General Semantics Quotes (47 quotes)

“Looking but not seeing is the hearing but not understanding of the eye.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: ambiguity, ambiguous, aphorism, aphorisms, aphorist, aphorists, comprehend, comprehension, ear, ears, eye, eyeglasses, eyes, funny, gaze, gazing, general-semantics, glasses, hear, hearing, hilarious, humor, humorous, humour, joke, jokes, language, look, looking, misunderstand, misunderstanding, satire, see, seeing, semantics, sight, spectacles, understand, understanding

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“Ambition’ is ‘greed’ rebranded.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: ambition, branding, consumerism, general-semantics, greed, materialism, semantics

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“Nothing complements a fast mind better than a slow tongue. And nothing aggravates a slow mind better than a fast tongue.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: aggravate, aggravates, aggravation, brain, brood-about, brood-on, chew-over, cogitate, complement, complements, compliment, compliments, consider, contemplate, deliberate-over, dwell-on, fast, fool, foolish, fools, general-semantics, intellect, intelligent, meditate-on, mind, mull-over, muse-on, ponder, reflect-on, ruminate-on, semantics, silence, silent, speak, speaker, speakers, talk, talker, talkers, think, think-about, thinker, thinkers, tongue, tongues, turn-over-in-one-s-mind, wisdom, wise

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“Unlike meaning, the truth always survives translation.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: ambiguity, ambiguous, general-semantics, language, linguistics, meaning, meaningless, semantics, translation, writing

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“To millions of children, a condom is nothing but a balloon.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana, On Friendship: A Satirical Essay

tags: balloon, condom, description, general-semantics, is, language, meaning, perceiver, perception, semantics

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“Poetry is the art of hiding the inadequacy of language.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: general-semantics, language, linguistics, meaning, meditation, mysticism, poetry, semantics, spirituality, yoga

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“Sometimes a fool says something wise without the intention to do that, and the awareness of having done that.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: fool, general-semantics, imbecile, language, luck, meaning, semantics, stupid, wisdom, wise

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“A thing named, misnamed, unnamed, or renamed is still itself.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: communication, essence, general-semantics, language, linguistics, naming, pessimism, philosophy, semantics, stoicism

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“Indescribable’ is the only accurate description of life.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: buddhism, general-semantics, language, life, meaning, meditation, mindfulness, mysticism, semantics, spirituality

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“One demonstration is equivalent to one hundred explanations.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: demonstrate, demonstration, education, explain, explanation, general-semantics, language, learning, semantics, understanding

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“An event need not have been witnessed to have happened.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: general-semantics, journalism, no-witness, no-witnesses, observation, pessimism, philosophy, science, spirituality, witness

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“That statues are motionless would be true only if the earth were the universe.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: astrology, cosmology, general-semantics, language, motion, movement, philosophy, science, semantics, stationary

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“A statement can be truthful when it is said or written, but untruthful when it is heard or read.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: communication, false, general-semantics, language, reading, semantics, speech, time, true, truth

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“We can know, not what a thing is, but what its name is.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: essence, general-semantics, language, linguistics, name, nonduality, philosophy, science, semantics, spirituality

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“The name of a thing gets in the way of us seeing more of it.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: general-semantics, language, linguistics, meaning, mindfulness, name, sight, spirituality, yoga

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“How the seen looks depends on how the seer sees.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: eye, eyes, general-semantics, mysticism, perception, perspective, philosophy, semantics, sight, spirituality

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“Only in the mind is the mouth separate from the anus.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: all-is-one, anatomy, general-semantics, language, non-duality, nonduality, perception, semantics, separation, spirituality

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“A shadow does not need the object to which it belongs to move for it to move.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: darkness, general-semantics, light, movement, natural-science, perception, philosophy, relativity, science, shadow

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“The most pitiful thing we can do is try to describe life.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: general-semantics, language, life, meditation, mindfulness, mysticism, philosophy, semantics, spirituality, yoga

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“Two of the biggest problems with language is that you can say what you do not mean to say, and that you can say what you do not mean.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana, P for Pessimism: A Collection of Funny yet Profound Aphorisms

tags: ambiguity, communication, general-semantics, insincerity, language, linguistics, meaning, miscommunication, semantics, sincerity

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“We can ruin our enjoyment of a song by finding a translation of the lyrics into a language we understand.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: foreign, general-semantics, instrumental, language, meaning, music, music-production, semantics, translation, vocals

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“Experiencing is the only way that leads to the highest degree of knowing or understanding.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: education, empathy, experience, general-semantics, knowledge, learning, sympathy, teaching, theory, understanding

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“Being a great writer or speaker requires the appreciation of words, and that of the limits of language.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: general-semantics, great-speaker, great-writer, language, oratory, semantics, speakers, speaking, writers, writing

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“After the evasion of the death of the human and that of the human race, the most useful use of words is to show or remind us of the limits of language.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: communication, general-semantics, language, limits-of-language, linguistics, meaning, philosophy, semantics, spirituality, survival

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“You can say too much without talking too much.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: brevity, communication, general-semantics, language, linguistics, say-too-much, semantics, speaking, talk-too-much, writing

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“Sometimes it is, unbeknown to us, the name or the nickname, not the person or the thing, that is unknown to us.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: general-semantics, language, meaning, name, naming, nickname, referent, semantics, the-map-is-not-the-territory, the-name-is-not-the-thing

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“The direction towards or away from sleep is what differentiates being half-awake from being half-asleep.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: asleep, awake, general-semantics, half-asleep, half-awake, language, linguistics, meaning, semantics, sleep

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“You can know the name, but not understand or know the named.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: general-semantics, knowledge, language, linguistics, name, pessimism, philosophy, referent, semantics, understanding

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“A person whose name we know is way more likely, to get our attention, than a person whose name we do not know. The opposite is true, when it comes to things.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: attention, curiosity, education, familiarity, general-semantics, knowledge, marketing, novelty, psychology, unfamiliarity

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“Even the deepest possible description is superficial.”
― @Mokokoma Mokhonoana

tags: communication, definition, describe, description, dictionary, general-semantics, language, meaning, semantics, spirituality

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General Semantics Quotes

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