UNDERSTAND?

"Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand."

Saint Augustine, 3rd century theologian.

Belief first; understanding will follow and when it does you can then decide what to do with what you now understand.

Not before.

THIS BLOG INCLUDED

"The more we elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate."

J. B. Priestley, 20th century English author

Mr. Priestley died long before email, text, IM, blogging, social networks and all the rest, which, today, passes for "communication", came into existence.

Maybe you had to be around, when little or none of that existed, to know the great majority of it, this blog included, has little or nothing to do with communication.

WHAT'D YOU SAY?

"To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well."

John Marshall, fourth Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court

And much more difficult to do, which is why there is so little effective communication in the world.

Ever taken a public speaking course?

Ever even heard of one teaching you to listen?

UNDERSTAND?

"Mystery is not profoundness."

Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832) British clergyman/sportsman/author.

There are many things we don't understand, far more than those we do.

And while it is good to learn as much as possible, some of what we don't know is not worth learning.

The difficult part is deciding which is which.

I SAY A, YOU HEAR a

"Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people."

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) Irish poet/playwright.

Mr. Yeats is recommending that the words we choose to communicate be understood by those with which we wish to communicate.

I understand that.

THE MORE YOU KNOW THE MORE YOU KNOW YOU DON'T KNOW

"Who knows most believes least."

Proverb

You know (or should know) this if you've invested in start-ups for which you did not do sufficient due diligence prior to making your investment. 

But this applies to every aspect of business.

LET ME INTERPRET THIS FOR YOU

"All meanings, we know, depend on the key of interpretation."

George Eliot (1819-1880) British writer

Understanding this will largely be the result of you having interpreted it's meaning.

Moreover, what you determine that meaning to be will not be the same as what many others decide is true.

The quote is about "meanings", plural.

WHAT, WHY, WHAT NOW?

"Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why."

Bernard M. Baruch (1870-1965) American financier/political consultant

Questions beginning with "what" are, as Mr. Baruch implied, asked by all of us.

They concern the mundane to interesting events that make up life, some of which hold value far beyond just what they are.

For when we also ask "why?" followed by "what now?", we begin to see beyond what is to what might be.

UNDERSTAND, YOU OFTEN DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU UNDERSTAND

"Humor is the first gift to perish in a foreign language."

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) British novelist/essayist

Not just with foreign languages and not just with humor; understanding is often a casualty as well.

Just because you understand what the other person is saying doesn't mean you understand what the other person is saying.

PUT UP OR SHUT UP

"We never say so much as when we do not quite know what we want to say. We need few words when we have something to say, but all the words in all the dictionaries will not suffice when we have nothing to say and want desperately to say it."

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American philosopher/author

This being true the title I've selected for today's quote is the advice I believe Mr. Hoffer would have given were he not the gentleman he was.

I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND THIS

"You always admire what you really don't understand."

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) American columnist/lecturer/humanitarian.

I am leery of quotes such as this which use absolutes ("always").

Very little in life is "always" or "never", nor is "everyone" or "no one" always or never 100% for or against something.

Contrary to what extremist of all sorts would have you believe we live life in the middle.

That said the core of Ms. Roosevelt's statement is true.

UNDERSTANDING DIGNITY

"Our dignity is not in what we do, but what we understand."

George Santayana (1863-1952) American philosopher/poet

There is a very important, very subtle distinction between these two.

Think about how much you do versus how much you understand. 

If you are like most there is quite a bit more of the former, much less of the latter.

Ideally they would be equal.

HAVE I MADE MYSELF CLEAR?

"Two nations divided only by a common language."

Unknown

Calling the author of this quote "unknown" may surprise many of you, in that it is most often attributed to Winston Churchill. But as well to George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde just to name two others.

Whoever it was it makes the point that two nations, and I think people as well, can use the same language without understanding each other.

Think about this the next time you find yourself saying, "S(he) just doesn't get it."

You might not either.

I CAN SEE THAT

"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

17th century British poet/satirist

Can you think of anything worse than believing you know what you really don't know?

I HATE THAT

"Nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first known."

Leonardo da Vinci

Late 15th/early 16th century Italian painter/sculptor/architect

And still we love and hate so much while knowing so very little.

HUH?

"Every other enjoyment malice may destroy; every other panegyric envy may withhold; but no human power can deprive the boaster of his own encomiums."

Samuel Johnson

18th century British author

I've made this point before including citing my 6th grade teacher Matthew Kim. Nonetheless it's worth repeating.

Mr. Kim taught his students to "Speak not so you can be understood but so you cannot be misunderstood."

Samuel Johnson has much wisdom to share and I've included many of his easily understood quotes in this blog.

This isn't one of them, at least not for me.

They're Not Laughing

"Humor is the first gift to perish in a foreign language."

Virginia Woolf

20th century British novelist

Because communication is as much if not more about the culture as it is the translation.

If you don't know one you don't know the other.

And if you don't know what I mean, I rest my case.

Knowledge Without Understanding . . . What's It Worth?

"When you cease to try to understand than you will know without understanding."

Chinese proverb

And if you really don't understand how can you act on what you know?

Above All Else, Understand

"I have striven not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at them, nor to hate them, but to understand them."

Benedict de Spinoza

17th century Dutch Jewish philosopher

I know I've visited this notion in other quotes but it is too important not to risk overstating.

If we did nothing more than understand the views of others there would be almost no limit to what we could accomplish.

Important in business, certainly, but in all things we do as well.

I Went To Colage, I Kno Stuf

 "Much learning does not teach understanding."

Heraclitus

5th century BC Greek philosopher

I've met many individuals whose education is diametrically opposed to their apparent intelligence.

Unfortunately a reality that has, on occasion, applied to me as well.

How about you?