--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A story must be judged according to…" description: "\"“A story must be judged according to whether it makes sense . And 'making sense' must be here understood in its most direct meaning: to make sense is t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/774/david-abram-15943_make-sense_a-story-must-be-judged-according-to-whet_2568103.png" --- # A story must be judged according to whether it makes sense… ![“A story must be judged according to whether it makes sense . And 'making sense' must be here understood in its most direct meaning: to make sense is to enliven the senses. A story that makes sense is one that stirs the senses from their slumber, one that opens the eyes and the ears to their real…” quote by David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/774/david-abram-15943_make-sense_a-story-must-be-judged-according-to-whet_2568103.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/774/david-abram-15943_make-sense_a-story-must-be-judged-according-to-whet_2568103.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/774/david-abram-15943_make-sense_a-story-must-be-judged-according-to-whet_2568103.png) > ““A story must be judged according to whether it makes sense . And 'making sense' must be here understood in its most direct meaning: to make sense is to enliven the senses. A story that makes sense is one that stirs the senses from their slumber, one that opens the eyes and the ears to their real surroundings, tuning the tongue to the actual tastes in the air and sending chills of recognition along the surface of the skin. To make sense is to release the body from the constraints imposed by outworn ways of speaking, and hence to renew and rejuvenate one's felt awareness of the world. It is to make the senses wake up to where they are.”” [David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A story should awaken the reader’s senses, making them feel the world directly rather than through stale language. **In simple terms:** Stories should stir the senses and refresh perception. Key Takeaway Write to awaken perception. Themes perception sensory experience storytelling awakening Mood reflective inspired Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - creative writing - teaching - mindfulness - art critique - environmental education Key Concepts embodiment phenomenology ecology Questions to Reflect On - How does a story engage your senses? - What language feels most alive to you? A Different Perspective Sensory overload can distract from deeper meaning. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Story](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/story/) [Storytelling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/storytelling/) ## Related quotes > [I think what's really hard is making sense and making what you write clear and smooth-flowing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roy-blount-jr/i-think-what-s-really-hard-is-making-sense-and-making-what-you-write/) [Roy Blount, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roy-blount-jr/) > [“Ignorant is not the one who does not know much but the one who does not make senses.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/galina-nelson/ignorant-is-not-the-one-who-does-not-know-much-but-the-one-who-does/) [Galina Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/galina-nelson/) > [“Isaak's okay-list: 1)when other people do things that don't make sense; 2)when I want to do things that don't make sense to me; 3)making…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shukyou/isaak-s-okay-list-1-when-other-people-do-things-that-don-t-make-sense/) shukyou > [There is no sense in making statements that will not continue to be true after they are made.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-knight/there-is-no-sense-in-making-statements-that-will-not-continue-to-be/) [Frank Knight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-knight/) > [For me, making a movie is kind of like vomiting. Not that film is like vomit, but more like this mass of ideas and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harmony-korine/for-me-making-a-movie-is-kind-of-like-vomiting-not-that-film-is-like/) [Harmony Korine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harmony-korine/) > [There's an alarm bell that goes off in my head if I can sense that I'm making a mistake.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tilda-swinton/there-s-an-alarm-bell-that-goes-off-in-my-head-if-i-can-sense-that-i/) [Tilda Swinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tilda-swinton/) > [Writing is making sense of life. You work your whole life and perhaps you've made sense of one small area.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nadine-gordimer/writing-is-making-sense-of-life-you-work-your-whole-life-and-perhaps/) [Nadine Gordimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nadine-gordimer/) > [“..She had started to understand how a woman's attention could succeed in making sense of a man's blind chaos..”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-erdrich/she-had-started-to-understand-how-a-woman-s-attention-could-succeed/) [Louise Erdrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-erdrich/) > [“Making sense only to yourself is the most feasible test for human personal understanding”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mpho-leteng/making-sense-only-to-yourself-is-the-most-feasible-test-for-human/) [Mpho Leteng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mpho-leteng/) > [“We have made a problem for ourselves by confusing the intelligible with the fixed. We think that making sense out of life is impossible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/we-have-made-a-problem-for-ourselves-by-confusing-the-intelligible/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“That’s where it all begins. That’s where we all get screwed big time as we grow up. They tell us to think, but they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-n-kuili/that-s-where-it-all-begins-that-s-where-we-all-get-screwed-big-time/) Ray N. Kuili > [The most difficult thing in the world is, Before making any sense, To admit their own mistakes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/the-most-difficult-thing-in-the-world-is-before-making-any-sense-to/) Mak\_786 > [“If we start close to home, we open ourselves out. I will try to show how, in making sense of things that happen, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-ahmed/if-we-start-close-to-home-we-open-ourselves-out-i-will-try-to-show/) [Sara Ahmed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-ahmed/) > [“if you’re making sense, you’ve just unmade confusion.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-marie-moning/if-you-re-making-sense-you-ve-just-unmade-confusion/) [Karen Marie Moning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-marie-moning/) > [“Because art does for me what religion does-- it organizes a seemingly chaotic world. Because it is my way of making sense of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-t-jones/because-art-does-for-me-what-religion-does-it-organizes-a-seemingly/) [Bill T. Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-t-jones/) ## More by David Abram > [Does the human intellect, or "reason," really spring us free from our inherence in the depths of this wild proliferation of forms? Or on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/does-the-human-intellect-or-reason-really-spring-us-free-from-our/) [David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/) > [“Human language, for us moderns, has swung in on itself, turning its back on the beings around us. Language is a human property, suitable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/human-language-for-us-moderns-has-swung-in-on-itself-turning-its-back/) [David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/) > [Only as the written text began to speak would the voices of the forest, and of the river, begin to fade. And only then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/only-as-the-written-text-began-to-speak-would-the-voices-of-the/) [David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/) > [Each place its own mind, its own psyche! Oak, Madrone, Douglas fir, red-tailed hawk, serpentine in the sandstone, a certain scale to the topography,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/each-place-its-own-mind-its-own-psyche-oak-madrone-douglas-fir-red/) [David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/) > [What is magic? In the deepest sense, magic is an experience. It's the experience of finding oneself alive within a world that is itself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/what-is-magic-in-the-deepest-sense-magic-is-an-experience-it-s-the/) [David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/) > [Other animals, in a constant and mostly unmediated relation with their sensory surroundings, think with the whole of their bodies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/other-animals-in-a-constant-and-mostly-unmediated-relation-with-their/) [David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/) > [The telling of stories, like singing and praying, would seem to be an almost ceremonial act, an ancient and necessary mode of speech that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/the-telling-of-stories-like-singing-and-praying-would-seem-to-be-an/) [David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/) > [Such reciprocity is the very structure of perception. We experience the sensuous world only by rendering ourselves vulnerable to that world. Sensory perception is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/such-reciprocity-is-the-very-structure-of-perception-we-experience/) [David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/) > [“Ecologically considered, it is not primarily our verbal statements that are "true" or "false," but rather the kind of relations that we sustain with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/ecologically-considered-it-is-not-primarily-our-verbal-statements/) [David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/) > [A particular place in the land is never, for an oral culture, just a passive or inert setting for the human events that occur…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/a-particular-place-in-the-land-is-never-for-an-oral-culture-just-a/) [David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/) > [If, on the other hand, we wish to describe a particular phenomenon without repressing our direct experience, then we cannot avoid speaking of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/if-on-the-other-hand-we-wish-to-describe-a-particular-phenomenon/) [David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/) > [We are human only in contact, and conviviality, with what is not human.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/we-are-human-only-in-contact-and-conviviality-with-what-is-not-human/) [David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/) > [The animate earth - this moody terrain that we experience differently in anger and in joy, in grief and in love - is both…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/the-animate-earth-this-moody-terrain-that-we-experience-differently/) [David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/) > [To describe the animate life of particular things is simply the most precise and parsimonious way to articulate the things as we spontaneously experience…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/to-describe-the-animate-life-of-particular-things-is-simply-the-most/) [David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/) > [Sensory perception is the silken web that binds our separate nervous systems into the encompassing ecosystem.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-abram/sensory-perception-is-the-silken-web-that-binds-our-separate-nervous/) [David Abram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/) [Explore all 41 David Abram quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-abram/) ## More Make sense quotes > [There comes a time when you're losing a fight that it just doesn't make sense to keep on fighting. It's not that you're being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-paul-curtis/there-comes-a-time-when-you-re-losing-a-fight-that-it-just-doesn-t/) [Christopher Paul Curtis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-paul-curtis/) > [“Men can labor to make sense out of single steps toward the goal without ever pausing to reflect that the goal itself is ludicrous.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kenneth-galbraith/men-can-labor-to-make-sense-out-of-single-steps-toward-the-goal/) [John Kenneth Galbraith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-kenneth-galbraith/) > [“Guess it didn't go so well, huh?" "What was your first clue?" I turned my head slightly, then went back to staring blankly out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-mankin/guess-it-didn-t-go-so-well-huh-what-was-your-first-clue-i-turned-my/) Michelle Mankin > [It's bluesy, rocky jazz. I call it soul music, but it's not James Brown soul music. It comes from my soul. It comes from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tinsel-korey/it-s-bluesy-rocky-jazz-i-call-it-soul-music-but-it-s-not-james-brown/) [Tinsel Korey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tinsel-korey/) > [People don't do right because of the fear of God or love of him. You do right because the world doesn't make sense if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-allison/people-don-t-do-right-because-of-the-fear-of-god-or-love-of-him-you/) [Dorothy Allison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-allison/) > [The role of a librarian is to make sense of the world of information. If that's not a qualification for superhero-dom, what is?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-pearl/the-role-of-a-librarian-is-to-make-sense-of-the-world-of-information/) [Nancy Pearl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nancy-pearl/) > [Write it down today, put it away, make sense of it tomorrow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/courtney-summers/write-it-down-today-put-it-away-make-sense-of-it-tomorrow/) [Courtney Summers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/courtney-summers/) > [I can only go places because I know that I can go away from them, if that makes sense. I like the gypsy lifestyle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-friend/i-can-only-go-places-because-i-know-that-i-can-go-away-from-them-if/) [Rupert Friend](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-friend/) > [When I listen to my songs, they seem like pieces of music or art, like a painting that you look at. The reality is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-wainwright/when-i-listen-to-my-songs-they-seem-like-pieces-of-music-or-art-like/) [Martha Wainwright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-wainwright/) > [It comes a moment that someone says something really small, but fits so perfect into your heart that everything start to make sense!!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laylablack/it-comes-a-moment-that-someone-says-something-really-small-but-fits/) Laylablack > [I am part of the Fellowship of the Unashamed... My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is in God's hands...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-madrid/i-am-part-of-the-fellowship-of-the-unashamed-my-past-is-redeemed-my/) [Patrick Madrid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-madrid/) > [I have an office full of product from brands trying to be in videos and an inbox full of songs from artists, but at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-kluger/i-have-an-office-full-of-product-from-brands-trying-to-be-in-videos/) [Adam Kluger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-kluger/) > [Even the Supreme Court, back when it used to makes sense, the Supreme Court has never ruled that a baby born to illegal aliens…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rush-limbaugh/even-the-supreme-court-back-when-it-used-to-makes-sense-the-supreme/) [Rush Limbaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rush-limbaugh/) > [Facebook is inherently viral. There are lots of sites that include a contact importer, and for lots of them it doesn't really make sense.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-zuckerberg/facebook-is-inherently-viral-there-are-lots-of-sites-that-include-a/) [Mark Zuckerberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-zuckerberg/) > [Wait for you!? No thanks, I'd rather wait for the weekend. That'll make sense even more.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rakii-retondo/wait-for-you-no-thanks-i-d-rather-wait-for-the-weekend-that-ll-make/) [Rakii Retondo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rakii-retondo/) Browse all 1,762 Make sense quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“A story must be judged according to whether it makes sense . And 'making sense' must be here understood in its most direct meaning: to make sense is to enliven the senses. 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