“One doesn’t have to understand in order to look. One has to look, in order to understand.”

—  Robert Charles Wilson

The Observer (p. 112)
The Perseids and Other Stories (2000)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "One doesn’t have to understand in order to look. One has to look, in order to understand." by Robert Charles Wilson?
Robert Charles Wilson photo
Robert Charles Wilson 134
author 1953

Related quotes

“Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself.”

Jack Handey (1949) American comedian

Deeper Thoughts: All New, All Crispy (1993)
Context: Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself. Basically, it's made up of two separate words — "mank" and "ind." What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.

Otto Weininger photo

“In order to depict a man one must understand him, and to understand him one must be like him; in order to portray his psychological activities one must be able to reproduce them in oneself. To understand a man one must have his nature in oneself.”

Otto Weininger book Sex and Character

Source: Sex and Character (1903), p. 105.

“One must know that one is not in order to be able to understand that we are.”

Wei Wu Wei (1895–1986) writer

Ask the Awakened: the Negative Way (1963)

Frithjof Schuon photo

“Humanly, no one escapes the obligation to "believe in order to be able to understand"”

Frithjof Schuon (1907–1998) Swiss philosopher

credo ut intelligam
[2013, From the Divine to the Human, World Wisdom, 33, 978-1-936597-32-1]
Spiritual life, Faith

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach photo

“Be patient with the belligerence of the simple-minded. It is not easy to understand that one doesn’t understand”

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830–1916) Austrian writer

Geduld mit der Streitsucht der Einfältigen! Es ist nicht leicht zu begreifen, dass man nicht begreift.
Source: Aphorisms (1880/1893), p. 20.

Fritz Mauthner photo

“Men learned to speak in order to understand one another. Cultural languages have lost the ability to help men to advance beyond the most rudimentary level and attain understanding. It seems that the time has come to learn to be silent once again.”

Fritz Mauthner (1849–1923) Austrian writer

Beiträge zu einer Kritik der Sprache (1923), I, p. 56; as quoted in "Wittgenstein versus Mauthner: Two critiques of language, two mysticisms" (2007) by Elena Nájera http://wittgensteinrepository.org/agora-alws/article/view/2659/3042

Menotti Lerro photo

“We should live two lives in order to understand the world: one as a man and the other as a woman.”

Menotti Lerro (1980) Italian poet

Bisognerebbe vivere due vite per capire il mondo: una come uomo e l’altra come donna.

“In order to understand information, we must define it; bit in order to define it, we must first understand it. Where to start?”

Hans Christian von Baeyer (1938) American physicist

Source: Information, The New Language of Science (2003), Chapter 3, In-Formation, The roots of the concept, p. 18

Agatha Christie photo

“Not if the butcher had become a butcher simply in order to have a chance of murdering the baker. One must always look one step behind, my friend.”

Agatha Christie (1890–1976) English mystery and detective writer

Source: Curtain - Poirot's Last Case (1975), chapter 5

Related topics