Vita Sackville-West Quotes

No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience.

In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is.

Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced.

In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.

I realize now that the reality of things is not something you convey to people but something you make.

Not having heard something is not as good as having heard it; having heard it is not as good as having seen it; having seen it is not as good as knowing it; knowing it is not as good as putting it into practice.

You cannot see what I see because you see what you see. You cannot know what I know because you know what you know. What I see and what I know cannot be added to what you see and what you know because they are not of the same kind. Neither can it replace what you see and what you know, because that would be to replace you yourself." "Hang on, can I write this down?" said Arthur, excitedly fumbling in his pocket for a pencil.

Perhaps someday you can have one city as easy to see as Illusions and as hard to forget as Reality.

The map isn't always the territory, and you have to kind of walk through it to get a feel for it.

Remember: whatsoever I am saying is not the thing that I want to say to you. Whatsoever I am saying has nothing to do with truth, because truth cannot be said. Whatsoever I am saying is nothing but a hammering. If you become awake, you will see the truth.

As human beings, the closest we can get to truth is through story.

The world of immediate experience the world in which we find ourselves living must be comprehended, transformed, even subverted in order to become that which it really is.

Do not require a description of the countries towards which you sail. The description does not describe them to you, and to- morrow you arrive there, and know them by inhabiting them.

Literature, whether handed down by word or mouth or in print, gives us a second handle on reality.

To accept some idea of truth without experiencing it is like a painting of a cake on paper which you cannot eat.

Understanding has very specific component parts. These component parts are affinity, reality and communication.

Language, as symbol, determines much of the nature and quality of our experience.

The strength of your memory dictates the size of your reality

Conversation is the laboratory and workshop of the student.

Reality is always greater - much greater - than what we know, than whatever we can say about it.

Being that can be understood is language.

Language is the writer's only tool - we really don't have anything else - but our language contains within it our entire experience of the world.

The occurrence of an event is not the same thing as knowing what it is that one has lived through.

That which is communicated, i.e., understood, is metaphysical. The means of communication is physical.

Training was one thing, reality another.