Some deny the existence of misery by pointing to the sun; he denies the existence of the sun by pointing to misery.
Franz KafkaRead
In argument similes are like songs in love; they describe much, but prove nothing.
Interpretation
Similes in arguments, like songs in love, may convey emotions but do not provide concrete proof.
This quote highlights the idea that while similes can enhance communication and illustrate feelings, they ultimately do not constitute evidence in an argument. Just as songs evoke emotions in love without serving as proof of love itself, similes may embellish arguments but lack the foundational substance needed to validate a claim.
In practice
A speaker might use this quote during a debate to remind participants that emotional appeals alone are insufficient.
Some deny the existence of misery by pointing to the sun; he denies the existence of the sun by pointing to misery.
One can disintegrate the world by means of very strong light. For weak eyes the world becomes solid, for still weaker eyes it seems to develop fists, for eyes weaker still it becomes shamefaced and smashes anyone who dares to gaze upon it.
But Gregor understood easily that it was not only consideration for him which prevented their moving, for he could easily have been transported in a suitable crate with a few air holes; what mainly prevented the family from moving was their complete hopelessness and the thought that they had been struck by a misfortune as none of their relatives and acquaintances had ever been hit.
Association with human beings lures one into self-observation.
A non-writing writer is a monster courting insanity.
The ulterior motives with which you absorb and assimilate Evil are not your own but those of Evil. _x000D_ The animal wrests the whip from its master and whips itself in order to become master, not knowing that this is only a fantasy produced by a new knot in the master's whiplash.
The inviolability of the person which is a reflection of the absolute inviolability of God, finds its primary and fundamental expression in the inviolability of human life. Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights-for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture- is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination.
Man will become immeasurably stronger, wiser, and subtler; his body will become more harmonious, his movements more rhythmic, his voice more musical. The forms of life will become dynamically dramatic. The average human type will rise to the heights of an Aristotle, a Goethe, or a Marx. And above these heights, new peaks will rise.
Not he who has little, but he whose wishes more, is poor.
The idea that an individual can find God is terribly self-centered. It is like a wave thinking it can find the sea.
A nation is a society united by a delusion about its ancestry and by common hatred of its neighbours.
How dismal it is to see present day Americans yearning for the very orthodoxy that their country was founded to escape.
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