--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Expression, to a great extent, is a…" description: "\"Expression, to a great extent, is a matter of terms, and terms are anyone's.\" — Charles Ives" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/85f/charles-ives-17391_expression_expression-to-a-great-extent-is-a-matter_1578266.png" --- # Expression, to a great extent, is a matter of terms, and… ![“Expression, to a great extent, is a matter of terms, and terms are anyone's.” quote by Charles Ives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/85f/charles-ives-17391_expression_expression-to-a-great-extent-is-a-matter_1578266.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/85f/charles-ives-17391_expression_expression-to-a-great-extent-is-a-matter_1578266.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/85f/charles-ives-17391_expression_expression-to-a-great-extent-is-a-matter_1578266.png) > “Expression, to a great extent, is a matter of terms, and terms are anyone's.” [Charles Ives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-ives/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Language is shaped by the terms we choose, and those terms belong to everyone, making expression a shared, mutable construct. **In simple terms:** Words are shared tools for expression. Key Takeaway Choose terms thoughtfully to shape meaning. Themes language expression shared meaning communication Mood reflective analytical Type intellectual philosophical When to use this quote - writing - public speaking - debate - teaching Key Concepts semantics linguistics social construction Questions to Reflect On - How does word choice affect perception? - Can shared terms bridge cultural gaps? A Different Perspective Terms can be ambiguous, leading to misunderstandings. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Expression](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/expression/) [Expression Great](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/expression-great-1359865/) [Extent Matter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extent-matter-5956452/) [Great extent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/great-extent/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) [Matter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/matter/) [Matter Terms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/matter-terms-5160169/) [Term](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/term/) ## Related quotes > [“It doesn’t matter what the terms are, just that there are terms. It’s the goodwill that matters. When that runs out, the treaty is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-mantel/it-doesn-t-matter-what-the-terms-are-just-that-there-are-terms-it-s/) [Hilary Mantel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-mantel/) > [No reception without reaction, no impression without correlative expression, -this is the great maxim which the teacher ought never to forget.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/no-reception-without-reaction-no-impression-without-correlative/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [When the human being sings he lends expression to the great wise ways in which the world was made.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudolf-steiner/when-the-human-being-sings-he-lends-expression-to-the-great-wise-ways/) [Rudolf Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudolf-steiner/) > [There's an expression: Great is the enemy of the good. Sometimes in trying to be great, you make a mess of things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julie-bowen/there-s-an-expression-great-is-the-enemy-of-the-good-sometimes-in/) [Julie Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julie-bowen/) > [Great is Youth--equally great is Old Age--great are Day and Night. Great is Wealth--great is Poverty--great is Expression-great is Silence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/great-is-youth-equally-great-is-old-age-great-are-day-and-night-great/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [Things should all be moving toward the expression of a great idea.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-henri/things-should-all-be-moving-toward-the-expression-of-a-great-idea/) [Robert Henri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-henri/) > [It's a creative enterprise, just like art, just like painting, music. Creating something can be done in different categories, so to do it in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-redford/it-s-a-creative-enterprise-just-like-art-just-like-painting-music/) [Robert Redford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-redford/) > [All good management is the expression of one great idea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-heller/all-good-management-is-the-expression-of-one-great-idea/) [Robert Heller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-heller/) > [We are the most powerful nation in the world, but we're not the only nation in the world. We are not the only people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/studs-terkel/we-are-the-most-powerful-nation-in-the-world-but-we-re-not-the-only/) [Studs Terkel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/studs-terkel/) > [We lived on isolated farms and ranches, far from anybody, and when I was young I knew very few other kids, so I lived…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-williamson/we-lived-on-isolated-farms-and-ranches-far-from-anybody-and-when-i/) [Jack Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-williamson/) > [A peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will likely depend to a great extent on the economic development of a future Palestinian state. As…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-bronfman-sr/a-peaceful-resolution-to-the-israeli-palestinian-conflict-will-likely/) [Edgar Bronfman, Sr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-bronfman-sr/) > [I think I've matured to a great extent. I think that I want different things now. That it's not about the celebrity status that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emilio-estevez/i-think-i-ve-matured-to-a-great-extent-i-think-that-i-want-different/) [Emilio Estevez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emilio-estevez/) > [They knew who I was in Australia in 2006, but not to a great extent. Now, with the momentum of a second World Cup,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-f-cahill/they-knew-who-i-was-in-australia-in-2006-but-not-to-a-great-extent/) [Timothy F. Cahill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-f-cahill/) > [In writing my historical novels, I have to rely upon my imagination to a great extent. I think of it as 'filling in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-kay-penman/in-writing-my-historical-novels-i-have-to-rely-upon-my-imagination-to/) [Sharon Kay Penman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-kay-penman/) > [O'Neill presents a very complex multi-layered kind of challenge. His characters are always deeply complex and, to a great extent, inaccessible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-byrne/o-neill-presents-a-very-complex-multi-layered-kind-of-challenge-his/) [Gabriel Byrne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-byrne/) ## More by Charles Ives > [Expression, to a great extent, is a matter of terms, and terms are anyone's. The meaning of 'God' may have a billion interpretations if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-ives/expression-to-a-great-extent-is-a-matter-of-terms-and-terms-are/) [Charles Ives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-ives/) > [I don't write music for sissy ears.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-ives/i-don-t-write-music-for-sissy-ears/) [Charles Ives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-ives/) > [In some century to come, when the school children will whistle popular tunes in quarter-tones--when the diatonic scale will be as obsolete as the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-ives/in-some-century-to-come-when-the-school-children-will-whistle-popular/) [Charles Ives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-ives/) > [It is conceivable that what is unified form to the author or composer may of necessity be formless to his audience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-ives/it-is-conceivable-that-what-is-unified-form-to-the-author-or-composer/) [Charles Ives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-ives/) > [A rare experience of a moment at daybreak, when something in nature seems to reveal all consciousness, cannot be explained at noon. Yet it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-ives/a-rare-experience-of-a-moment-at-daybreak-when-something-in-nature/) [Charles Ives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-ives/) > [Most of the forward movements of life in general ... have been the work of essentially religiously-minded people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-ives/most-of-the-forward-movements-of-life-in-general-have-been-the-work/) [Charles Ives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-ives/) > [There can be nothing exclusive about substantial art. It comes directly out of the heart of the experience of life and thinking about life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-ives/there-can-be-nothing-exclusive-about-substantial-art-it-comes/) [Charles Ives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-ives/) > [The future of music may not lie entirely in music itself, but rather in the way it encourages and extends, rather than limits the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-ives/the-future-of-music-may-not-lie-entirely-in-music-itself-but-rather/) [Charles Ives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-ives/) > [An apparent confusion, if lived with long enough, may become orderly . . . A rare experience of a moment at daybreak, when something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-ives/an-apparent-confusion-if-lived-with-long-enough-may-become-orderly-a/) [Charles Ives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-ives/) > [The possibilities of percussion sounds, I believe, have never been fully realized](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-ives/the-possibilities-of-percussion-sounds-i-believe-have-never-been/) [Charles Ives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-ives/) > [Beauty in music is too often confused with something that lets the ears lie back in an easy chair. Many sounds that we are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-ives/beauty-in-music-is-too-often-confused-with-something-that-lets-the/) [Charles Ives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-ives/) > [Stand up and take your dissonance like a man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-ives/stand-up-and-take-your-dissonance-like-a-man/) [Charles Ives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-ives/) > [A song has a few rights the same as ordinary citizens... if it happens to feel like flying where humans cannot fly... to scale…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-ives/a-song-has-a-few-rights-the-same-as-ordinary-citizens-if-it-happens/) [Charles Ives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-ives/) > [You cannot set art off in a corner and hope for it to have vitality, reality, and substance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-ives/you-cannot-set-art-off-in-a-corner-and-hope-for-it-to-have-vitality/) [Charles Ives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-ives/) > [But maybe music was not intended to satisfy the curious definiteness of man. Maybe it is better to hope that music may always be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-ives/but-maybe-music-was-not-intended-to-satisfy-the-curious-definiteness/) [Charles Ives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-ives/) [Explore all 37 Charles Ives quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-ives/) ## More Expression quotes > [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [“What does it mean to be a self-conscious animal? The idea is ludicrous, if it is not monstrous. It means to know that one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-becker/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-self-conscious-animal-the-idea-is-ludicrous/) [Ernest Becker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-becker/) > [Instead of asking a girl how she feels, try looking through her recently listened to songs. The lyrics are the answer to all your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/instead-of-asking-a-girl-how-she-feels-try-looking-through-her/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The concept of humanity is an especially useful ideological instrument of imperialist expansion, and in its ethical-humanitarian form it is a specific vehicle of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-schmitt/the-concept-of-humanity-is-an-especially-useful-ideological/) [Carl Schmitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-schmitt/) > [To evoke in oneself a feeling one has once experienced, and having evoked it in oneself, then by means of movements, lines, colors, sounds,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/to-evoke-in-oneself-a-feeling-one-has-once-experienced-and-having/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [Our fashion for us, it's an expression; first of all of life, I put all of myself in my fashion. Sometimes it's good, sometimes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stefano-gabbana/our-fashion-for-us-it-s-an-expression-first-of-all-of-life-i-put-all/) [Stefano Gabbana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stefano-gabbana/) > [We can see nothing whatever of the soul unless it is visible in the expression of the countenance; one might call the faces at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-c-lichtenberg/we-can-see-nothing-whatever-of-the-soul-unless-it-is-visible-in-the/) [Georg C. Lichtenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-c-lichtenberg/) > [Early experience shapes the structure and function of the brain. This reveals the fundamental way in which gene expression is determined by experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-j-siegel/early-experience-shapes-the-structure-and-function-of-the-brain-this/) [Daniel J. Siegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-j-siegel/) > [Singing has always seemed to me the most perfect means of expression. It is so spontaneous. And after singing, I think the violin. Since…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georgia-o-keeffe/singing-has-always-seemed-to-me-the-most-perfect-means-of-expression/) [Georgia O'Keeffe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georgia-o-keeffe/) > [Every genuine expression of love grows out of a consistent and total surrender to God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/every-genuine-expression-of-love-grows-out-of-a-consistent-and-total/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) > [Nick looked vaguely homicidal, but that was sort of his default expression.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-rees-brennan/nick-looked-vaguely-homicidal-but-that-was-sort-of-his-default/) [Sarah Rees Brennan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-rees-brennan/) > [They are the gateway for our modern esthetic development, the prophets of the new time. They are most of all, the primitives of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marsden-hartley/they-are-the-gateway-for-our-modern-esthetic-development-the-prophets/) [Marsden Hartley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsden-hartley/) > [The mountain receives our expressions and becomes part of us; we imprint our memories upon it and trust it with out dearest divisions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-barcott/the-mountain-receives-our-expressions-and-becomes-part-of-us-we/) [Bruce Barcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-barcott/) > [In science, the most exciting expression isn’t ‘Eureka!’ It’s ‘Huh?’](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-hawley/in-science-the-most-exciting-expression-isn-t-eureka-it-s-huh/) [Michael Hawley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-hawley/) > [A commitment to lifelong learning is a natural expression of the practice of living consciously.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-branden/a-commitment-to-lifelong-learning-is-a-natural-expression-of-the/) [Nathaniel Branden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-branden/) [Browse all 5,024 Expression quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/expression/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Expression, to a great extent, is a matter of terms, and terms are anyone's.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Charles Ives" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-ives/expression-to-a-great-extent-is-a-matter-of-terms-and-terms-are-2/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Expression" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-ives/expression-to-a-great-extent-is-a-matter-of-terms-and-terms-are-2/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/85f/charles-ives-17391_expression_expression-to-a-great-extent-is-a-matter_1578266.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/85f/charles-ives-17391_expression_expression-to-a-great-extent-is-a-matter_1578266.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/85f/charles-ives-17391_expression_expression-to-a-great-extent-is-a-matter_1578266.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Expression, to a great extent, is a matter of terms, and terms are anyone's.” — Charles Ives", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Charles Ives", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-ives/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Expression, to a great extent, is...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-ives/expression-to-a-great-extent-is-a-matter-of-terms-and-terms-are-2/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-ives/expression-to-a-great-extent-is-a-matter-of-terms-and-terms-are-2/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```