“To act, you must know pain. You must know what it means to be in love, what it means to be rejected.”

“Clarity is of no importance because nobody listens and nobody knows what you mean no matter what you mean, nor how clearly you mean what you mean. But if you have vitality enough of knowing enough of what you mean, somebody and sometime and sometimes a great many will have to realize that you know what you mean and so they will agree that you mean what you know, what you know you mean, which is as near as anybody can come to understanding any one.”

Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American art collector and experimental writer of novels, poetry and plays

“It all means more than I can tell you. So you must not judge what I know by what I find words for.”

Marilynne Robinson Gilead

“You will never know what the meaning of Jazz is if ask what it means.”

Louis Armstrong (1901–1971) American jazz trumpeter, composer and singer

“To write a good love letter, you ought to begin without knowing what you mean to say, and to finish without knowing what you have written.”

Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) Genevan philosopher

“Sometimes it's not enough to know what things mean, sometimes you have to know what things don't mean.”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

“Do you know what it means to come home at night to a woman who'll give you a little love, a little affection, a little tenderness? It means you're in the wrong house, that's what it means.”

Henny Youngman (1906–1998) American comedian

“If you want to know what love is, have a child. If you want to know what pain is, bury him.”

Giannina Braschi book Yo-Yo Boing!

“The government means industry, if you know what I mean.”

Jacque Fresco (1916–2017) American futurist and self-described social engineer

“Must being in love always mean being in pain?”

Alain de Botton (1969) Swiss writer