Definitions quotes
788 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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"I'm not comfortable with categories, and I distrust most definitions. The word 'definition' is based on the word 'finite,' which would seem to indicate that once we've defined something, we don't need to think about it anymore."
"Nancy Clutter is always in a hurry, but she always has time. And that's one definition of a lady."
"The proper words in the proper places are the true definition of style."
"Love is a continual interrogation. I don’t know of a better definition of love."
"What should we gain by a definition, as it can only lead us to other undefined terms?"
"Imagine how much easier it would be for us to learn how to love if we began with a shared definition."
"But when you have to deal with notes, and to be able to make a full definition of what a sound is - if you are not around that environment, then you'll find you lose that feel, that momentum, you lose all that."
"As long as imperialism exists it will, by definition, exert its domination over other countries. Today that domination is called neocolonialism."
"If 'bounded by a surface' is the definition of body there cannot be an infinite body either intelligible or sensible."
"Throw away the light, the definitions, and say what you see in the dark."
"Beauty plus pity -- that is the closest we can get to a definition of art."
"The concentrating of powers in the same hands is precisely the definition of despotic government. It will be no alleviation that these powers will be exercised by a plurality of hands, and not by a single one."
"Clever, but schoolteacher beat him anyway to show him that definitions belonged to the definers - not the defined."
"One thing's for sure. If we keep doing what we're doing, we're going to keep getting what we're getting. One definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expect different results."
"A lady is nothing very specific. One man's lady is another man's woman; sometimes, one man's lady is another man's wife. Definitions overlap but they almost never coincide."
"I have my own definition of minimalism, which is that which is created with a minimum of means."
"The definition of S & M is letting someone hurt you that you know would never hurt you."
"The very act of story-telling, of arranging memory and invention according to the structure of the narrative, is by definition holy. We tell stories because we can't help it. We tell stories because we love to entertain and hope to edify. We tell stories because they fill the silence death imposes. We tell stories because they save us."
"A society in stable equilibrium is-by definition-one that has no history and wants no historians."
"Protocol is etiquette with a government expense account."
