--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Reason is a supple nymph, and slippery as…" description: "\"Reason is a supple nymph, and slippery as a fish by nature. She had as leave give her kiss to an absurdity any day, as to syllogistic truth. The absurd..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/447/d-h-lawrence-426_absurdity_reason-is-a-supple-nymph-and-slippery-as_2426981.png" --- # Reason is a supple nymph, and slippery as a fish by… ![“Reason is a supple nymph, and slippery as a fish by nature. She had as leave give her kiss to an absurdity any day, as to syllogistic truth. The absurdity may turn out truer.” quote by D. H. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/447/d-h-lawrence-426_absurdity_reason-is-a-supple-nymph-and-slippery-as_2426981.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/447/d-h-lawrence-426_absurdity_reason-is-a-supple-nymph-and-slippery-as_2426981.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/447/d-h-lawrence-426_absurdity_reason-is-a-supple-nymph-and-slippery-as_2426981.png) > “Reason is a supple nymph, and slippery as a fish by nature. She had as leave give her kiss to an absurdity any day, as to syllogistic truth. The absurdity may turn out truer.” [D. H. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Reason is fluid and can be swayed by absurdity; truth may emerge from unexpected places. **In simple terms:** Reason is flexible; truth can be surprising. Key Takeaway Stay open to unconventional ideas. Themes reasoning truth philosophy uncertainty Mood thoughtful curious Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - academic debate - creative writing - scientific research - personal decision making Key Concepts epistemology logic creativity Questions to Reflect On - When has absurdity revealed truth? - How balance reason and intuition? A Different Perspective Overreliance on logic can ignore intuition. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Absurdity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absurdity/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Kissing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kissing/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Nymphs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nymphs/) [Reason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [Jeffrey Lewis sings as though absurdity were truth, and truth absurdity. And I think I agree with him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-banks/jeffrey-lewis-sings-as-though-absurdity-were-truth-and-truth/) [Paul Banks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-banks/) > [In the best nonfiction, it seems to me, you're always made aware that you are being engaged with a supple mind at work. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phillip-lopate/in-the-best-nonfiction-it-seems-to-me-you-re-always-made-aware-that/) [Phillip Lopate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phillip-lopate/) > [Attending fully and becoming supple, Can you be as a newborn babe?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laozi/attending-fully-and-becoming-supple-can-you-be-as-a-newborn-babe/) [Laozi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laozi/) > [Trade is the natural enemy of all violent passions. Trade loves moderation, delights in compromise, and is most careful to avoid anger. It is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexis-de-tocqueville/trade-is-the-natural-enemy-of-all-violent-passions-trade-loves/) [Alexis de Tocqueville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexis-de-tocqueville/) > [Youth is not a time of life - it is a state of mind. It is not a matter of red cheeks, red lips…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-ullman/youth-is-not-a-time-of-life-it-is-a-state-of-mind-it-is-not-a-matter/) [Samuel Ullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-ullman/) > [Who among us has not, in moments of ambition, dreamt of the miracle of a form of poetic prose, musical but without rhythm and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/who-among-us-has-not-in-moments-of-ambition-dreamt-of-the-miracle-of/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [If a country is governed with tolerance, the people are comfortable and honest. If a country is governed with repression, the people are depressed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laozi/if-a-country-is-governed-with-tolerance-the-people-are-comfortable/) [Laozi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laozi/) > [Man at his birth is supple and tender, but in death, he is rigid and hard. Thus, suppleness and tenderness accompany life, but rigidity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laozi/man-at-his-birth-is-supple-and-tender-but-in-death-he-is-rigid-and/) [Laozi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laozi/) > [Resistance to team play seemed to pour like wet cement through my bones, displacing supple marrow, until I was ballasted with my own contempt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/florence-king/resistance-to-team-play-seemed-to-pour-like-wet-cement-through-my/) [Florence King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/florence-king/) > [Knavery is supple, and can bend, but honesty is firm and upright and yields not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/knavery-is-supple-and-can-bend-but-honesty-is-firm-and-upright-and/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [The hard and stiff will be broken. The soft and supple will prevail.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laozi/the-hard-and-stiff-will-be-broken-the-soft-and-supple-will-prevail/) [Laozi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laozi/) > [That's what being a front man is all about - the idea of having something supple underneath you, that machine that roars and can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-springsteen/that-s-what-being-a-front-man-is-all-about-the-idea-of-having/) [Bruce Springsteen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-springsteen/) > [I believe I owe it to my body to keep it supple and fit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tisca-chopra/i-believe-i-owe-it-to-my-body-to-keep-it-supple-and-fit/) [Tisca Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tisca-chopra/) > [I never go to the gym - I can't be doing with it. But I run up and down the stairs, wash my feet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-lumley/i-never-go-to-the-gym-i-can-t-be-doing-with-it-but-i-run-up-and-down/) [Joanna Lumley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-lumley/) > [The camera is simply not the supple and powerful instrument of description that the pen is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-malcolm/the-camera-is-simply-not-the-supple-and-powerful-instrument-of/) [Janet Malcolm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-malcolm/) ## More by D. H. Lawrence > [Not I, not I, but the wind that blows through me! A fine wind is blowing the new direction of Time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-h-lawrence/not-i-not-i-but-the-wind-that-blows-through-me-a-fine-wind-is-blowing/) [D. H. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence/) > [and Venus among the fishes skips and is a she-dolphin she is the gay, delighted porpoise sporting with love and the sea she is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-h-lawrence/and-venus-among-the-fishes-skips-and-is-a-she-dolphin-she-is-the-gay/) [D. H. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence/) > [If I had my way, I would build a lethal chamber as big as the Crystal Palace, with a military band playing softly, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-h-lawrence/if-i-had-my-way-i-would-build-a-lethal-chamber-as-big-as-the-crystal/) [D. H. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence/) > [Now it is autumn and the falling fruit and the long journey towards oblivion. The apples falling like great drops of dew to bruise…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-h-lawrence/now-it-is-autumn-and-the-falling-fruit-and-the-long-journey-towards/) [D. H. 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Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence/) > [If only we could live two lives: the first in which to make one's mistakes, and the second in which to profit by them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-h-lawrence/if-only-we-could-live-two-lives-the-first-in-which-to-make-one-s/) [D. H. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence/) > [They say geniuses mostly have great mothers. They mostly have sad fates.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-h-lawrence/they-say-geniuses-mostly-have-great-mothers-they-mostly-have-sad-fates/) [D. H. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence/) > [When one jumps over the edge, one is bound to land somewhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-h-lawrence/when-one-jumps-over-the-edge-one-is-bound-to-land-somewhere/) [D. H. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence/) > [The living moment is everything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-h-lawrence/the-living-moment-is-everything/) [D. H. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence/) > [If a woman's got nothing but her fair fame to feed on, why, it's thin tack, and a donkey would die of it!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-h-lawrence/if-a-woman-s-got-nothing-but-her-fair-fame-to-feed-on-why-it-s-thin/) [D. H. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence/) [Explore all 570 D. H. Lawrence quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence/) ## More Absurdity quotes > [Even though you can't expect to defeat the absurdity of the world, you must make that attempt. That's morality, that's religion. That's art. That's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-ochs/even-though-you-can-t-expect-to-defeat-the-absurdity-of-the-world-you/) [Phil Ochs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-ochs/) > [The inner defenses are unconscious. They consist of a kind of magic aura which the mind builds around cherished belief. Arguments which penetrate into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/the-inner-defenses-are-unconscious-they-consist-of-a-kind-of-magic/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) > [For it is an absurdity to call a country civilized in which a decent and industrious man, laboriously mastering a trade which is valuble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/for-it-is-an-absurdity-to-call-a-country-civilized-in-which-a-decent/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [Every sensible man, every honorable man, must hold the Christian sect in horror." 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