--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The imagination is an organ of…" description: "\"The imagination is an organ of understanding. And the imagination needs all the faculties at hand, all the sensibility, all the conscious and unconscio..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09c/edward-hirsch-1614_conscious_the-imagination-is-an-organ-of-understan_911781.jpg" --- # The imagination is an organ of understanding. And the… ![“The imagination is an organ of understanding. And the imagination needs all the faculties at hand, all the sensibility, all the conscious and unconscious intelligence it can galvanize to fulfill its luminous mission.” quote by Edward Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09c/edward-hirsch-1614_conscious_the-imagination-is-an-organ-of-understan_911781.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09c/edward-hirsch-1614_conscious_the-imagination-is-an-organ-of-understan_911781.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09c/edward-hirsch-1614_conscious_the-imagination-is-an-organ-of-understan_911781.jpg) > “The imagination is an organ of understanding. And the imagination needs all the faculties at hand, all the sensibility, all the conscious and unconscious intelligence it can galvanize to fulfill its luminous mission.” [Edward Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Imagination functions as a cognitive organ, requiring all mental faculties to illuminate understanding. **In simple terms:** Imagination needs all mental abilities to work. Key Takeaway Cultivate holistic thinking. Themes creativity cognition understanding Mood inspirational thoughtful Type philosophical educational When to use this quote - artistic creation - scientific problem solving - education - personal growth - philosophical inquiry Key Concepts mental integration imaginative capacity Questions to Reflect On - How can we train all faculties together? - What limits imagination’s reach? A Different Perspective Imagination alone cannot replace knowledge. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Conscious and unconscious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conscious-and-unconscious/) [Goals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/goals/) [Imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination/) [Intelligence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intelligence/) [Learning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learning/) [Missions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/missions/) [Organs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organs/) [Sensibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sensibility/) [Understanding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understanding/) ## Related quotes > [Ray Bradbury is one who is contributing to the understanding of the imagination and the curiosity of the human race.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/buzz-aldrin/ray-bradbury-is-one-who-is-contributing-to-the-understanding-of-the/) [Buzz Aldrin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/buzz-aldrin/) > [“For me, reason is the natural organ of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.”16”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-arthur/for-me-reason-is-the-natural-organ-of-truth-but-imagination-is-the/) [Sarah Arthur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-arthur/) > [Imagination is the organ through which the soul within us recognizes a soul without us; the spiritual eye by which the mind perceives and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-norman-hudson/imagination-is-the-organ-through-which-the-soul-within-us-recognizes/) Henry Norman Hudson > [“I know this about imagination: It needs a place to go. If I don't work at my cards and images and letterpress, if I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patti-callahan-henry/i-know-this-about-imagination-it-needs-a-place-to-go-if-i-don-t-work/) [Patti Callahan Henry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patti-callahan-henry/) > [In film, a lot of the time you're not as engaged, it is all being given to you, and you're accepting it as it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/in-film-a-lot-of-the-time-you-re-not-as-engaged-it-is-all-being-given/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like a blind man needs a cane.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/my-reality-needs-imagination-like-a-bulb-needs-a-socket-my/) [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) > [The imagination needs moodling,--long, inefficient happy idling, dawdling and puttering.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brenda-ueland/the-imagination-needs-moodling-long-inefficient-happy-idling-dawdling/) [Brenda Ueland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brenda-ueland/) > [Q: What’s hard for you? A: Mostly I straddle reality and the imagination. My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/q-what-s-hard-for-you-a-mostly-i-straddle-reality-and-the-imagination/) [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) > [Perhaps our imagination needs crime stories to fulfill some craving we have, as a way to assuage a darkness in ourselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-nesbitt/perhaps-our-imagination-needs-crime-stories-to-fulfill-some-craving/) [James Nesbitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-nesbitt/) > [Imagination needs to be fed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-januszkiewicz/imagination-needs-to-be-fed/) [Barbara Januszkiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-januszkiewicz/) > [“My imagination needs therapy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-butcher/my-imagination-needs-therapy/) [Jim Butcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-butcher/) > [Imagination needs food like every dog and every cat and every bird and every fish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amos-oz/imagination-needs-food-like-every-dog-and-every-cat-and-every-bird/) [Amos Oz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amos-oz/) > [The unconscious is not just evil by nature, it is also the source of the highest good: not only dark but also light, not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/the-unconscious-is-not-just-evil-by-nature-it-is-also-the-source-of/) [Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/) > [Conscious and unconscious experiences do not belong to different compartments of the mind; they form a continuous scale of gradations, of degrees of awareness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/conscious-and-unconscious-experiences-do-not-belong-to-different/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) > [Here's what the right-wing has in, there's no shortage of the natural resources of ignorance, apathy, hate, fear. As long as those things are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janeane-garofalo/here-s-what-the-right-wing-has-in-there-s-no-shortage-of-the-natural/) [Janeane Garofalo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janeane-garofalo/) ## More by Edward Hirsch > [And my experience is the best titles, for me, emerge in the process of writing. They don't usually come at the very beginning and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/and-my-experience-is-the-best-titles-for-me-emerge-in-the-process-of/) [Edward Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/) > [“I did not know the work of mourning Is like carrying a bag of cement Up a mountain at night The mountaintop is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/i-did-not-know-the-work-of-mourning-is-like-carrying-a-bag-of-cement/) [Edward Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/) > [“Fall" Fall, falling, fallen. That’s the way the season Changes its tense in the long-haired maples That dot the road; the veiny hand-shaped leaves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/fall-fall-falling-fallen-that-s-the-way-the-season-changes-its-tense/) [Edward Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/) > [I find great consolation in having a lot of poetry books around. I believe that writing poetry and reading it are deeply intertwined. I've…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/i-find-great-consolation-in-having-a-lot-of-poetry-books-around-i/) [Edward Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/) > [I had feelings that I didn't know what to do with, and I felt better when I started writing them. I thought of it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/i-had-feelings-that-i-didn-t-know-what-to-do-with-and-i-felt-better/) [Edward Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/) > [I think in terms of educating a group of readers, MFA programs are very good. I just think the model of MFA programs in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/i-think-in-terms-of-educating-a-group-of-readers-mfa-programs-are/) [Edward Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/) > [“Jonson wrote a poem and called his son His best piece of poetrie A lovely line a little loathsome I loved that poem once…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/jonson-wrote-a-poem-and-called-his-son-his-best-piece-of-poetrie-a/) [Edward Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/) > [After my grandfather died I went down to the basement of my family house where my family kept books, anthologies and things and there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/after-my-grandfather-died-i-went-down-to-the-basement-of-my-family/) [Edward Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/) > [It does demand a certain space in order to read it and I think that space is somewhat threatened by the lack of attention…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/it-does-demand-a-certain-space-in-order-to-read-it-and-i-think-that/) [Edward Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/) > [...I put down these memorandums of my affections in honor of tenderness, in honor of all of those who have been conscripted into the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/i-put-down-these-memorandums-of-my-affections-in-honor-of-tenderness/) [Edward Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/) > [Poetry is a vocation. It is not a career but a calling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/poetry-is-a-vocation-it-is-not-a-career-but-a-calling/) [Edward Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/) > [You're shadowed by your own dream, especially as you get older, of trying to create something that will last in poetry. And so, you're…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/you-re-shadowed-by-your-own-dream-especially-as-you-get-older-of/) [Edward Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/) > [The attention deficit disorder of the culture is very distressing in America now and I think it puts a lot of things at risk,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/the-attention-deficit-disorder-of-the-culture-is-very-distressing-in/) [Edward Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/) > [Now, as I've gotten older I've been able to write more quickly. Sometimes I get in the space of something and I can do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/now-as-i-ve-gotten-older-i-ve-been-able-to-write-more-quickly/) [Edward Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/) > [Poetry takes courage because you have to face things and you try to articulate how you feel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/poetry-takes-courage-because-you-have-to-face-things-and-you-try-to/) [Edward Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/) [Explore all 222 Edward Hirsch quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/) ## More Conscious quotes > [Ye youths and virgins, when your generous blood Has drunk the warmth of fifteen summers, now The loves invite; now to new rapture wakes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-armstrong/ye-youths-and-virgins-when-your-generous-blood-has-drunk-the-warmth/) [John Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-armstrong/) > [Woman, in short, has an unconscious life, man a conscious life, and the genius the most conscious life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/otto-weininger/woman-in-short-has-an-unconscious-life-man-a-conscious-life-and-the/) [Otto Weininger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/otto-weininger/) > [By making conscious choices in our behavior and where we focus our attention, we can transform our experience of our body, decrease our biological…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/by-making-conscious-choices-in-our-behavior-and-where-we-focus-our/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [“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/) > [Whatever your conscious mind assumes and believes to be true, your subconscious mind will accept and bring to pass. Believe in good fortune, divine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-murphy/whatever-your-conscious-mind-assumes-and-believes-to-be-true-your/) [Joseph Murphy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-murphy/) > [To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/to-be-a-negro-in-this-country-and-to-be-relatively-conscious-is-to-be/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Just as everybody has the vote including women, I think children should, because as a child is conscious of itself then it has to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/just-as-everybody-has-the-vote-including-women-i-think-children/) [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) > [If you are not conscious of all of the different parts of yourself, the part of yourself that is the strongest will win out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-zukav/if-you-are-not-conscious-of-all-of-the-different-parts-of-yourself/) [Gary Zukav](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-zukav/) > [One of the noblest words in our language is "grace," defined as "unearned blessing." We live by grace far more than by anything else.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-elton-trueblood/one-of-the-noblest-words-in-our-language-is-grace-defined-as-unearned/) [D. Elton Trueblood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-elton-trueblood/) > [Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability To lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maynard-james-keenan/repugnant-is-a-creature-who-would-squander-the-ability-to-lift-an-eye/) [Maynard James Keenan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maynard-james-keenan/) > [The goal of the Creator is for each entity to make a conscious choice to again seek Oneness, out of our own free will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-wilcock/the-goal-of-the-creator-is-for-each-entity-to-make-a-conscious-choice/) [David Wilcock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-wilcock/) > [I know one thing: that you can do a lot of things but if you don't educate people into conscious anarchism it gets frittered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/murray-bookchin/i-know-one-thing-that-you-can-do-a-lot-of-things-but-if-you-don-t/) [Murray Bookchin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/murray-bookchin/) > [All black people who are even minimally conscious, black people who have ever experienced Europe's technological power crusading in the vanguard of a civilizing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-nkosi/all-black-people-who-are-even-minimally-conscious-black-people-who/) [Lewis Nkosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-nkosi/) > [ A mind conscious of right laughs at the falsehoods of rumour. \[Lat., Conscia mens recti famae mendacia risit.\] ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ovid/a-mind-conscious-of-right-laughs-at-the-falsehoods-of-rumour-lat/) [Ovid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ovid/) > [I don't think my paintings are self-conscious but you feel the consciousness of them. Without them being self-conscious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-schnabel/i-don-t-think-my-paintings-are-self-conscious-but-you-feel-the/) [Julian Schnabel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-schnabel/) Browse all 3,716 Conscious quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The imagination is an organ of understanding. And the imagination needs all the faculties at hand, all the sensibility, all the conscious and unconscious intelligence it can galvanize to fulfill its luminous mission.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Edward Hirsch" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/the-imagination-is-an-organ-of-understanding-and-the-imagination/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Conscious" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/the-imagination-is-an-organ-of-understanding-and-the-imagination/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09c/edward-hirsch-1614_conscious_the-imagination-is-an-organ-of-understan_911781.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09c/edward-hirsch-1614_conscious_the-imagination-is-an-organ-of-understan_911781.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09c/edward-hirsch-1614_conscious_the-imagination-is-an-organ-of-understan_911781.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The imagination is an organ of understanding. And the imagination needs all the faculties at hand, all the…” — Edward Hirsch", "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": "Edward Hirsch", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The imagination is an organ of...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/the-imagination-is-an-organ-of-understanding-and-the-imagination/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/the-imagination-is-an-organ-of-understanding-and-the-imagination/#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 } } ] } ```