Life never presents us with anything which may not be looked upon as a fresh starting point, no less than as a termination.
Andre GideRead
Are you then unable to recognize unless it has the same sound as yours?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote questions whether we can only understand ideas that align with our own perceptions and beliefs.
This quote by Andre Gide challenges us to reflect on our ability to comprehend concepts and viewpoints that differ from our own. It suggests that understanding is not merely about agreeing or hearing familiar sounds, but involves an openness to diverse opinions and perspectives, highlighting a philosophical inquiry into the nature of knowledge and recognition.
Themes
UnderstandingPerceptionKnowledgeOpennessTolerance
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on cultural differences, this quote can remind us to appreciate diverse viewpoints.
More from Andre Gide
All quotes βDo not do what someone else could do as well as you. Do not say, do not write what someone else could say, could write as well as you. Care for nothing in yourself but what you feel exists nowhere else. And, out of yourself create, impatiently or patiently, the most irreplaceable of beings.
Andre GideRead
Old hands soil, it seems, whatever they caress, but they too have their beauty when they are joined in prayer. Young hands were made for caresses and the sheathing of love. It is a pity to make them join too soon.
Andre GideRead
Through fear of resembling one another, through horror of having to submit, through uncertainty as well, through skepticism and complexity, there is a multitude of individual little beliefs for the triumph of strange little individuals.
Andre GideRead
It is the special quality of love not to be able to remain stationary, to be obliged to increase under pain of diminishing.
Andre GideRead
It is with noble sentiments that bad literature gets written.
Andre GideRead
Similar quotes
Unless you see yourself standing there with the shrieking crowd, full of hostility and hatred for the holy and innocent Lamb of God, you donβt really understand the nature and depth of your sin or the necessity of the cross.
C. J. MahaneyRead
It is on great occasions only, and after time has been given for cool and deliberate reflection, that the real voice of the people can be known.
George WashingtonRead
It is not humiliating to be unhappy. Physical suffering is sometimes humiliating, but the suffering of being cannot be, it is life.
Albert CamusRead
One of the many reasons for the bewildering and tragic character of human existence is the fact that social organization is at once necessary and fatal. Men are forever creating such organizations for their own convenience and forever finding themselves the victims of their home-made monsters.
Aldous HuxleyRead
I may grow rich by an art I am compelled to follow; I may recover health by medicines I am compelled to take against my own judgment; but I cannot be saved by a worship I disbelieve and abhor.
Thomas JeffersonRead
In his dream she was sick and he cared for her. The dream bore the look of sacrifice but he thought differently. He did not take care of her and she died alone somewhere in the dark and there is no other dream nor other waking world and there is no other tale to tell.
Cormac MccarthyRead