T. E. Hulme Quotes

Common experience is the gold reserve which confers an exchange value on the currency which words are; without this reserve of shared experiences, all our pronouncements are checks drawn on insufficient funds.

Words are acoustical signs for concepts; concepts, however, are more or less definite image signs for often recurring and associated sensations, for groups of sensations. To understand one another, it is not enough that one use the same words; one also has to use the same words for the same species of inner experiences; in the end one has to have one's experiences in common.

To use the same words is not a sufficient guarantee of understanding; one must use the same words for the same genus of inward experience; ultimately one must have one's experiences in common.

Language is a social art.

Real answers need to be found in dialogue and interaction and, yes, our shared human condition. This means being open to one another instead of simply fighting to maintain a prescribed position.

An easy solution for many controversies may be found as long as we are able to be on our guard for the same words being used with conflicting meanings by different authors.

I love when a protagonist and antagonist can find common ground.

If we reach common ground, and can understand what everybody's going through, we can really affect change. And make sure that everyone is trated equally and has the same freedom.

As humans we speak one language.

We are all saying the same thing in different words.

This was our common ground, the secret we shared but never spoke aloud.

No one is exempt from the call to find common ground.

It is hard to believe long together that anything is "worth while," unless there is some eye to kindle in common with our own, some brief word uttered now and then to imply that what is infinitely precious to us is precious alike to another mind.

The material comes from whenever you realize that you and someone else have something in common. So any conversation you've had more than once, anything you see happening to you that you see happening to a friend, you go, Hmmm, that's a situation I can make funny.

We come to reason, not to dominate. We do not seek to have our way, but to find a common way.

I absolutely think that it's possible for us to find common ground.

A common language is the most obvious binding element in any society.

Connect deeply with others. Our humanity is the one thing that we all have in common.

A language is a map of our failures

That 'simple desire' to share something meant that we could enter the world of language without words, where everything is always clear and there is no danger of being misinterpreted.

I am a very committed person when it comes to finding common ground.

Go to find common ground; where you can't, you stand your ground.

The communication of ideas requires a similitude of thought and language . . .

Sometimes you think certain details are things that only you would notice, so it's a great thing to feel like you're not by yourself and people understand where you're coming from.

Good discourse sinks differences and seeks agreements.