--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: You are not supposed to like things. Only…" description: "\"You are not supposed to like things. Only to understand.\" — Ernest Hemingway" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff6/ernest-hemingway-83_learning_you-are-not-supposed-to-like-things-only_936596.jpg" --- # You are not supposed to like things. Only to understand. ![“You are not supposed to like things. Only to understand.” quote by Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff6/ernest-hemingway-83_learning_you-are-not-supposed-to-like-things-only_936596.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff6/ernest-hemingway-83_learning_you-are-not-supposed-to-like-things-only_936596.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff6/ernest-hemingway-83_learning_you-are-not-supposed-to-like-things-only_936596.jpg) > “You are not supposed to like things. Only to understand.” [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. It suggests that true appreciation comes from understanding something, not merely liking it. **In simple terms:** Understanding is deeper than liking. Key Takeaway Prioritize comprehension over superficial preference. Themes philosophy learning empathy Mood thoughtful analytical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - education - art criticism - personal growth Key Concepts critical thinking depth objectivity Questions to Reflect On - How can you deepen your understanding of something you dislike? - What value does comprehension bring over mere preference? A Different Perspective Liking without understanding can lead to shallow judgments. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Learning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learning/) [Like Things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/like-things/) [Supposed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/supposed/) [Things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/things/) [Things Understand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/things-understand/) [Understand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understand/) ## Related quotes > [I don't think you have to have experienced things to understand them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/birdy/i-don-t-think-you-have-to-have-experienced-things-to-understand-them/) [Birdy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/birdy/) > [I like it when things are where they're supposed to be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-lauer/i-like-it-when-things-are-where-they-re-supposed-to-be/) [Matt Lauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-lauer/) > [Things I don't understand don't destroy my faith in the things I do understand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-l-evans/things-i-don-t-understand-don-t-destroy-my-faith-in-the-things-i-do/) [Richard L. 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Human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/soren-kierkegaard/it-is-the-duty-of-the-human-understanding-to-understand-that-there/) [Soren Kierkegaard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/soren-kierkegaard/) > [Some things, the more you understand the more you loathe them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/some-things-the-more-you-understand-the-more-you-loathe-them/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [Poets utter great and wise things which they do not themselves understand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/poets-utter-great-and-wise-things-which-they-do-not-themselves/) [Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/) > [“Once you tell somebody a story, you are all in the same world and you can all speak to each other about the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bilal-tanweer/once-you-tell-somebody-a-story-you-are-all-in-the-same-world-and-you/) [Bilal Tanweer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bilal-tanweer/) > [People name things they do not understand to console themselves in their ignorance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikrant-parsai/people-name-things-they-do-not-understand-to-console-themselves-in/) [Vikrant Parsai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikrant-parsai/) > [There are things you cannot understand, and you must learn to live with this. 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Only things we understand and things we have chosen to pretend we don't understand.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-gran/constance-helped-mick-see-that-there-are-never-any-sides-only-things/) [Sara Gran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-gran/) > [There are people in the world having greater faith in those things which they do not understand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikrant-parsai/there-are-people-in-the-world-having-greater-faith-in-those-things/) [Vikrant Parsai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikrant-parsai/) ## More by Ernest Hemingway > [Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/wine-is-one-of-the-most-civilized-things-in-the-world-and-one-of-the/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“There was no wind, and, outside now of the warm air of the cave, heavy with smoke of both tobacco and charcoal, with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/there-was-no-wind-and-outside-now-of-the-warm-air-of-the-cave-heavy/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“It was not brilliant bull-fighting. It was only perfect bull-fighting.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/it-was-not-brilliant-bull-fighting-it-was-only-perfect-bull-fighting/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [One cat just leads to another. The place is so damned big it doesn't really seem as though there were many cats until you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/one-cat-just-leads-to-another-the-place-is-so-damned-big-it-doesn-t/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [Creation's probably overrated. 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There was the green of the headlands, the white, red-roofed villas, patches of forest, and the ocean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/we-drove-out-along-the-coast-road-there-was-the-green-of-the/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [As a Nobel Prize winner I cannot but regret that the award was never given to Mark Twain, nor to Henry James, speaking only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/as-a-nobel-prize-winner-i-cannot-but-regret-that-the-award-was-never/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [Oh, darling, I've been so miserable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/oh-darling-i-ve-been-so-miserable/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [I read my own books sometimes to cheer me when it is hard to write, and then I remember that it was always difficult,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/i-read-my-own-books-sometimes-to-cheer-me-when-it-is-hard-to-write/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“You find everything on earth at Harry's." "Yes, my Colonel. Except, possibly, happiness." "I'll damn well find happiness, too," the Colonel assured him. "Happiness,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/you-find-everything-on-earth-at-harry-s-yes-my-colonel-except/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“No. It's bad for me. Cole Porter wrote the words and the music. This knowledge that you're going mad for me.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/no-it-s-bad-for-me-cole-porter-wrote-the-words-and-the-music-this/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“everything kills everything else in some way. Fishing kills me exactly as it keeps me alive. The boy keeps me alive, he thought. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/everything-kills-everything-else-in-some-way-fishing-kills-me-exactly/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) [Explore all 1,464 Ernest Hemingway quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) ## More Learning quotes > [The one thing that I keep learning over and over again is that I don't know nothing. I mean, that's my life lesson.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwayne-johnson/the-one-thing-that-i-keep-learning-over-and-over-again-is-that-i-don/) [Dwayne Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwayne-johnson/) > [Just understand that the good that you want is already here. All you have to do is get in harmony with it. And you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-proctor/just-understand-that-the-good-that-you-want-is-already-here-all-you/) [Bob Proctor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-proctor/) > [“Men mistook measurement for understanding. 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It's not a burden to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seungri/everything-i-do-is-more-memorable-and-i-understand-music-more-than/) [Seungri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seungri/) > [“let us not teach / what we have learned badly / and not profited by”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-d-hilda-doolittle/let-us-not-teach-what-we-have-learned-badly-and-not-profited-by/) [H.D. (Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-d-hilda-doolittle/) > [The size of a man's understanding might always be justly measured by his mirth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/the-size-of-a-man-s-understanding-might-always-be-justly-measured-by/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [once in awhile you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look it right](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-garcia/once-in-awhile-you-get-shown-the-light-in-the-strangest-of-places-if/) [Jerry Garcia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-garcia/) > [It's like saying French shouldn't be taught because you don't understand it because it's new. Shakespeare is just like learning a new, exciting language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-barnett/it-s-like-saying-french-shouldn-t-be-taught-because-you-don-t/) [Samuel Barnett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-barnett/) > [I learned a lot about myself at Oakmont.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shane-lowry/i-learned-a-lot-about-myself-at-oakmont/) [Shane Lowry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shane-lowry/) > [Would she understand that time had stopped while she was gone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miranda-july/would-she-understand-that-time-had-stopped-while-she-was-gone/) [Miranda July](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miranda-july/) > [It's difficult for people to come to the understanding that only a small minority of the people ever really get the word about life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/earl-nightingale/it-s-difficult-for-people-to-come-to-the-understanding-that-only-a/) [Earl Nightingale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/earl-nightingale/) > [“Damen's understanding of Laurent rearranged itself, in order that he might despise him more accurately.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-u-pacat/damen-s-understanding-of-laurent-rearranged-itself-in-order-that-he/) [S.U. Pacat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-u-pacat/) [Browse all 22,300 Learning quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learning/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "You are not supposed to like things. 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