“Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.”
Source: Beloved
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Toni Morrison 184
American writer 1931–2019Related quotes
“A defining mark of poetry is that it defies definition.”
Introduction - ' The Bloodaxe Book of Poetry Quotations' ed. Dennis O'Driscoll 2006
Other Quotes
“The limits of the body seem well defined enough as definitions go, but definitions seldom go far.”
Ramblings In Cheapside (1890)
“Every definition implies an axiom, since it asserts the existence of the object defined.”
Part II. Ch. 2 : Mathematical Definitions and Education, p. 131
Science and Method (1908)
Context: Every definition implies an axiom, since it asserts the existence of the object defined. The definition then will not be justified, from the purely logical point of view, until we have proved that it involves no contradiction either in its terms or with the truths previously admitted.
The Concept of the Political (1927)
“I define UNIX as 30 definitions of regular expressions living under one roof.”
Digital Typography, ch. 33, p. 649 (1999)
Source: Systems Thinking, Systems Practice, 1981, p. 223 as cited in: Gillian Ragsdell, Daune West, Jennifer Wilby (2002) Systems Theory and Practice in the Knowledge Age. p. 82. In the original quote Checkland summarised his earlier work with Smyth published in 1976.
Source: The Limits of Evolution, and Other Essays, Illustrating the Metaphysical Theory of Personal Ideaalism (1905), The Harmony of Determinism and Freedom, p.324