Logic is one thing, the human animal another. You can quite easily propose a logical solution to something and at the same time hope in your heart of hearts it won't work out.
Luigi PirandelloRead
Do you believe you can know yourselves if you don't somehow con- struct yourselves? Or that I can know you if I don't construct you in my way? And can you know me if I don't construct you in my way? We can know only what we succeed in giving form to.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Self-knowledge and understanding of others require active participation in creating those identities.
This quote by Luigi Pirandello emphasizes the notion that knowledge of oneself and others is not merely a passive discovery but an active construction of identity. It suggests that our understanding is shaped by our interactions and the roles we project onto ourselves and perceive in others, highlighting the subjective nature of knowledge and identity.
Themes
Self-KnowledgeIdentityUnderstandingSubjectivityConstruction
In practice
Example use cases
In a workshop on personal development, this quote could inspire participants to reflect on their identities.
More from Luigi Pirandello
All quotes →We're like so many puppets hung on the wall, waiting for someone to come and move us or make us talk.
Luigi PirandelloRead
Woe to him who doesn't know how to wear his mask, be he king or pope!
Luigi PirandelloRead
THE FATHER: But don't you see that the whole trouble lies here? In words, words. Each one of us has within him a whole world of things, each man of us his own special world. And how can we ever come to an understanding if I put in the words I utter the sense and value of things as I see them; while you who listen to me must inevitably translate them according to the conception of things each one of you has within himself. We think we understand each other, but we never really do.
Luigi PirandelloRead
Whoever has the luck to be born a character can laugh even at death. Because a character will never die! A man will die, a writer, the instrument of creation: but what he has created will never die!
Luigi PirandelloRead
A fact is like a sack - it won't stand up if it's empty. To make it stand up, first you have to put in it all the reasons and feelings that caused it in the first place.
Luigi PirandelloRead
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