QuoteProject
Oh child, your language is so utterly simple and limited that it has the affect of extreme complication. -Aunt Beast
Madeleine L'Engle
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Language can often complicate our understanding rather than clarify it.

Aunt Beast's quote suggests that while language is intended to communicate thoughts and ideas, its inherent limitations can lead to confusion and complexity. The simplicity of a child’s language highlights how intricate the process of meaningful communication can be, indicating that the essence of thoughts can sometimes get lost in translation.

Themes

LanguageCommunicationSimplicityComplexityUnderstanding

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about education and children's understanding of complex issues.

More from Madeleine L'Engle

Truth is what is true, and it's not necessarily factual. Truth and fact are not the same thing. Truth does not contradict or deny facts, but it goes through and beyond facts. This is something that it is very difficult for some people to understand. Truth can be dangerous.
Madeleine L'EngleRead
George MacDonald gives me renewed strength during times of trouble--times when I have seen people tempted to deny God--when he says, "The Son of God suffered unto death, not that men might not suffer, but that their sufferings might be like his.
Madeleine L'EngleRead
If you don't recount your family history, it will be lost. Honor your own stories and tell them too. The tales may not seem very important, but they are what binds families and makes each of us who we are.
Madeleine L'EngleRead
I never want to lose the story-loving child within me, or the adolescent, or the young woman, or the middle-aged one, because all together they help me to be fully alive on this journey, and show me that I must be willing to go where it takes me, even through the valley of the shadow.
Madeleine L'EngleRead
The minute we begin to think we have all the answers, we forget the questions.
Madeleine L'EngleRead
When we believe in the impossible, it becomes possible, and we can do all kinds of extraordinary things.
Madeleine L'EngleRead

Similar quotes

If you look throughout human history ... the central epiphany of every religious tradition always occurs in the wilderness.
John F. KennedyRead
...he said firmly, "God can help you. All the men I’ve seen in your position turned to Him in their time of trouble." "Obviously," I replied, "they were at liberty to do so, if they felt like it." I, however, didn’t want to be helped, and I hadn’t time to work up interest for something that didn’t interest me.
Albert CamusRead
From childhood I had never believed in permanence, and yet I had longed for it. Always I was afraid of losing happiness. This month, next year...death was the only absolute value in my world. Lose life and one would lose nothing again forever.
Graham GreeneRead
I would say in just about every investigation we have, there will be differences of opinion, where you have partial facts, as to what those facts mean.
Robert MuellerRead
The primary function of government is to protect the minority of the opulent from the majority of the poor.
James MadisonRead
Without looking through the window, you can see Heaven's Way.
LaoziRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.