Understand

Famous quotes containing the word understand:

    “This sand seemed to us the connecting link between land and water. It was a kind of water on which you could walk, and you could see the ripple-marks on its surface, produced by the winds, precisely like those at the bottom of a brook or lake. We had read that Mussulmans are permitted by the Koran to perform their ablutions in sand when they cannot get water, a necessary indulgence in Arabia, and we now understand the propriety of this provision.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    “My consolation is to think of the women I have known, now that there is no longer such thing as elegance. But how can people who contemplate these horrible creatures under their hats covered in pigeon-houses or gardens, how can they understand the charm of seeing Madame Swann wearing a simple mauve cap or a small hat surmounted by a straight iris?”
    —Marcel Proust (1871–1922)

    “I understand the phrase “Honor the Women” all too well: the poet has probably a wife of his own, but he prefers to honor another.”
    —Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)