, sigue -igual que en el siglo XIX- en manos de un reducido grupo de especialistas: antropólogos, etnógrafos, viajeros, periodistas…

Le lingue europee sono ricche solo finché si tratta di descrivere la propria cultura, di rappresentare il proprio mondo: appena si addentrano nelle culture altrui e cercano di parlarne, rivelano subito i loro limiti, la loro povertà, la loro inadeguatezza semantica.

Within every great book there are several others.

So what do you talk about?' I asked. One of them replied: 'This and that.' On this basis I could not deduce whether these conversations are interesting or boring, because I do not possess the Egyptological talent that can derive the stormy history of a dynasty from a single hieroglyph

Má»™t v?t ch?ng Ä'âu vào Ä'âu tr? thành Ä'i?u gì Ä'ó quan tr?ng vì chúng ta Ä'ã quy?t ??nh nhÆ° th?. Trí t??ng t??ng c?a chúng ta Ä'ã bôi thÆ¡m và tán dÆ°Æ¡ng nó.

But why is it that if you imagine a baby who stinks to high heaven. But why is it that if you imagine a baby smells of milk, for example, you can't help smiling? Why is there such agreement about the world what is or isn't foul smell? Who decided what smells bad? Is it impossible that somewhere in this world there are people who, if they sat next to a homeless fellow, they'd urge to snuggle up to him, but if they sat next to a baby they's get an urge to kill it?

People understand me so little that they do not even understand when I complain of being misunderstood.

On aina arveluttavaa leimata absurdiksi, käsittämättömäksi jokin, minkä joku toinen voi selittää helposti ymmärrettäväksi.

So soon as I talk I express the universal, and if I do not do so, no one can understand me.

we must be honest, and not interpret this lack of courage as humility, since it is really pride, whereas the courage of faith is the only humble courage.

The matter is quite simple. The bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world?

Historiallisissa kysymyksissä suurinkin mahdollinen varmuus on vain likiarvo.

When you read God's Word, in everything you read, continually to say to yourself: It is I to whom it is speaking, it is I about whom it is speaking—this is earnestness, precisely this is earnestness

order that you shall act according to it, not that you gain expertise in interpreting it.

Referring to an obsession with Tolkien's Middle Earth): I meet a beautiful American heiress, I like her, she likes me . . . and then she turns out to be a fundamentalist with a more literal interpretation of scripture than I feel comfortable with. Only our bible was written by an Oxford don about sixty years ago.

The word 'translation' comes, etymologically, from the Latin for 'bearing across'. Having been borne across the world, we are translated men. It is normally supposed that something always gets lost in translation; I cling, obstinately to the notion that something can also be gained.

A book is not completed till it's read.

It is very, very easy not to be offended by a book. You just have to shut it.

A little bit of one story joins onto an idea from another, and hey presto, . . . not old tales but new ones. Nothing comes from nothing.

All names mean something.

We are the only animals that tell stories to understand the world we live in.

A figure of speech is a shifty thing; it can be twisted or it can be straight.