--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Smell is the mute sense, the one without…" description: "\"Smell is the mute sense, the one without words.\" — Diane Ackerman" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/45c/diane-ackerman-1035_mute_smell-is-the-mute-sense-the-one-without_693848.png" --- # Smell is the mute sense, the one without words. ![“Smell is the mute sense, the one without words.” quote by Diane Ackerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/45c/diane-ackerman-1035_mute_smell-is-the-mute-sense-the-one-without_693848.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/45c/diane-ackerman-1035_mute_smell-is-the-mute-sense-the-one-without_693848.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/45c/diane-ackerman-1035_mute_smell-is-the-mute-sense-the-one-without_693848.png) > “Smell is the mute sense, the one without words.” [Diane Ackerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-ackerman/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Smell conveys meaning without words, acting as a silent communicator of experience and memory. **In simple terms:** Smell speaks without words. Key Takeaway Pay attention to scents as subtle signals. Themes senses communication memory silence Mood calm nostalgic curious Type descriptive poetic sensory When to use this quote - cooking - nature walks - marketing - therapy sessions Key Concepts neuroscience poetry sensory perception Questions to Reflect On - What scent instantly transports you? - How can you use scent to improve mood? A Different Perspective Smell can be overwhelming or trigger negative memories. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Mute](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mute/) [Mute Sense](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mute-sense-5506615/) [Smell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/smell/) [Smell Mute](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/smell-mute-5506614/) [Words](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/words/) ## Related quotes > [Hit a tripwire of smell and memories explode all at once. A complex vision leaps out of the undergrowth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-ackerman/hit-a-tripwire-of-smell-and-memories-explode-all-at-once-a-complex/) [Diane Ackerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-ackerman/) > [Music is almost like a therapy for me. It helps keep me centered and think straight. Before I discovered it, I was walking around,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/banks/music-is-almost-like-a-therapy-for-me-it-helps-keep-me-centered-and/) [Banks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/banks/) > [Nothing is more destructive of human dignity than a rule which imposes a mute and blind obedience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-eden/nothing-is-more-destructive-of-human-dignity-than-a-rule-which/) [Anthony Eden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-eden/) > [Her beauty might fascinate men, but it was difficult to charm them when she stood mute. . . .](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-moran/her-beauty-might-fascinate-men-but-it-was-difficult-to-charm-them/) [Michelle Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-moran/) > [Discipline must come through liberty. . . . We do not consider an individual disciplined only when he has been rendered as artificially silent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-montessori/discipline-must-come-through-liberty-we-do-not-consider-an-individual/) [Maria Montessori](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-montessori/) > [O have a care of natures that are mute!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-meredith/o-have-a-care-of-natures-that-are-mute/) [George Meredith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-meredith/) > [“It's easier for the mute person to envy in silence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tamerlan-kuzgov/it-s-easier-for-the-mute-person-to-envy-in-silence/) [Tamerlan Kuzgov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tamerlan-kuzgov/) > [I grieve and dare not show my discontent, I love and yet am forced to seem to hate, I do, yet dare not say…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-i/i-grieve-and-dare-not-show-my-discontent-i-love-and-yet-am-forced-to/) [Elizabeth I](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-i/) > [“I have three phobias which, could I mute them,would make my life as slick as a sonnet,but dull as ditch water:I hate to go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tallulah-bankhead/i-have-three-phobias-which-could-i-mute-them-would-make-my-life-as/) [Tallulah Bankhead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tallulah-bankhead/) > [“Still alone. I’ll always be alone, won’t I, even if I feed a house, even if I feed a town, even if the lame…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stant-litore/still-alone-i-ll-always-be-alone-won-t-i-even-if-i-feed-a-house-even/) [Stant Litore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stant-litore/) > [In the world of the Middle East at the moment, the debates are shrill. But ... the wisest voice of all of them may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-macgregor/in-the-world-of-the-middle-east-at-the-moment-the-debates-are-shrill/) [Neil MacGregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-macgregor/) > [Strange how love coexists with hate, how they render eachother mute, how the swilling of them together makes a new and softer, sympathetic thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sonya-hartnett/strange-how-love-coexists-with-hate-how-they-render-eachother-mute/) [Sonya Hartnett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sonya-hartnett/) > [Science and technology multiply around us. To an increasing extent they dictate the languages in which we speak and think. Either we use those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-g-ballard/science-and-technology-multiply-around-us-to-an-increasing-extent/) [J. G. Ballard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-g-ballard/) > [Only once have I been made mute. It was when a man asked me, 'Who are you?'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khalil-gibran/only-once-have-i-been-made-mute-it-was-when-a-man-asked-me-who-are-you/) [Khalil Gibran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khalil-gibran/) > [The Muse is mute when public men Applaud a modern throne.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/the-muse-is-mute-when-public-men-applaud-a-modern-throne/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) ## More by Diane Ackerman > [A self is a frightening thing to waste, it's the lens through which one's whole life is viewed, and few people are willing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-ackerman/a-self-is-a-frightening-thing-to-waste-it-s-the-lens-through-which/) [Diane Ackerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-ackerman/) > [“Our lives together, our duet, also continues to evolve, and even if we can’t go back to how it was, we’re designing a good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-ackerman/our-lives-together-our-duet-also-continues-to-evolve-and-even-if-we/) [Diane Ackerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-ackerman/) > [Hit a tripwire of smell and memories explode all at once. A complex vision leaps out of the undergrowth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-ackerman/hit-a-tripwire-of-smell-and-memories-explode-all-at-once-a-complex/) [Diane Ackerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-ackerman/) > [Horses have made civilization possible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-ackerman/horses-have-made-civilization-possible/) [Diane Ackerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-ackerman/) > [Look at your feet. You are standing in the sky. When we think of the sky, we tend to look up, but the sky…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-ackerman/look-at-your-feet-you-are-standing-in-the-sky-when-we-think-of-the/) [Diane Ackerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-ackerman/) > [Who would deduce the dragonfly from the larva, the iris from the bud, the lawyer from the infant? ...We are all shape-shifters and magical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-ackerman/who-would-deduce-the-dragonfly-from-the-larva-the-iris-from-the-bud/) [Diane Ackerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-ackerman/) > [Though we marry as adults, we don't marry adults. We marry children who have grown up and still rejoice in being children, especially if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-ackerman/though-we-marry-as-adults-we-don-t-marry-adults-we-marry-children-who/) [Diane Ackerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-ackerman/) > [Libraries change lives. They are the soul of a people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-ackerman/libraries-change-lives-they-are-the-soul-of-a-people/) [Diane Ackerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-ackerman/) > [“The etymology of the Hebrew word for prophet, navi, combines three processes: navach (to cry out), nava (to gush or flow), and navuv (to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-ackerman/the-etymology-of-the-hebrew-word-for-prophet-navi-combines-three/) [Diane Ackerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-ackerman/) > [Knee-deep in the cosmic overwhelm, I’m stricken by the ricochet wonder of it all: the plain everythingness of everything, in cahoots with the everythingness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-ackerman/knee-deep-in-the-cosmic-overwhelm-i-m-stricken-by-the-ricochet-wonder/) [Diane Ackerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-ackerman/) > [ Symbolic of life, hair bolts from our head\[s\]. Like the earth, it can be harvested, but it will rise again. We can change its… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-ackerman/symbolic-of-life-hair-bolts-from-our-head-s-like-the-earth-it-can-be/) [Diane Ackerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-ackerman/) > [“Most people know that 30 to 40 percent of the world's Jews were killed during World War II, but not that 80 to 90…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-ackerman/most-people-know-that-30-to-40-percent-of-the-world-s-jews-were/) [Diane Ackerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-ackerman/) > [Choice is a signature of our species.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-ackerman/choice-is-a-signature-of-our-species/) [Diane Ackerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-ackerman/) > [The further we distance ourselves from the spell of the present, explored by our senses, the harder it will be to understand and protect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-ackerman/the-further-we-distance-ourselves-from-the-spell-of-the-present/) [Diane Ackerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-ackerman/) > [Culture is what people invent when they have lost nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-ackerman/culture-is-what-people-invent-when-they-have-lost-nature/) [Diane Ackerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-ackerman/) [Explore all 304 Diane Ackerman quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-ackerman/) ## More Mute quotes > [Music is almost like a therapy for me. It helps keep me centered and think straight. Before I discovered it, I was walking around,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/banks/music-is-almost-like-a-therapy-for-me-it-helps-keep-me-centered-and/) [Banks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/banks/) > [Only once have I been made mute. It was when a man asked me, 'Who are you?'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khalil-gibran/only-once-have-i-been-made-mute-it-was-when-a-man-asked-me-who-are-you/) [Khalil Gibran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khalil-gibran/) > [Science and technology multiply around us. To an increasing extent they dictate the languages in which we speak and think. Either we use those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-g-ballard/science-and-technology-multiply-around-us-to-an-increasing-extent/) [J. G. Ballard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-g-ballard/) > [Strange how love coexists with hate, how they render eachother mute, how the swilling of them together makes a new and softer, sympathetic thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sonya-hartnett/strange-how-love-coexists-with-hate-how-they-render-eachother-mute/) [Sonya Hartnett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sonya-hartnett/) > [In the world of the Middle East at the moment, the debates are shrill. But ... the wisest voice of all of them may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-macgregor/in-the-world-of-the-middle-east-at-the-moment-the-debates-are-shrill/) [Neil MacGregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-macgregor/) > [“Still alone. I’ll always be alone, won’t I, even if I feed a house, even if I feed a town, even if the lame…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stant-litore/still-alone-i-ll-always-be-alone-won-t-i-even-if-i-feed-a-house-even/) [Stant Litore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stant-litore/) > [“I have three phobias which, could I mute them,would make my life as slick as a sonnet,but dull as ditch water:I hate to go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tallulah-bankhead/i-have-three-phobias-which-could-i-mute-them-would-make-my-life-as/) [Tallulah Bankhead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tallulah-bankhead/) > [I grieve and dare not show my discontent, I love and yet am forced to seem to hate, I do, yet dare not say…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-i/i-grieve-and-dare-not-show-my-discontent-i-love-and-yet-am-forced-to/) [Elizabeth I](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-i/) > [“It's easier for the mute person to envy in silence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tamerlan-kuzgov/it-s-easier-for-the-mute-person-to-envy-in-silence/) [Tamerlan Kuzgov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tamerlan-kuzgov/) > [O have a care of natures that are mute!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-meredith/o-have-a-care-of-natures-that-are-mute/) [George Meredith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-meredith/) > [Discipline must come through liberty. . . . We do not consider an individual disciplined only when he has been rendered as artificially silent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-montessori/discipline-must-come-through-liberty-we-do-not-consider-an-individual/) [Maria Montessori](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-montessori/) > [Her beauty might fascinate men, but it was difficult to charm them when she stood mute. . . .](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-moran/her-beauty-might-fascinate-men-but-it-was-difficult-to-charm-them/) [Michelle Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-moran/) > [Nothing is more destructive of human dignity than a rule which imposes a mute and blind obedience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-eden/nothing-is-more-destructive-of-human-dignity-than-a-rule-which/) [Anthony Eden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-eden/) > [The Muse is mute when public men Applaud a modern throne.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/the-muse-is-mute-when-public-men-applaud-a-modern-throne/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Either our history shall with full mouth Speak freely of our acts, or else our grave, Like Turkish mute, shall have a tongueless mouth,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/either-our-history-shall-with-full-mouth-speak-freely-of-our-acts-or/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) [Browse all 305 Mute quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mute/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Smell is the mute sense, the one without words.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Diane Ackerman" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-ackerman/smell-is-the-mute-sense-the-one-without-words/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Mute" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-ackerman/smell-is-the-mute-sense-the-one-without-words/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/45c/diane-ackerman-1035_mute_smell-is-the-mute-sense-the-one-without_693848.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/45c/diane-ackerman-1035_mute_smell-is-the-mute-sense-the-one-without_693848.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/45c/diane-ackerman-1035_mute_smell-is-the-mute-sense-the-one-without_693848.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Smell is the mute sense, the one without words.” — Diane Ackerman", "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": "Diane Ackerman", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-ackerman/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Smell is the mute sense, the...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-ackerman/smell-is-the-mute-sense-the-one-without-words/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-ackerman/smell-is-the-mute-sense-the-one-without-words/#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 } } ] } ```