“So what’s the point of showing me something I can’t see?”
“So that you understand that just because you see something, it doesn’t mean to say it’s there. And if you don’t see something, it doesn’t mean to say it’s not there. It’s only what your senses bring to your attention.”Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Hitchhiker’s Guide No. 5, Mostly Harmless, ch. 17 (1992)
(Source)
Random and the bird Guide.
Quotations about:
perception
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
Love iz sed tew be blind, but i kno lots ov phellows in love, who kan see twice az mutch in their sweethearts as i kan.
[Love is said to be blind, but I know lots of fellows in love who can see twice as much in their sweethearts as I can.]
Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1870-12 (1870 ed.)
(Source)
The world is a higgledy-piggledy place, containing things pleasant and things unpleasant in haphazard sequence. And the desire to make an intelligible system or pattern out of it is at bottom an outcome of fear, in fact a kind of agoraphobia or dread of open spaces. Within the four walls of his library the timid student feels safe. If he can persuade himself that the universe is equally tidy, he can feel almost equally safe when he has to venture forth into the streets.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 12 “Affection” (1930)
(Source)
Desire to appear clever often prevents our becoming so.
[Le désir de paraître habile empêche souvent de le devenir.]
François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶199 (1665-1678) [tr. Tancock (1959)]
(Source)
Found in the 1st (1665) ed. In manuscript, it added:... parce qu’on songe plus à le paroître aux autres qu’à être effectivement ce qu’il faut être. [... because we think more about appearing so to others than actually being what we must be.]
The theme of seeming/appearing runs all through La Rochefoucauld's maxims. See also ¶127, ¶134, ¶245, ¶431, ¶457.
(Source (French)). Other translations:The desire to be thought a wise Man, oftentimes hinders ones coming to be really such.
[tr. Stanhope (1694), ¶200]The desire of appearing to be persons of ability often prevents our being so.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), ¶1, ed. Lepoittevin-Lacroix (1797), ¶190]Never are we made so ridiculous by the qualities we have, as by those we affect to have. An affectation of wisdom often prevents our becoming wise.
[ed. Carvill (1835), ¶19]The desire of appearing clever often prevents our becoming so.
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶208]The desire to appear clever often prevents our being so.
[tr. Bund/Friswell (1871), ¶199; tr. Stevens (1939), ¶199]The desire to appear clever often prevents a man from being so.
[tr. FitzGibbon (1957), ¶199]The desire to seem clever often prevents our being so.
[tr. Kronenberger (1959), ¶199]The desire to appear intelligent, often prevents us from actually becoming so.
[tr. Whichello (2016) ¶199]
RATIONAL, adj. Devoid of all delusions save those of observation, experience and reflection.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Rational,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)
(Source)
Originally published in the "Cynic's Dictionary" column in the San Francisco Examiner.
You dull your own perceptions
with false imaginings and do not grasp
what would be clear but for your preconceptions.
[Tu stesso ti fai grosso
col falso imaginar, sì che non vedi
ciò che vedresti se l’avessi scosso.]Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Italian poet
The Divine Comedy [Divina Commedia], Book 3 “Paradiso,” Canto 1, l. 88ff (1.88-90) [Beatrice] (1320) [tr. Ciardi (1970)]
(Source)
Dante's beloved Beatrice greets him for the first time since his arrival in Paradise, chiding him for his terrestrial assumptions of what he's seeing.(Source (Italian)). Alternate translations:False Forms deceive thy optics. Son of Man!
With shadowy objects which eclipse the true.
[tr. Boyd (1802), st. 20]With false imagination thou thyself
Mak’st dull, so that thou seest not the thing,
Which thou hadst seen, had that been shaken off.
[tr. Cary (1814)]Imagination false
Hath made thee dull, so that thou canst not see
That thou might'st, hadst thou looked diligently.
[tr. Bannerman (1850)]Thou makest thyself so dull
With false imagining, that thou seest not
What thou wouldst see if thou hadst shaken it off.
[tr. Longfellow (1867)]Thou thyself makest thyself gross with false imagining, so that thou seest not that which thou wouldest have seen, if thou hadst shaken it off.
[tr. Butler (1885)]Thyself thou makest blind
With thy false fancy, that thou canst not see
What thou wouldst see, if this were thrown behind.
[tr. Minchin (1885)]Thou thyself makest thyself dull with false imagining, so that thou seest not what thou wouldst see, if thou hadst shaken it off.
[tr. Norton (1892)]Thou thyself makest thyself dense Earthly with false imagining, and so thou seest not what heavenly thou wouldst see, if thou hadst cast it off.
[tr. Wicksteed (1899)]Thou dullest thine own wit
With false imagination, nor preceivest
That which thou wouldst perceive, being rid of it.
[tr. Sayers/Reynolds (1962)]Thou makest thyself dull with false fancies so that thou canst not see as thou wouldst if thou hadst cast them off.
[tr. Sinclair (1939)]Thou makest thyself dense of wit
With false fancy, so that thou dost not see
What thou would’st see, wert thou but rid of it.
[tr. Binyon (1943)]You make yourself dull with false imagining, so that you do not see what you would see had you cast it off.
[tr. Singleton (1975)]You are making yourself stupid
By imagining what isn’t, so that you do not
See what you would if you could shake that off.
[tr. Sisson (1981)]You make yourself
obtuse with false imagining; you can
not see what you would see if you dispelled it.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1984)]You have yourself to blame for burdening
your mind with misconceptions that prevent
from seeing clearly what you might have seen.
[tr. Musa (1984)]You are making yourself swell
with false imagining, so that you do not see
what shaking it off would show.
[tr. Durling (2011)]You make yourself stupid with false imaginings, and so you do not see, what you would see, if you discarded them.
[tr. Kline (2002)]With false imaginings
you make yourself so dull you fail to see
what, shaking off this cloud, you’d see quite well.
[tr. Kirkpatrick (2007)]You make yourself dull-witted
with false notions, so that you cannot see
what you would understand, had you but cast them off.
[tr. Hollander/Hollander (2007)]You're overwhelming yourself with false
And foolish conjuring, preventing what your eyes
Would see if you did not struggle so hard for triumph.
[tr. Raffel (2010)]You get all mixed up
By sticking with a figment of your imagination, so
You don’t see what you would see if you shook it off.
[tr. Bang (2021)]
The same holds true of almost every superstition — as astrology, dreams, omens, judgments, and the like — wherein men, pleased with such vanities, attend to those events which are fulfilments; but neglect and pass over the instances where they fail (though this is much more frequently the case).
[Eadem ratio est fere omnis superstitionis, ut in astrologicis, in somniis, ominibus, nemesibus, et hujusmodi; in quibus homines delectati hujusmodi vanitatibus advertunt eventus, ubi emplentur; ast ubi fallunt, licet multo frequentius, tamen negligunt et praetereunt.]
Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
Instauratio Magna [The Great Instauration], Part 2 “Novum Organum [The New Organon],” Book 1, Aphorism # 46 (1620) [tr. Johnson (1859)]
(Source)
See also Bacon.
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:All superstition is much the same, whether it be that of astrology, dreams, omens, retributive judgment, or the like; in all of which the deluded believers observe events which are fulfilled, but neglect and pass over their failure, though it be much more common.
[tr. Wood (1831)]And such is the way of all superstition, whether in astrology, dreams, omens, divine judgments, or the like; wherein men, having a delight in such vanities, mark the events where they are fulfilled, but where they fail, though this happen much oftener, neglect and pass them by.
[tr. Spedding (1858)]The same method is found, perhaps, in every superstition, like astrology, dreams, omens, divine judgements, and so on: people who take pleasure in such vanities notice the results when they are fulfilled, but ignore and overlook them when they fail, though they do fail more often than not.
[tr. Silverthorne (2000)]That’s how it is with all superstition -- involving astrology, dreams, omens, divine judgments, and the like, Men get so much pleasure out of such vanities that they notice the confirming events and inattentively pass by the more numerous disconfirming ones.
[tr. Bennett (2017)]
It is the function of art to renew our perception. What we are familiar with we cease to see. The writer shakes up the familiar scene, and as if by magic, we see a new meaning in it.
Anaïs Nin (1903-1977) Catalan-Cuban-French author, diarist
The Novel of the Future, ch. 2 “Abstraction” (1968)
(Source)
LSD reveals the whatness of things, their quiddity, their essence. The wateriness of water is suddenly revealed to you, the carpetness of carpets, the woodness of wood, the yellowness of yellow, the fingernailness of fingernails, the allness of all, the nothingness of all, the allness of nothing. For me music gives access to every one of these essences of existence, but at a fraction of the social or financial cost of a drug and without the need to cry ‘Wow!’ all the time, which is one of LSD’s most distressing and least endearing side-effects.
Stephen Fry (b. 1957) British actor, writer, comedian
Moab Is My Washpot, “Joining In,” ch. 3 (1997)
(Source)
French food, by the way, isn’t fancy unless, like other cooking, it wants to be fancy; perhaps it sounds so because it is in a foreign language, but a Coq au Vin is a chicken stew, a Pot-au-feu is a boiled dinner, a Mayonnaise de Volaille is a chicken salad, Soubise is plain old rice cooked with onions, and there is nothing fancy about any of them.
Julia Child (1912-2004) American chef and writer
Julia Child’s Kitchen, Introduction (1975)
(Source)
Apparently, on the screen, I look tall, dark, and close to omniscient, issuing jeopardy-laden warnings through gritted teeth. And then they look at me [in person] and say, “Why, God, this kid is five-foot-five, he’s got a broken nose, and looks about as foreboding as a bank teller on a lunch break.”
Rod Serling (1924-1975) American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, narrator
Quoted in Anne Serling, As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling (2013)
(Source)
Try to remember this: what you project
Is what you will perceive; what you perceive
With any passion, be it love or terror,
May take on whims and powers of its own.
If I had been on the hills of Bethlehem in the year one, I do not think I should have heard angels singing because I do not hear them now, & there is no reason to suppose that they have stopped.
Northrop Frye (1912-1991) Canadian literary critic and literary theorist
Notebooks and Lectures on the Bible and Other Religious Texts, Notebook 11f, entry 5 (2003) [ed. Robert D. Denham]
(Source)
The highest exercise of imagination is not to devise what has no existence, but rather to perceive what really exists, though unseen by the outward eye, — not creation, but insight.
Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of thy mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.
[Οἷα ἂν πολλάκις φαντασθῇς, τοιαύτη σοι ἔσται ἡ διάνοια: βάπτεται γὰρ ὑπὸ τῶν φαντασιῶν ἡ ψυχή.]
Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) Roman emperor (161-180), Stoic philosopher
Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 5, ch. 16 (2.5) (AD 161-180) [tr. Long (1862)]
(Source)
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:Such as thy thoughts and ordinary cogitations are, such will thy mind be in time. For the soul doth as it were receive its tincture from the fancies, and imaginations.
[tr. Casaubon (1634), 5.15]Your Manners will depend very much upon the Quality of what you frequently think on; For the Soul is as it were Tinged with the Colour, and Complexion of Thought.
[tr. Collier (1701)]Such as the imaginations are which you frequently dwell upon, such will be the disposition of your soul. The soul receives a tincture from the imagination.
[tr. Hutcheson/Moor (1742)]Such as are the objects on which your thoughts are most frequently employed, such will be the state of your mind. For the soul takes a tincture from the usual current of its ideas.
[tr. Graves (1792)]Your manners will depend very much upon the quality of what you frequently think on; for the soul is as it were tinged with the color and complexion of thought.
[tr. Collier/Zimmern (1887)]Repeat impressions, and your understanding will assimilate itself to them; for the soul takes the dye of its impressions.
[tr. Rendall (1898)]The character of your most frequent impressions will be the character of your mind. The soul takes colour from its impressions.
[tr. Hutcheson/Chrystal (1902)]The character of thy mind will be such as is the character of thy frequent thoughts, for the soul takes its dye from the thoughts.
[tr. Haines (Loeb) (1916)]As are your repeated imaginations so will your mind be, for the soul is dyed by its imaginations.
[tr. Farquharson (1944)]Your mind will be like its habitual thoughts; for the soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.
[tr. Staniforth (1964)]As are your regular impressions, so will your mind be also; for the soul takes its colouring from its impressions.
[tr. Hard (1997 ed.)]The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.
[tr. Hays (2003)]Your mind will take on the character of your most frequent thoughts: souls are dyed by thoughts.
[tr. Hammond (2006)]Whatever kind of impressions you receive most often, so too will be your mind, for the soul is dyed with the color of one's impressions.
[tr. Needleman/Piazza (2008)]As are your habitual conceptions, so will your mind be also; for the soul takes its colouring from its conceptions.
[tr. Hard (2011 ed.)]As your most frequent impressions are, so will your mind be: your character is coloured by its impressions.
[tr. Gill (2013)]
What a man sees, Love can make invisible —
And what is invisible, that can Love make him see.[Quel che l’huom vede Amor gli fa invisibile
E l’invisibil fa vedere Amore.]Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533) Italian poet
Orlando Furioso, Canto 1, st. 56 [ll. 396-97] (1532) [tr. Waldman]
There is no “True.” There are only ways of perceiving.
Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) French writer, novelist
Letter to Léon Hennique (3 Feb 1880) [tr. Steegmuller (1982)]
(Source)
True art selects and paraphrases, but seldom gives a verbatim translation.
Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836-1907) American writer, poet, critic, editor
“Leaves From a Notebook,” Ponkapog Papers (1903)
(Source)
Better keep yourself clean and bright: you are the window through which you must see the world.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish playwright and critic
The Revolutionist’s Handbook, “Honor” (1905)
(Source)
Poverty of goods is easy to cure, poverty of soul impossible.
[La pauvreté des biens, est aisée à guerir, la pauvreté de l’ame, impossible.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 3, ch. 10 (3.10), “Of Managing the Will [De mesnager sa volonté]” (1586) [tr. Frame (1943)]
(Source)
In context, "poverty of the soul" is given by Montaigne, not as a moral failing, but as the soul-felt sense of poverty, of not having enough, of needing to attain more.
The essay, including this passage, first appeared in the 2nd ed. (1588).
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:Want of goods may easilie be cured, but the poverty of the mind, is incurable.
[tr. Florio (1603)]The Want of Goods, is easily repair'd; but the Poverty of the Soul is irreparable.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]The poverty of goods is easily cured; the poverty of the soul is irreparable.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]Poverty in worldly goods is easy to cure; poverty of the soul, impossible.
[tr. Ives (1925)]To cure poverty of possessions is easy: poverty of soul impossible.
[tr. Screech (1987)]Poverty of possessions may easily be cured, but poverty of soul never.
[Source]
Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes visible.
Paul Klee (1879-1940) Swiss-German artist
“Creative Credo,” sec. 1 (1920)
You must look into people, as well as at them. Almost all people are born with all the passions, to a certain degree; but almost every man has one prevailing one, to which the others are subordinate. Search every one for that ruling passion; pry into the recesses of his heart, and observe the different workings of the same passion in different people; and when you have found out the prevailing passion of any man, remember never to trust him where that passion is concerned. Work upon him by it, if you please; but be upon your guard yourself against it, whatever professions he may make you.
Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]
Letter to his son, #112 (4 Oct 1746)
(Source)
I shut my eyes in order to see.
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) French painter [Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin]
(Attributed)
“Aslan,” said Lucy, “you’re bigger.”
“That is because you are older, little one,” answered he.
“Not because you are?”
“I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
Prince Caspian (1951)
Even fools who keep silent are considered wise;
when they close their lips, they are deemed intelligent.The Bible (The Old Testament) (14th - 2nd C BC) Judeo-Christian sacred scripture [Tanakh, Hebrew Bible], incl. the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonicals)
Proverbs 17:28 [NRSV (2021 ed.)]
(Source)
See Twain.
Alternate translations:Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
[KJV (1611)]If a fool can hold his tongue, even he can pass for wise, and pass for clever if he keeps his lips tight shut.
[JB (1966)]After all, even fools may be thought wise and intelligent if they stay quiet and keep their mouths shut.
[GNT (1976)]If the fool holds his tongue, he may pass for wise; if he seals his lips, he may pass for intelligent.
[NJB (1985)]Fools who keep quiet are deemed wise;
those who shut their lips are smart.
[CEB (2011)]Even fools who keep silent are deemed wise;
Intelligent, while their mouth is shut.
[RJPS (2023 ed.)]
Life does not consist mainly — or even largely — of facts and happenings. It consists mainly of the storm of thoughts that is forever blowing through one’s head.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Autobiography, Part 1, sec. 28 “New York, January 10, 1906” (2003)
Full text.
Our experience is composed rather of illusions lost than of wisdom acquired.
Joseph Roux (1834-1886) French Catholic priest
Meditations of a Parish Priest: Thoughts, Part 4, #28 [tr. Hapgood (1886)]
Nothing we use or hear or touch can be expressed in words that equal what is given by the senses.
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Life of the Mind, Vol. 1 “Thinking,” Introduction (1977)
(Source)
Originally printed as an essay (1977-11-14), "Thinking -- I," The New Yorker (1977-11-21).
But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Take no notice of his appearance or his height for I have rejected him; God does not see as man sees; man looks at appearances but Yahweh looks at the heart.”
The Bible (The Old Testament) (14th - 2nd C BC) Judeo-Christian sacred scripture [Tanakh, Hebrew Bible], incl. the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonicals)
1 Samuel 16: 7 [JB (1966)]
(Source)
God rejecting Eliab (and all of David's other brothers) to be the next king. Alternate translations:But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.
[KJV (1611)]But the Lord said to him, “Pay no attention to how tall and handsome he is. I have rejected him, because I do not judge as people judge. They look at the outward appearance, but I look at the heart.”
[GNT (1976)]But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him, for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
[NRSV (1989)]
No man lives in the external truth among salts and acids, but in the warm, phantasmagoric chamber of his brain, with the painted windows and the storied wall.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1888-02), “The Lantern-Bearers,” sec. 3 Scribner’s Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 2
(Source)
Collected in Across the Plains, ch. 7 (1892).
There is a kind of courtesy in scepticism. It would be an offence against polite conventions to press our doubts too far and question the permanence of our estates, our neighbours’ independent existence, or even the justification of a good bishop’s faith and income. Against metaphysicians, and even against bishops, sarcasm was not without its savour; but the line must be drawn somewhere by a gentleman and a man of the world.
George Santayana (1863-1952) Spanish-American poet and philosopher [Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruíz de Santayana y Borrás]
The Life of Reason or The Phases of Human Progress, Vol. 1 “Reason in Common Sense,” ch. 4 (1905-06)
(Source)
Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1841), “Art,” Essays: First Series, No. 12
(Source)
Part of a paragraph taken from the course "Human Culture," lecture "Eye and Ear."
We think in generalities, but we live in detail.
Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
Essay (1926-08), “The Education of an Englishman,” Atlantic Monthly
(Source)
This is often slightly misquoted as "... but we live in details."
Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.
[Jeder hält das Ende seines Gesichtskreises für das der Welt.]
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) German philosopher
Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol. 2, ch. 26 “Psychological Observations [Psychologische Bemerkungen],” § 338 (1851) [tr. Saunders (1890)]
(Source)
(Source (German)). Alternate translation:Everyone regards the limits of his field of vision as those of the world.
[tr. Payne (1974)]
As useless laws weaken necessary laws, those that can be evaded weaken legislation.
[Comme les lois inutiles affaiblissent les lois nécessaires, celles qu’on peut éluder affaiblissent la législation.]
Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 29, ch. 16 (1748) [tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Other translations:As useless laws debilitate such as are necessary, so those that may be easily eluded weaken the legislation.
[tr. Nugent (1750)]As needless laws weaken necessary laws, laws that can be eluded weaken legislation.
[tr. Stewart (2018)]
Variant: "Useless laws weaken the necessary laws."
The same thought, that "Useless laws weaken necessary laws [Les loix inutiles affaiblissent celles qui sont les necessaires.]" also is recorded in his Pensées Diverses [Assorted Thoughts], # 630 / 1007 "General Maxims of Politics," No. 6 (1720-1755). Variant: "Les loix inutiles affaiblissent les necessaires."
Other translations of that work:Useless laws debilitate such as are necessary.
[ed. Guterman (1963)]Useless laws weaken necessary ones.
[tr. Clark (2012)]
The limits of my language mark the limits of my world.
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) Austrian-English philosopher
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 5.6 (1921)
Alt. trans:
- "The boundary of my language is the boundary of my world." [tr. Kolak]
- "The limits of my language mean the limits of my world." [tr. Pears and McGuinness]
- "The limits of my language stand for the limits of my world."
CYNIC, n. A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things the way they are, and not as they ought to be.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Cynic,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)
(Source)
Included in The Devil's Dictionary (1911).
Originally appeared in his "The Cynic's Dictionary" column in the San Francisco Wasp (1881-10-28).
In his "Town Crier" column in the News Letter (1872-03-09), he wrapped up his personal philosophy so: "And, finally, most important of all, endeavor to see things as they are, not as they ought to be."
In every object there is inexhaustible meaning; the eye sees in it what the eye brings means of seeing.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
(Misattributed)
Carlyle uses this phrase in his The French Revolution: A History, Part 1, Book 1, ch. 2 (1.1.2) (1837), but brackets it in quotations, and prefaces it with "For indeed it is well said ...." Nevertheless, the phrase is often misattributed directly to Carlyle.
The second half of the phrase (and sometimes the whole thing) has also been misattributed to Johann von Goethe, as "The eye sees only what the eye brings means of seeing." This is not found in Goethe's work, but may be distorted from a line in the Prologue to Goethe's Faust: "Each one sees what he carries in his heart."
CALVIN: Know what’s weird? Day by day nothing seems to change. But pretty soon, everything is different.
If you suffer distress because of some external cause, it is not the thing itself that troubles you but your judgment on it, and it is within your power to cancel that judgment at any moment.
[Εἰ μὲν διά τι τῶν ἐκτὸς λυπῇ, οὐκ ἐκεῖνό σοι ἐνοχλεῖ, ἀλλὰ τὸ σὸν περὶ αὐτοῦ κρῖμα, τοῦτο δὲ ἤδη ἐξαλεῖψαι ἐπὶ σοί ἐστιν.]
Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) Roman emperor (161-180), Stoic philosopher
Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 8, ch. 47 (8.47) (AD 161-180) [tr. Hard (1997 ed.)]
(Source)
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:If therefore it be a thing external that causes thy grief, know, that it is not that properly that doth cause it, but thine own conceit and opinion concerning the thing: which thou mayest rid thyself of, when thou wilt.
[tr. Casaubon (1634), 8.45]If externals put you into the spleen, take notice 'tis not the thing which disturbs you, but your notion about it: which notion you may dismiss if you please.
[tr. Collier (1701)]If you are grieved about anything external, ’tis not the thing itself that afflicts you, but your judgment about it; and it is in your power to correct this judgment and get quit of it.
[tr. Hutcheson/Moor (1742)]If you are uneasy on account of anything external, be assured, it is not the thing itself that disturbs you, but your opinion concerning it. Now this opinion is in your own power to get rid of, if you please.
[tr. Graves (1792), 8.46]If thou art pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs thee, but thy own judgment about it. And it is in thy power to wipe out this judgment now.
[tr. Long (1862), original]If you are pained by external things, it is not they that disturb you, but your own judgment of them. And it is in your power to wipe out that judgment now.
[tr. Long (1862), modernized]If anything external vexes you, take notice that it is not the thing which disturbs you, but your notion about it, which notion you may dismiss at once if you please.
[tr. Collier/Zimmern (1887)]If you are pained by anything without, it is not the thing agitates you, but your own judgment concerning the thing; and this it is in your own power to efface.
[tr. Rendall (1898)]When you are grieved about anything external it is not the thing itself which afflicts you, but your judgment about it. This judgment it is in your power to efface.
[tr. Hutcheson/Chrystal (1902)]When thou art vexed at some external cross, it is not the thing itself that troubles thee, but thy judgment on it. And this thou canst annul in a moment.
[tr. Haines (Loeb) (1916)]If you suffer pain because of some external cause, what troubles you is not the thing but your decision about it, and this it is in your power to wipe out at once.
[tr. Farquharson (1944)]If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing yourself but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.
[tr. Staniforth (1964)]External things are not the problem. It’s your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now.
[tr. Hays (2003)]If your distress has some external cause, it is not the thing itself that troubles you, but your own judgement of it -- and you can erase this immediately.
[tr. Hammond (2006)]If you suffer distress because of some external cause, it is not the thing itself that troubles you but your judgement about it, and it is within your power to cancel that judgement at any moment.
[tr. Hard (2011 ed.)]