143 Quotes About Symbols

He said that people who loved [animals] to excess were capable of the worst cruelties toward human beings. He said that dogs were not loyal but servile, that cats were opportunists and traitors, that peacocks were heralds of death, that macaws were simply decorative annoyances, that rabbits fomented greed, that monkeys carried the fever of lust, and that roosters were damned because they had been complicit in the three denials of Christ.

Nature is a temple in which living columns sometimes emit confused words. Man approaches it through forests of symbols, which observe him with familiar glances.

Culture is a symbolic veil with which we hide our animal nature from ourselves … and other animals.

...this cryptic game of hide-and-seek is what makes it one of the greatest historical mysteries. So many of the symbols can be interpreted in so many different ways, there's always the possibility that all we're really looking at is a blank slate onto which anything can be read.

The truth is a symbol, and symbols are the truth. It is best to graspsymbols the way they are. There’s no logic or facts, no pig’s bellybutton or ant’s balls. When people try to use a method other than thetruth to follow along the path of understanding, it is like trying to use asieve to hold water.

We write, edit, and rewrite the story of our own life employing descriptive words, metaphors, and symbols. Our lives are full of symbols including those supplied by nature and religion, which touch upon the mystical and spiritual aspects of life. Symbols inspire enduring hope by formulating idealist expectations.

...isn’t it intriguing that thought cannot exist without language, and since language is a function of the brain, we would have to say that language---the ability to experience the world through symbols---is in some sense a physical property of human beings, which proves that the old mind-body duality is so much nonsense, doesn’t it? Adieu, Descartes. The mind and body are one.

The human spirit craves for mastery over its carnal shell.

Humanity, why do you keep giving certain people awards that many others deserve? ...We don't need symbols anymore. We need equality. I am against giving the credit only to a single person. This is how hate occurs and there are divides in the society. All people must have equal chances of admiration.