QuoteProject
The big print giveth and the small print taketh away.
Tom Waits
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Appearances can be deceiving; what seems beneficial may have hidden drawbacks.

This quote emphasizes the dual nature of information presented to us, suggesting that while large and appealing terms may attract attention and promise benefits, the finer details often reveal limitations or downsides. It serves as a caution to examine not just what is prominently displayed but also to dig deeper into the smaller intricacies that might affect our understanding.

Themes

WisdomInformationDetailsDeceptionCaution

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a discussion about contract agreements to highlight the importance of reading the fine print.

More from Tom Waits

When you're writing, you're conjuring. It's a ritual, and you need to be brave and respectful and sometimes get out of the way of whatever it is that you're inviting into the room.
Tom WaitsRead
If you're in the middle of the ocean with no flippers and no life preserver and you hear a helicopter, this is music. You have to adjust to your needs at the moment.
Tom WaitsRead
I knelt at the altar of Ray Charles for years. I worked at a restaurant, and that's all there was on the jukebox.
Tom WaitsRead
Don't plant your bad days. They grow into weeks. The weeks grow into months. Before you know it, you got yourself a bad year. Take it from me - choke those little bad days. Choke 'em down to nothing.
Tom WaitsRead
My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like a blind man needs a cane.
Tom WaitsRead
Now its raining its pouring the old man is snoring now I lay me down to sleep I hear the sirens in the street all my dreams are made of chrome I have no way to get back home I’d rather die before I wake like Marilyn Monroe and throw my dreams out in the street and the rain make β€˜em grow
Tom WaitsRead

Similar quotes

Thought is a key to all treasures; the miser's gains are ours without his cares. Thus I have soared above this world, where my enjoyment have been intellectual joys.
Honore De BalzacRead
You hold in your hand an invitation: to remember the transforming power of forgiveness and loving kindness. To remember that no matter where you are and what you face, within your heart peace is possible.
Jack KornfieldRead
If one wants to lead a good life, A HUMAN LIFE, one must work.
Anton ChekhovRead
Don't tell your problems to people: eighty percent don't care; and the other twenty percent are glad you have them.
Lou HoltzRead
Meditation is the way in which we come to feel our basic inseparability from the whole universe, and what that requires is that we shut up.
Alan WattsRead
Fair speech may hide a foul heart.
J. R. R. TolkienRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.

Quote by Tom Waits | QuoteProject