It is just as likely that as I invent what I want to say, you will invent what you want to hear.
Interpretation
Communication can be subjective, with both speaker and listener interpreting messages based on their own experiences and desires.
This quote highlights the challenges inherent in communication, suggesting that both the speaker and the listener bring their own interpretations and biases into a conversation. As the speaker expresses their thoughts, the listener is simultaneously filtering those words through their own perspectives and expectations, which can lead to misunderstandings if they are not mindful of this dynamic.
In practice
During a discussion about sensitive topics, this quote can remind participants to be aware of their own biases.
What is remembered is not a deed in stone but a metaphor. Meta = above. Pheren = to carry. That which is carried above the literalness of life. A way of thinking that avoids the problems of gravity. The word won't let me down. The single word that can release me from all that unuttered weight.
Reading things that are relevant to the facts of your life is of limited value. The facts are, after all, only the facts, and the yearning passionate part of you will not be met there. That is why reading ourselves as a fiction as well as fact is so liberating. The wider we read the freer we become.
I have a list of titles that I leave at the [library] desk, because they are bound to be written some day, and it's best to be ahead of the queue.
Woolf wanted to say dangerous things in Orlando but she did not want to say them in the missionary position.
In that house, you will find my heart. You must break in, Henri, and get it back for me.' Was she mad? We had been talking figuratively. Her heart was in her body like mine. I tried to explain this to her, but she took my hand and put it against her chest. Feel for yourself.
History is a string full of knots, the best you can do is admire it, and maybe tie it up a bit more. History is a hammock for swinging and a game for playing.
She lived unknown, and few could know When Lucy ceased to be; But she is in her grave, and oh The difference to me!
Marriage is about becoming a team. Youβre going to spend the rest of your life learning about each other, and every now and then, things blow up. But the beauty of marriage is that if you picked the right person and you both love each other, youβll always figure out a way to get through it.
Most whites live, grow, play, learn, love, work and die primarily in social and geographic racial segregation. Yet, our society does not teach us to see this as a loss. Pause for a moment and consider the magnitude of this message: We lose nothing of value by having no cross-racial relationships.
There is no cruelty greater than a woman's to a man who loves her and whom she does not love; she has no kindness then, no tolerance even, she has only an insane irritation.
Most quarrels are inevitable at the time; incredible afterwards.
To communicate is our chief business; society and friendship our chief delights; and reading, not to acquire knowledge, not to earn a living, but to extend our intercourse beyond our own time and province.
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