“There is a difference between a thing and talking about a thing.”

L'esprit consiste à connaître la ressemblance des choses diverses et la différence des choses semblables.
Pt. 3, ch. 8
De l’Allemagne [Germany] (1813)

"All Things (Mia ia io)" - Live performance at The Tin Angel, Philadelphia, PA (15 March 1997) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eACEYTQkoLA
Warpaint (1991)
Context: I dreamed I was an animal
In a human world;
Now when I hear big sounds
I cry like a little girl. I'm talking about connections
Between here and there;
All things exist at once
Seems more than we can bear.

Letter to Hugo Boxel (October 1674) The Chief Works of Benedict de Spinoza (1891) Tr. R. H. M. Elwes, Vol. 2, Letter 58 (54).

Je ne peins pas les choses. Je ne peins que les différences entre les choses.
"Henri Matisse: contre vents et marées : peinture et livres illustrés de 1939 à 1943"
1930s

Source: The End of the Affair

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

Norah Vincent, Sex, Love and Politics, id., p. 41, col. 1.

Vol. I, Ch. 1, Section 4, pg. 83.
(Buch I) (1867)

Variant: If there is anything more annoying in the world than having people talk about you, it is certainly having no one talk about you.
Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray