Good teachers never say anything. What they do is create the conditions under which learning takes place.
S. I. HayakawaRead
Definitions, contrary to popular opinion, tell us nothing about things. They only describe people's linguistic habits; that is, they tell us what noises people make under what conditions.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Definitions reflect language use rather than the essence of things.
S. I. Hayakawa's quote emphasizes that definitions should not be mistaken for the actual nature of things. Instead, they merely indicate how people have learned to describe their experiences and observations, demonstrating that language shapes our understanding and communication about reality.
Themes
DefinitionsLanguageCommunicationPhilosophyPerception
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophy class when discussing the nature of meaning and language.
More from S. I. Hayakawa
All quotes βIf you see in any given situation only what everybody else can see, you can be said to be so much a representative of your culture that you are a victim of it.
S. I. HayakawaRead
Learning to write is learning to think. You don't know anything clearly unless you can state it in writing.
S. I. HayakawaRead
Similar quotes
Vanity is so frequently the apparent motive of advice that we, for the most part, summon our powers to oppose it without very accurate inquiry whether it is right. It is sufficient that another is growing great in his own eyes at our expense, and assumes authority over us without our permission; for many would contentedly suffer the consequences of their own mistakes, rather than the insolence of him who triumphs as their deliverer.
Samuel JohnsonRead
Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.
Winston ChurchillRead
In the human heart one generation of passions follows another; from the ashes of one springs the spark of the next.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all.
Zora Neale HurstonRead
One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation and compassion.
Simone De BeauvoirRead
Repentance is the vomit of the soul.
Thomas BrooksRead