Any fool can criticize, complain, and condemn—and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author
Belief consists in accepting the affirmations of the soul; unbelief, in denying them.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
All meanings, we know, depend on the key of interpretation.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
There would be no society if living together depended upon understanding each other.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
Live this day as if it will be your last. Remember that you will only find “tomorrow” on the calendars of fools. Forget yesterday’s defeats and ignore the problems of tomorrow. This is it. Doomsday. All you have. Make it the best day of your year. The saddest words you can ever utter are, “If I had my life to live over again. “Take the baton, now. Run with it! This is your day! Beginning today, treat everyone you meet, friend or foe, loved one or stranger, as if they were going to be dead at midnight. Extend to each person, no matter how trivial the contact, all the care and kindness and understanding and love that you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.
—Og Mandino (1923–96) American Self-Help Author
I hear, I forget. I see, I remember. I do, I understand.
—Chinese Proverb
I have striven not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at them, nor to hate them, but to understand them.
—Baruch Spinoza (1632–77) Dutch Philosopher, Theologian
Where I am not understood, it shall be concluded that something very useful and profound is couched underneath.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
The great art of learning is to understand but little at a time.
—John Locke (1632–1704) English Philosopher, Physician
A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation.
—Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) (1870–1916) British Short Story Writer, Satirist, Historian
When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don’t blame the lettuce. You look into the reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce. Yet if we have problems with our friends or our family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like lettuce. Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason and arguments. That is my experience. No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding. If you understand, and you show that you understand, you can love, and the situation will change.
—Thich Nhat Hanh (1926–2022) Vietnamese Buddhist Religious Leader, Teacher, Author, Peace Activist
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
—Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) Swiss Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Philosopher
Before enlightenment, I chopped wood and carried water. After enlightenment, I chopped wood and carried water.
—Zen Proverb Japanese School of Mahayana Buddhism
Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only because I love. Everything is united by it alone. Love is God, and to die means that I, a particle of love, shall return to the general and eternal source.
—Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian Novelist
I don’t understand you. You don’t understand me. What else do we have in common?
—Ashleigh Brilliant (b.1933) British Cartoonist, Author
If the human brain were simple enough to understand, we’d be so simple we couldn’t.
—Unknown
Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery.
—J. K. Rowling (b.1965) English Novelist
A blind man knows he cannot see, and is glad to be led, though it be by a dog; but he that is blind in his understanding, which is the worst blindness of all, believes he sees as the best, and scorns a guide.
—Samuel Butler
If you don’t understand yourself you don’t understand anybody else.
—Nikki Giovanni (b.1943) American Poet, Writer, Activist, Educator
When the eyes say one thing and the tongue another, the practiced person relies on the language of the first.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Martyrs must choose between being forgotten, mocked or made use of. As for being understood, never.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that thou mayest believe, but believe, that thou mayest understand.
—Augustine of Hippo (354–430) Roman-African Christian Philosopher
Is an intelligent human being likely to be much more than a large-scale manufacturer of misunderstanding?
—Philip Roth (1933–2018) American Novelist, Short-story Writer
Understanding can overcome any situation, however mysterious or insurmountable it may appear to be.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
The man of understanding finds everything laughable.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
I understand people’s suffering, people’s pain, more than you will every know yourself.
—Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–97) English Royal, Humanitarian, Peace Activist
Contentment is accepting the world as an imperfect place.
—Anonymous
Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.
—Marie Curie (1867–1934) Polish-born French Physicist, Chemist
The key to understanding others is to first understand yourself
—Unknown
When you don’t understand, it’s sometimes easier to look like you do.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson