Misunderstanding Quotes - Page 13

• But let there be no misunderstanding: it is not that a real man, the object of knowledge, philosophical reflection or technological intervention, has been substituted for the soul, the illusion of theologians. The man described for us, whom we are invited to free, is already in himself the effect of a subjection more profound than himself. A 'soul' inhabits him and brings him to existence, which is itself a factor in the mastery that power exercises over the body. The soul is the effect and instrument of a political anatomy; the soul is the prison of the body.

  Michel Foucault

  Real, Philosophical, Exercise

  "Discipline and Punish". Book by Michel Foucault, 1977.

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• But it struck him that people are not really dead until they are felt to be dead. As long as there is some misunderstanding about them, they possess a sort of immortality.

  E. M. Forster

  Long, People, Immortality

  E. M. Forster (2010). “A Passage to India”, p.255, RosettaBooks

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• Misunderstanding a culture's symbols is a common root of predujice.

  Dan Brown

  Roots, Culture, Common

  Dan Brown (2010). “The Lost Symbol Illustrated edition”, p.345, Random House

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• Tell me, if you thought a man had a tendresse for you, but he wasn't doing anything about it. And you wanted to hurry him up a little so you made a move, an unmistakable move; one that nobody could pretend had been a misunderstanding. And he - he ignored it - ignored you. What would you feel?

  Ahdaf Soueif

  Moving, Men, Littles

  Ahdaf Soueif (2012). “I Think of You”, p.124, Bloomsbury Publishing

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• I dare because I want no misunderstanding between us. I am everything you think I am, but I love your daughter, and what I love, I protect with all of the violence in me, which, as you've guessed, is considerable.

  Jeaniene Frost

  Daughter, Thinking, Want

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• The silence of the spheres is the music of a wedding feast. The more we persist in misunderstanding the phenomena of life, the more we analyze them out into strange finalities and complex purposes of our own, the more we involve ourselves in sadness. But it does not matter much because no despair of ours can alter the reality of things, or stain the joy of the cosmic dance which is always there.

  Thomas Merton

  Wisdom, Sadness, Reality

  Thomas Merton (2007). “New Seeds of Contemplation”, New Directions Publishing

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• Nothing is more natural than mutual misunderstanding; the contrary is always surprising. I believe that one never agrees on anything except by mistake, and that all harmony among human beings is the happy fruit of an error.

  Paul Valery

  Mistake, Believe, Errors

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• Since we tend to see ourselves primarily in the light of our intentions, which are invisible to others, while we see others mainly in the light of their actions, which are all that's visible to us, we have a situation in which misunderstanding and injustice are the order of the day.

  John G. Bennett

  Light, Order, Perspective

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• It just seems like the most successful, iconic love stories are not so easy or escapist. I think the ones that stay with us and resonate are full of conflict, discord and misunderstandings 'cause that's what makes drama happen or tension even if it's a comedy.

  Claire Danes

  Drama, Successful, Thinking

  Press conference, www.ign.com. October 19, 2005.

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• There did not have to be a moral. She need only show separate minds, as alive as her own, struggling with the idea that other minds were equally alive. It wasn't only wickedness and scheming that made people unhappy, it was confusion and misunderstanding, above all, it was the failure to grasp the simple truth that other people are as real as you. And only in a story could you enter these different minds and show how they had an equal value. That was the only moral a story need have.

  Ian Mcewan

  Real, Struggle, Simple

  "Atonement". Book by Ian McEwan, 2001.

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• Three quarters of the miseries and misunderstandings in the world would finish if people were to put on the shoes of their adversaries and understood their points of view

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Peace, Views, Shoes

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• Of all the inventions that have helped to unify China perhaps the airplane is the most outstanding. Its ability to annihilate distance has been in direct proportion to its achievements in assisting to annihilate suspicion and misunderstanding among provincial officials far removed from one another or from the officials at the seat of government.

  Soong May-ling

  Distance, Airplane, Government

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• Suppose that a person writes what she must. That is only the first step of becoming a writer. The work must survive the moment of creation. It must get out to an audience. She or he must dare to show the work. She must risk ridicule, misunderstanding, scandal, condemnation, & what's often worse, none of the above: silence. No attention at all.

  Marge Piercy

  Writing, Silence, Risk

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• The boy and girl going hand in hand through a meadow; the mother washing her baby; the sweet simple things in life. We have almost lost track of them. On the one side, we over-intellectualize everything; on the other hand, we are over-mechanized. We can understand the danger of the atomic bomb, but the danger of our misunderstanding the meaning of life is much more serious.

  Edward Steichen

  Girl, Mother, Baby

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• To sense when a teenager needs understanding and when misunderstanding is a difficult and delicate task. The sad truth is that no matter how wise we are, we cannot be right for any length of time in our teenagers' eyes.

  Haim Ginott

  Wise, Teenager, Eye

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• It may be added, to prevent misunderstanding, that when I speak of contemplated objects in this last phrase as objects of contemplation, the act of contemplation itself is of course an enjoyment.

  Samuel Alexander

  Phrases, May, Lasts

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• That has been my personal relationship with God-a connection with the powerful, loving, wise energy in all of us, in all creation. It is the life force itself. We can all have contact with it each moment in our lives, but it takes commitment and practice. We must be willing to move through all our deepest fears, doubts, and misunderstandings.

  Shakti Gawain

  God, Wise, Powerful

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• We know that mental illness is not something that happens to other people. It touches us all. Why then is mental illness met with so much misunderstanding and fear?

  Tipper Gore

  People, Mental Illness, Mets

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• Understanding' is merely the sum total of our misunderstandings.

  Haruki Murakami

  Understanding

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• Facts we would always place before our readers, whether they are palatable or not, and it is by placing them constantly before the public in their nakedness that the misunderstanding between the two communities in South Africa can be removed.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Two, Community, Facts

  Mahatma Gandhi (1960). “1903-1905”

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• For it is a curious fact that though human beings have such imperfect means of communication, that they can only say 'good to eat' when they mean 'beautiful' and the other way about, they will yet endure ridicule and misunderstanding rather than keep any experience to themselves.

  Virginia Woolf

  Beautiful, Communication, Mean

  Virginia Woolf (2014). “Orlando”, p.122, OUP Oxford

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• As usual, it occurred to me that words were the only thing that could possibly save me from this situation. This was a characteristic misunderstanding on my part. When action was needed, I was absorbed in words; for words proceeded with such difficulty from my mouth that I was intent on them and forgot all about action. It seemed to me that actions, which are dazzling, varied things, must always be accompanied by equally dazzling and equally varied words.

  Yukio Mishima

  Usual, Mouths, Action

  Yukio Mishima (2011). “The Temple of the Golden Pavilion”, p.25, Tuttle Publishing

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• We're not really intruding," he called down. "This is all a big misunderstanding." "Stop right there!" shouted one of them. Skulduggery held his hand to an ear he didn't have. "What's that?" "Stop!" "Keep going?" "STOP!" "OK, we'll keep going.

  Derek Landy

  Hands, Ears, Bigs

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• Understanding is but the sum of misunderstandings.

  Haruki Murakami

  Understanding

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• The proper basis for marriage is mutual misunderstanding. The happiness of a married man depends on the people he has not married. One should always be in love - that's the reason one should never marry.

  Oscar Wilde

  Love, Men, People

  Oscar Wilde (2016). “Only Dull People Are Brilliant at Breakfast”, p.29, Penguin UK

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