[I] never understood [what a republican government was and] I believe no other man ever did or ever will.
Every man supposes himself not to be fully understood or appreciated.
[At age 92:] There are places I'd like to return to. But not as I was then but as I am now. 'Cause I'm trying to understand. And I've understood nothing.
No one has ever understood anything better by assuming that there is no reason for why it is the way it is.
I thought I understood what was best. I knew too little and believed too soon.
I'd like to leave America for someplace where they would not know a word of English and I might be understood.
We need to develop a better descriptive vocabulary for lying, a taxonomy, a way to distinguish intentional lies from unintentional ones, and a way to distinguish the lies that the liar himself believes in-a way to signal those lies that could more accurately be understood as dreams.
How can anyone expect to be understood unless he presents his thoughts with complete honesty? This situation is unfair because it asks too much of the world. In effect, we say, ' I don't dare show you what I am because I don't trust you for a minute but please love me anyway because I so need you to. And, of course, if you don't love me anyway, you're a dirty dog, just as I suspected, so I was right in the first place. ' Yet, every time God's children have thrown away fear in pursuit of honesty-trying to communicate themselves, understood or not, miracles have happened.
I finally understood: In order to contribute to Africa, I would have to know myself better and be clearer about my goals. I would have to be ready to take Africa on its own terms, not mine, and to learn my limits and present myself not as a do-gooder with a big heart, but as someone with something to give and gain by being there. Compassion wasn't enough
And we find from Church history that the primitive Christians thus understood it; for that women did actually speak and preach amongst them we have indisputable proof.
A writer is justly called 'universal' when he is understood within the limits of his civilization, though that be bounded by a country or an age.
If we are understood, more words are unnecessary; if we are not likely to be understood, they are useless.
It is important to bear in mind the now commonly accepted fact that in its primitive stages, religion had nothing to do with morals as understood by us today.
I understood. . . . that in my own life I represented a whole period of American history.
I don’t mind expressing my opinions and speaking out against injustice. I would be doing this even if I wasn’t a writer. I grew up in a household that believed in social justice. I have always understood myself as having an obligation to stand on the side of the silenced, the oppressed, and the mistreated.
A false conclusion once arrived at and widely accepted is not easily dislodged and the less it is understood the more tenaciously it is held.
Being that can be understood is language.
Transgressions are to be understood and corrected, not dwelt upon or agonized over.
If the voters really understood what we were up to they'd vote us out of office.
For those who are understood no need to explain