--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Man knows that there are in the soul…" description: "\"Man knows that there are in the soul tints more bewildering, more numberless, and more nameless that the colors of an autumn forest…Yet he seriously be..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/859/gilbert-k-chesterton-223_agony_man-knows-that-there-are-in-the-soul-tin_1727704.jpg" --- # Man knows that there are in the soul tints more… ![“Man knows that there are in the soul tints more bewildering, more numberless, and more nameless that the colors of an autumn forest…Yet he seriously believes that these things can every one of them , in all their tones and semi-tones, in all their blends and unions, be accurately represented by an…” quote by Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/859/gilbert-k-chesterton-223_agony_man-knows-that-there-are-in-the-soul-tin_1727704.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/859/gilbert-k-chesterton-223_agony_man-knows-that-there-are-in-the-soul-tin_1727704.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/859/gilbert-k-chesterton-223_agony_man-knows-that-there-are-in-the-soul-tin_1727704.jpg) > “Man knows that there are in the soul tints more bewildering, more numberless, and more nameless that the colors of an autumn forest…Yet he seriously believes that these things can every one of them , in all their tones and semi-tones, in all their blends and unions, be accurately represented by an arbitrary system of grunts and squeals. He believes that an ordinary civilized stockbroker can really produce out of his own inside noises which denote all the mysteries of memory and all the agonies of desire.” [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The mind perceives infinite, indescribable inner experiences, yet tries to reduce them to crude, simplistic symbols. **In simple terms:** Complex inner life is forced into simple sounds. Key Takeaway Recognize the limits of language. Themes philosophy psychology art communication Mood reflective melancholic Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - creative writing - psychotherapy - teaching - personal reflection Key Concepts subjectivity symbolism limits of representation Questions to Reflect On - How do you express emotions that feel beyond words? - Can symbols ever truly reflect inner experience? A Different Perspective Language cannot fully capture the depth of feeling. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Agony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/agony/) [Arbitrary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arbitrary/) [Autumn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/autumn/) [Believe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/believe/) [Civilized](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized/) [Civilized Stockbroker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized-stockbroker-1400657/) [Color](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/color/) [Desire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desire/) [Forests](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forests/) [Grunt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grunt/) [Knows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knows/) [Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) [Memories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memories/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Mystery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mystery/) [Nameless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nameless/) [Noise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/noise/) [Ordinary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ordinary/) [Produce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/produce/) [Soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soul/) [Soul Tints](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soul-tints-1400656/) [Squeals Believes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/squeals-believes-1400654/) [Stockbrokers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stockbrokers/) [Tints Bewildering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tints-bewildering-1400653/) [Tone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tone/) [Tones Blends](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tones-blends-1400655/) [Unions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unions/) ## Related quotes > [The young man shivered. He rolled the stock themes of fantasy over in his mind: cars and stockbrokers and commuters, housewives and police, agony…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/the-young-man-shivered-he-rolled-the-stock-themes-of-fantasy-over-in/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [We could manage to survive without money changers and stockbrokers. We should find it harder to do without miners, steel workers and those who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aneurin-bevan/we-could-manage-to-survive-without-money-changers-and-stockbrokers-we/) [Aneurin Bevan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aneurin-bevan/) > [What happens to your money directly affects the quality of your life -- not your stockbroker's life or your banker's life, but YOUR life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suze-orman/what-happens-to-your-money-directly-affects-the-quality-of-your-life/) [Suze Orman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suze-orman/) > [My stockbroker asked me something important today: paper or plastic?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-leno/my-stockbroker-asked-me-something-important-today-paper-or-plastic/) [Jay Leno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-leno/) > [I don't really need to appeal to some stockbroker, and I always sort of root for the underdog. I probably consider all that when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-bachmann/i-don-t-really-need-to-appeal-to-some-stockbroker-and-i-always-sort/) [Eric Bachmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-bachmann/) > [I can relate to anyone. I can hang out with stoners, skaters, surfers, stockbrokers, lawyers, athletes, rappers. I feel I can hang out with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-zito/i-can-relate-to-anyone-i-can-hang-out-with-stoners-skaters-surfers/) [Barry Zito](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-zito/) > [Back then, if you had a sore arm, the only people concerned were you and your wife. Now it's you, your wife, your agent,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-bouton/back-then-if-you-had-a-sore-arm-the-only-people-concerned-were-you/) [Jim Bouton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-bouton/) > [My father was a very successful businessman, but he was ruined in the stock market crash. A big stockbroker jumped out the window and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jackie-mason/my-father-was-a-very-successful-businessman-but-he-was-ruined-in-the/) [Jackie Mason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jackie-mason/) > [When John Kennedy was assassinated I was twenty-three, a stockbroker on Wall Street and married, and I never ever thought that politics would be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-boxer/when-john-kennedy-was-assassinated-i-was-twenty-three-a-stockbroker/) [Barbara Boxer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-boxer/) > [We honor ambition, we reward greed, we celebrate materialism, we worship acquisitiveness, we commercialize art, we cherish success and then we bark at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-baker/we-honor-ambition-we-reward-greed-we-celebrate-materialism-we-worship/) [Russell Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-baker/) > [At nineteen I was pretty sure I was going to be a professional soccer player. At that time I played for one of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-nesbo/at-nineteen-i-was-pretty-sure-i-was-going-to-be-a-professional-soccer/) [Jo Nesbo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-nesbo/) > [The police can go to downtown Harlem and pick up a kid with a joint in the streets. But they can't go into the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/the-police-can-go-to-downtown-harlem-and-pick-up-a-kid-with-a-joint/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [It is very vulgar to talk about one's own business. Only people like stockbrokers do that, and then only at dinner parties.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/it-is-very-vulgar-to-talk-about-one-s-own-business-only-people-like/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [A stockbroker is someone who invests other people's money until it is all gone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woody-allen/a-stockbroker-is-someone-who-invests-other-people-s-money-until-it-is/) [Woody Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woody-allen/) > [Hope drives us to invent new fixes for old messes, which in turn create ever more dangerous messes. Hope elects the politician with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/hope-drives-us-to-invent-new-fixes-for-old-messes-which-in-turn/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) ## More by Gilbert K. Chesterton > [The aim of good prose words is to mean what they say. The aim of good poetical words is to mean what they do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/the-aim-of-good-prose-words-is-to-mean-what-they-say-the-aim-of-good/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Youth is always too serious, and just now it is too serious about frivolity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/youth-is-always-too-serious-and-just-now-it-is-too-serious-about/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Tradition does not mean a dead town; it does not mean that the living are dead but that the dead are alive. It means…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/tradition-does-not-mean-a-dead-town-it-does-not-mean-that-the-living/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [It is shorter to state the things forbidden than the things permitted; precisely because most things are permitted and only a few things forbidden.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/it-is-shorter-to-state-the-things-forbidden-than-the-things-permitted/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Everyone seems to assume that the unscrupulous parts of journalism will be the frivolous or jocular parts. This is against all ethical experience. Jokes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/everyone-seems-to-assume-that-the-unscrupulous-parts-of-journalism/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [For Scotland has a double dose of the poison called heredity; the sense of blood in the aristocrat, the sense of doom in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/for-scotland-has-a-double-dose-of-the-poison-called-heredity-the/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Faith is always at a disadvantage; it is a perpetually defeated thing which survives all conquerors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/faith-is-always-at-a-disadvantage-it-is-a-perpetually-defeated-thing/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [A building is akin to dogma; it is insolent, like dogma. Whether or no it is permanent, it claims permanence, like a dogma. People…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/a-building-is-akin-to-dogma-it-is-insolent-like-dogma-whether-or-no/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [The triangle of truisms, of father, mother and child, cannot be destroyed; it can only destroy those civilizations which disregard it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/the-triangle-of-truisms-of-father-mother-and-child-cannot-be/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Criticism is only words about words, and of what use are words about such words as these?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/criticism-is-only-words-about-words-and-of-what-use-are-words-about/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place...The old humility was a spur that prevented a man from stopping; not a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/what-we-suffer-from-today-is-humility-in-the-wrong-place-the-old/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Plato was only a Bernard Shaw who unfortunately made his jokes in Greek.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/plato-was-only-a-bernard-shaw-who-unfortunately-made-his-jokes-in/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [The word good has many meanings...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/the-word-good-has-many-meanings/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Music with dinner is an insult both to the cook and the violinist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/music-with-dinner-is-an-insult-both-to-the-cook-and-the-violinist/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Eugenics asserts that all men must be so stupid that they cannot manage their own affairs; and also so clever that they can manage…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/eugenics-asserts-that-all-men-must-be-so-stupid-that-they-cannot/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) [Explore all 868 Gilbert K. Chesterton quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) ## More Agony quotes > [Many Republicans have always reminded me of professional WWF wrestlers. They come into the ring all pumped up and acting like they're invincible and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-feig/many-republicans-have-always-reminded-me-of-professional-wwf/) [Paul Feig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-feig/) > [“aaron would not come out aaron entered into agony.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-goldman/aaron-would-not-come-out-aaron-entered-into-agony/) [William Goldman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-goldman/) > [ “\[W\]e must learn to accommodate ourselves to the discovery that some of those cunningly-fashioned instruments called human souls have only a very limited range… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/w-e-must-learn-to-accommodate-ourselves-to-the-discovery-that-some-of/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [As we look upon that agony and those tearful prayers, let us not only look with thankfulness; but let that kneeling Saviour teach us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-maclaren/as-we-look-upon-that-agony-and-those-tearful-prayers-let-us-not-only/) [Alexander MacLaren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-maclaren/) > [Love masters agony; the soul that seemed Forsaken feels her present God again And in her Father's arms Contented dies away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keble/love-masters-agony-the-soul-that-seemed-forsaken-feels-her-present/) [John Keble](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keble/) > [I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded. I have seen men…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franklin-d-roosevelt/i-have-seen-war-i-have-seen-war-on-land-and-sea-i-have-seen-blood/) [Franklin D. Roosevelt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franklin-d-roosevelt/) > [“Anger was a reliable defense, but one that allowed no chance of final victory. Anger was a medicine but never a cure, briefly numbing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-koontz/anger-was-a-reliable-defense-but-one-that-allowed-no-chance-of-final/) [Dean Koontz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-koontz/) > [The cure is in the house, not brought by other hands from distant places, but by its own, in agony and blood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/the-cure-is-in-the-house-not-brought-by-other-hands-from-distant/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [Sometimes, a lie is told in kindness. I don't believe it ever works kindly. The quick pain of truth can pass away, but the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/sometimes-a-lie-is-told-in-kindness-i-don-t-believe-it-ever-works/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [The young man shivered. He rolled the stock themes of fantasy over in his mind: cars and stockbrokers and commuters, housewives and police, agony…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/the-young-man-shivered-he-rolled-the-stock-themes-of-fantasy-over-in/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [Being ill like this combines shock - this time I will die - with a pain and agony that are unfamiliar, that wrench me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-brodkey/being-ill-like-this-combines-shock-this-time-i-will-die-with-a-pain/) [Harold Brodkey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-brodkey/) > [One often learns more from ten days of agony than ten years of contentment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/merle-shain/one-often-learns-more-from-ten-days-of-agony-than-ten-years-of/) [Merle Shain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/merle-shain/) > [There’s been a problem, a problem eating away at me from the inside out. I’ve become weak, I’ve shown human compassion, and it has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kane/there-s-been-a-problem-a-problem-eating-away-at-me-from-the-inside/) [Kane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kane/) > [Pay special attention to their agony so I might take some pleasure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/euripides/pay-special-attention-to-their-agony-so-i-might-take-some-pleasure/) [Euripides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/euripides/) > [Die, enemies of Ra!" Sekhemet yelled. "Perish in agony!" "She's almost as annoying as you," I told Horus. "Impossible," Horus said. "No one bests…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-riordan/die-enemies-of-ra-sekhemet-yelled-perish-in-agony-she-s-almost-as/) [Rick Riordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-riordan/) [Browse all 813 Agony quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/agony/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Man knows that there are in the soul tints more bewildering, more numberless, and more nameless that the colors of an autumn forest…Yet he seriously believes that these things can every one of them , in all their tones and semi-tones, in all their blends and unions, be accurately represented by an arbitrary system of grunts and squeals. He believes that an ordinary civilized stockbroker can really produce out of his own inside noises which denote all the mysteries of memory and all the agonies of desire.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gilbert K. 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