Culture hides much more than it reveals, and strangely enough, what it hides, it hides most effectively from its own participants.
Edward T. HallRead
The best reason for exposing oneself to foreign ways is to generate a sense of vitality and awareness - an interest in life which can come only when one lives through the shock of contrast and difference.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Experiencing different cultures enhances our vitality and awareness of life.
This quote by Edward T. Hall suggests that immersing oneself in diverse cultures and perspectives invigorates our existence and fosters a deeper appreciation for life. The 'shock of contrast and difference' provokes thought and curiosity, prompting us to reevaluate our experiences and beliefs, thereby enriching our understanding of the world.
Themes
CultureAwarenessVitalityExperienceDiversity
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about the importance of travel.
More from Edward T. Hall
All quotes →The information is in the people, not in your head.
Edward T. HallRead
Culture hides more than it reveals, and strangely enough what it hides, it hides most effectively from its own participants.
Edward T. HallRead
Similar quotes
The judge who sits over the murderer and looks into his face, and at one moment recognizes all the emotions and potentialities and possibilities of the murderer in his own soul and hears the murderer's voice as his own, is at the next moment one and indivisible as the judge, and scuttles back into the shell of his cultivated self and does his duty and condemns the murderer to death.
Hermann HesseRead
We live in a world that is subjectively open. And we are designed by evolution to be "informavores", epistemically hungry seekers of information, in an endless quest to improve our purchase on the world, the better to make decisions about our subjectively open future.
Daniel DennettRead
People who read me seem to be divided into four groups: twenty-five percent like me for the right reasons; twenty-five percent like me for the wrong reasons; twenty-five percent hate me for the wrong reasons; twenty-five percent hate me for the right reasons. It's that last twenty-five percent that worries me.
Robert FrostRead
When you step further into the story you came to live, not only does the mythic territory open, but the deep self moves and the world of imagination and meaning comes towards you.
Michael MeadeRead
Opinions about obviousness are to a certain extent a function of time.
Albert EinsteinRead
Knowing not grieving remembers a thousand savage and lonely streets.
William FaulknerRead