# Quotes about symbols - Quotes: 9 - Authors: 7 - Topic page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/symbols - JSON version (same data): https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/symbols.json ## Quotes > Perhaps the first fire, the first tool, the first wheel, the first carving in a limestone cave, had each possessed a symbolic rather than a practical value, had each been pressed to serve distortion rather than reality. It was a sort of madness that had driven man from his humble sites on the edges of the woods into towns and cities, into arts and wars, into religious crusades, into martyrdom and prostitution, into dyspepsia and fasting, into love and hatred, into this present cul-de-sac; it had all come about in pursuit of symbols. In the beginning was the symbol, and darkness was over the face of the Earth. [Brian Aldiss](https://www.leafyquotes.com/brian-aldiss.md) · [Greybeard](https://www.leafyquotes.com/brian-aldiss/greybeard.md) · p. 91 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/brian-aldiss/greybeard/perhaps-the-first.md) Topics: [civilization](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/civilization.md), [symbols](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/symbols.md) > We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges. When soldiers take their oath they are given a coin, an asimi stamped with the profile of the Autarch. Their acceptance of that coin is their acceptance of the special duties and burdens of military life—they are soldiers from that moment, though they may know nothing of the management of arms. I did not know that then, but it is a profound mistake to believe that we must know of such things to be influenced by them, and in fact to believe so is to believe in the most debased and superstitious kind of magic. The would-be sorcerer alone has faith in the efficacy of pure knowledge; rational people know that things act of themselves or not at all. [Gene Wolfe](https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe.md) · [The Shadow of the Torturer](https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-shadow-of-the-torturer.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-shadow-of-the-torturer/we-believe-that.md) Topics: [symbols](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/symbols.md) > Espousing the melancholy of ancient symbols, I would have freed myself. [Emil Cioran](https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran.md) · [A Short History of Decay](https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/a-short-history-of-decay.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/a-short-history-of-decay/espousing-the-melancholy.md) Topics: [melancholy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/melancholy.md), [symbols](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/symbols.md) > I observe that in modern times men only get a hold over others by force or self-interest, while the ancients did more by persuasion, by the affections of the heart; because they did not neglect the language; of symbolic expression. All agreements were drawn up solemnly, so that they might be more inviolable; before the reign of force, the gods were the judges of mankind; in their presence, individuals made their treaties and alliances, and pledged themselves to perform their promises; the face of the earth was the book in which the archives were preserved. The leaves of this book were rocks, trees, piles of stones, made sacred by these transactions, and regarded with reverence by barbarous men; and these pages were always open before their eyes. The well of the oath, the well of the living and seeing one; the ancient oak of Mamre, the stones of witness, such were the simple but stately monuments of the sanctity of contracts; none dared to lay a sacrilegious hand on these monuments, and man's faith was more secure under the warrant of these dumb witnesses than it is to-day upon all the rigour of the law. [Jean Jacques Rousseau](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau.md) · [Emile; or On Education](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/i-observe-that.md) Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md), [symbols](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/symbols.md) > As a general rule—never substitute the symbol for the thing signified, unless it is impossible to show the thing itself; for the child's attention is so taken up with the symbol that he will forget what it signifies. [Jean Jacques Rousseau](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau.md) · [Emile; or On Education](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/as-a-general.md) Topics: [education](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/education.md), [symbols](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/symbols.md) > A labyrinth of symbols... An invisible labyrinth of time. [Jorge Luis Borges](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jorge-luis-borges.md) · [The Garden of Forking Paths](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jorge-luis-borges/the-garden-of-forking-paths.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jorge-luis-borges/the-garden-of-forking-paths/a-labyrinth-of-symbols.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md), [symbols](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/symbols.md) > It is only natural that I should constantly have revolved in my mind the question of the relationship of the symbolism of the unconscious to Christianity as well as to other religions. Not only do I leave the door open for the Christian message, but I consider it of central importance for Western man. It needs, however, to be seen in a new light, in accordance with the changes wrought by the contemporary spirit. [Carl Jung](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung.md) · [Memories, Dreams, Reflections](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung/memories-dreams-reflections.md) · p. 210 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung/memories-dreams-reflections/it-is-only.md) Topics: [Christianity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/christianity.md), [symbols](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/symbols.md) > We are living in what the Greeks called the right time for a "metamorphosis of the gods," i.e. of the fundamental principles and symbols. This peculiarity of our time, which is certainly not of our conscious choosing, is the expression of the unconscious man within us who is changing. Coming generations will have to take account of this momentous transformation if humanity is not to destroy itself through the might of its own technology and science. [Carl Jung](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung.md) · [The Undiscovered Self](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung/the-undiscovered-self.md) · p. 110 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung/the-undiscovered-self/we-are-living.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md), [technology](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technology.md), [symbols](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/symbols.md) > No reference is truly direct—every reference depends on some kind of coding scheme. It's just a question of how implicit it is. [Douglas R. Hofstadter](https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-r-hofstadter.md) · [Godel, Escher, Bach](https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-r-hofstadter/godel-escher-bach.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-r-hofstadter/godel-escher-bach/no-reference-is-truly.md) Topics: [language](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/language.md), [symbols](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/symbols.md)