It is not that things give meaning to words; it is that meaning makes things "things.” It does not make things in their subsistence; but it does make things in their discreteness for the understanding. (Richard Weaver)

It is not that things give meaning to words; it is that meaning makes things "things.” It does not make things in their subsistence; but it does make things in their discreteness for the understanding.

Richard Weaver

Related topics

meaning subsistence understanding words things

Related quotes

Being, belief and reason are pure relations, which cannot be dealt with absolutely, and are not things but pure scholastic concepts, signs for understanding, not for worshipping, aids to awaken our attention, not to fetter it. View quote
Johann Georg Hamann
The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things. View quote
Giambattista Vico
One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision. View quote
Bertrand Russell
Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves; vanity, to what we would have others think of us. View quote
Jane Austen
The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do, and the more genuine may be one's appreciation of fundamental things like home, and love, and understanding companionship. View quote
Amelia Earhart