Quote #27

[A Game:] We begin by asking the meaning of every word uttered:Then we ask the meaning of the words used in the definitions and, and this process is continued for no more than ten or fifteen minutes until the victim begins to speak in circles...

More from Alfred Korzybski

  1. We read unconsciously into the world the structure of the language we use. The guessing and ascribing of fanciful, mostly primitive-assumed…
  2. ...provided we could define all terms. But this is impossible... We thus see that all linguistic schemes, if analyzed far enough, would dep…
  3. Thus, we see that one of the obvious origins of human disagreement lies in the use of noises for words.
  4. It would be interesting to see the Behaviorists deny that the writing of a mathematical treatise, or of some new theory of quantum mechanic…
  5. If, in spite of all contrary evidence, or the lack of positive evidence, [a person] holds persistently ... such affective beliefs is seriou…
  6. Aristotelian , Euclidian [line, space, length] and Newtonian [speed of light] systems... have a few unjustified infinities too many: when s…
  7. ...the analogy between the noises we make when these noises do not symbolize anything which exists, and the worthless checks we write when …
  8. The Non-Aristotelian, Non-Euclidian, and Non-Newtonian trilogy is more general than Aristotelian, Euclidian, and Newtonian trilogy... becau…

All Alfred Korzybski quotes