--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: ...if you do not even understand what…" description: "\"...if you do not even understand what words say, how can you expect to pass judgement on what words conceal?\" — Hilda Doolittle" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6db/hilda-doolittle-7061_judgement_if-you-do-not-even-understand-what-words_2163165.jpg" --- # ...if you do not even understand what words say, how can… ![“...if you do not even understand what words say, how can you expect to pass judgement on what words conceal?” quote by Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6db/hilda-doolittle-7061_judgement_if-you-do-not-even-understand-what-words_2163165.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6db/hilda-doolittle-7061_judgement_if-you-do-not-even-understand-what-words_2163165.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6db/hilda-doolittle-7061_judgement_if-you-do-not-even-understand-what-words_2163165.jpg) > “...if you do not even understand what words say, how can you expect to pass judgement on what words conceal?” [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Understanding words is essential before judging the hidden meanings they conceal. **In simple terms:** Know words before judging hidden intent. Key Takeaway Seek true comprehension before criticism. Themes communication interpretation judgment Mood thoughtful cautious Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - reading - debates - media analysis - personal conversations Key Concepts language semantics critical thinking Questions to Reflect On - Do you assume you grasp meaning fully? - What risks arise from judging without full knowledge? A Different Perspective Judgment may still be flawed despite understanding. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Judgement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/judgement/) [Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) ## Related quotes > [It's easy to pass judgement on someone else's racism, but what about your own?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-herring/it-s-easy-to-pass-judgement-on-someone-else-s-racism-but-what-about/) [Richard Herring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-herring/) > [Do not pass judgement on others when you don't want them to pass judgement on you. If others judge you, use that judgement to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-matobo/do-not-pass-judgement-on-others-when-you-don-t-want-them-to-pass/) [Frank Matobo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-matobo/) > [Silence hides nothing. Words conceal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/august-strindberg/silence-hides-nothing-words-conceal/) [August Strindberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/august-strindberg/) > [The same words conceal and declare the thoughts of men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-lord-tennyson/the-same-words-conceal-and-declare-the-thoughts-of-men/) [Alfred Lord Tennyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-lord-tennyson/) > [“Charles Spurgeon's words: “You may conceal your infirmity, even from your dearest friend, but you will not conceal it from your worst enemy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beth-moore/charles-spurgeon-s-words-you-may-conceal-your-infirmity-even-from/) [Beth Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beth-moore/) > [I personally don't like to jump to conclusions and pass my judgement and suddenly start looking at a person differently. I cannot do that,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arshad-warsi/i-personally-don-t-like-to-jump-to-conclusions-and-pass-my-judgement/) [Arshad Warsi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arshad-warsi/) > [Understand before you pass judgement. But how do you pass judgement once you have understood?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurent-fignon/understand-before-you-pass-judgement-but-how-do-you-pass-judgement/) Laurent Fignon > [We should look long and carefully at ourselves before we pass judgement on others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/moliere/we-should-look-long-and-carefully-at-ourselves-before-we-pass/) [Moliere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/moliere/) > [“You should visit before you pass judgement on a place.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tanith-lee/you-should-visit-before-you-pass-judgement-on-a-place/) [Tanith Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tanith-lee/) > [Everybody's got something to say about everybody else's business. Why pass judgement when u don't even know the people you're talking about?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ariana-grande/everybody-s-got-something-to-say-about-everybody-else-s-business-why/) [Ariana Grande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ariana-grande/) > [“It is not for me to pass judgement on those prisoners who put their own people above everyone else. Who can throw a stone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/viktor-e-frankl/it-is-not-for-me-to-pass-judgement-on-those-prisoners-who-put-their/) [Viktor E. Frankl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/viktor-e-frankl/) > [You know, don't judge a person, do not pass judgement, unless you have talked to them one on one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-jackson/you-know-don-t-judge-a-person-do-not-pass-judgement-unless-you-have/) [Michael Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-jackson/) > [There are few things on which we can pass a sincere judgement, because there are few things in which we have not, in one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/there-are-few-things-on-which-we-can-pass-a-sincere-judgement-because/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) > [I have never had a problem with people not being able to understand the words and the meanings in Titus.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julie-taymor/i-have-never-had-a-problem-with-people-not-being-able-to-understand/) [Julie Taymor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julie-taymor/) > [It's better when you don't understand the words in music. Because when you don't understand the words, you have to listen to what somebody…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-brennan/it-s-better-when-you-don-t-understand-the-words-in-music-because-when/) Ian Brennan ## More by Hilda Doolittle > [“Sheltered Garden" I have had enough. I gasp for breath. Every way ends, every road, every foot-path leads at last to the hill-crest-- then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/sheltered-garden-i-have-had-enough-i-gasp-for-breath-every-way-ends/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [That way of inspiration is always open, and open to everyone; it acts as go-between, interpreter, it explains symbols of the past in to-day's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/that-way-of-inspiration-is-always-open-and-open-to-everyone-it-acts/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [Could beauty be beaten out, O youth the cities have sent to strike at each other's strength, it is you who have kept her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/could-beauty-be-beaten-out-o-youth-the-cities-have-sent-to-strike-at/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [The Christos-image is most difficult to disentangle from its art-craft junk-shop paint-and-plaster medieval jumble of pain-worship and death-symbol.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/the-christos-image-is-most-difficult-to-disentangle-from-its-art/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [When you would think, "what was the use of it," you'll remember something you can't grasp and you'll wonder what it was.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/when-you-would-think-what-was-the-use-of-it-you-ll-remember-something/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [The quivering of Psyche's butterflies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/the-quivering-of-psyche-s-butterflies/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [Thoth, Hermes, the stylus, the palette, the pen, the quill endure, though our books are a floor of smouldering ash under our feet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/thoth-hermes-the-stylus-the-palette-the-pen-the-quill-endure-though/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [My eye-balls are glass, my limbs marble, my face fixed in its marble mask.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/my-eye-balls-are-glass-my-limbs-marble-my-face-fixed-in-its-marble/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [The things I have are nameless, old and true; they may not be named; few may live and know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/the-things-i-have-are-nameless-old-and-true-they-may-not-be-named-few/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [Soft are the hands of Love, but what soft hands clutched at the thorny ground, scratched like a small white ferret or foraging whippet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/soft-are-the-hands-of-love-but-what-soft-hands-clutched-at-the-thorny/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [The elixir of life, the philosopher's stone is yours if you surrender sterile logic, trivial reason.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/the-elixir-of-life-the-philosopher-s-stone-is-yours-if-you-surrender/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [Until it seems the whole city will be covered with gold pollen shaken from the bell-towers, lilies plundered with the weight of massive bees . . .](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/until-it-seems-the-whole-city-will-be-covered-with-gold-pollen-shaken/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [Alas, day, you brought light, You trailed splendour You showed us god: I salute you, most precious one, But I go to a new…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/alas-day-you-brought-light-you-trailed-splendour-you-showed-us-god-i/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [Let Love step down, open the clasped hands, forfeit the thorny crown, retrieve the garment that was whole, body and spirit one, spirit and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/let-love-step-down-open-the-clasped-hands-forfeit-the-thorny-crown/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [(Those women whom the distaff no longer claims nor spun cloth) driven made, mad, mad by Bacchus.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/those-women-whom-the-distaff-no-longer-claims-nor-spun-cloth-driven/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) [Explore all 95 Hilda Doolittle quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) ## More Judgement quotes > [Judge a person not by his ability to make money but by his ability to retain it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikrant-parsai/judge-a-person-not-by-his-ability-to-make-money-but-by-his-ability-to/) [Vikrant Parsai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikrant-parsai/) > [ No wonder that Churchill described this effort \[the British codebreakers working at Bletchley Park\] as "Britian"s secret weapon," a weapon far more effective than… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-hilton/no-wonder-that-churchill-described-this-effort-the-british/) [Peter Hilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-hilton/) > [Lots of relationships fail because we spend more time pointing out each other's mistakes and not enough time enjoying each other's company.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/lots-of-relationships-fail-because-we-spend-more-time-pointing-out/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“No one has any right to tell you that the way you perceive yourself is wrong. Because by doing so, they also discourage the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kamand-kojouri/no-one-has-any-right-to-tell-you-that-the-way-you-perceive-yourself/) [Kamand Kojouri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kamand-kojouri/) > [No one notice your pains, but they all notice your mistakes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-alapan/no-one-notice-your-pains-but-they-all-notice-your-mistakes/) [Mitch Alapan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-alapan/) > [Don't be in such a hurry to condemn a person because she doesn't do what you do, or think as you think or as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcom-x/don-t-be-in-such-a-hurry-to-condemn-a-person-because-she-doesn-t-do/) [Malcom X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcom-x/) > [“Mother Nature had made an appalling error of judgement.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yrsa-sigur-ard-ttir/mother-nature-had-made-an-appalling-error-of-judgement/) [Yrsa Sigurðardóttir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yrsa-sigur-ard-ttir/) > [We still seek to solve conflicts with 'judgement' instead of designing the way forwards.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-de-bono/we-still-seek-to-solve-conflicts-with-judgement-instead-of-designing/) [Edward de Bono](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-de-bono/) > [Having power and being in a position of power can really blur your judgement, and it's not always that clear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/having-power-and-being-in-a-position-of-power-can-really-blur-your/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [You search for the best in everything, so why do you easily fall for the worst when it comes to love?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritu-ghatourey/you-search-for-the-best-in-everything-so-why-do-you-easily-fall-for/) [Ritu Ghatourey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritu-ghatourey/) > [Do not judge me by my beginning, Only by my end, Nor by the path I took, But where it led me](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacklyn-h-lucas/do-not-judge-me-by-my-beginning-only-by-my-end-nor-by-the-path-i-took/) Jacklyn H Lucas > [“I hope there is less stigma and judgment against working moms and childless career women. All should be acceptable positions and society should not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chan-heng-chee/i-hope-there-is-less-stigma-and-judgment-against-working-moms-and/) Chan Heng Chee > [The only justice is to follow the sincere intuition of the soul, angry or gentle. Anger is just, and pity is just, but judgement…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-only-justice-is-to-follow-the-sincere-intuition-of-the-soul-angry/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Kill not the moth nor butterfly, For the Last Judgement draweth nigh.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-blake/kill-not-the-moth-nor-butterfly-for-the-last-judgement-draweth-nigh/) [William Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-blake/) > [The First Amendment makes confidence in the common sense of our people and in the maturity of their judgement the great postulate of our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-o-douglas/the-first-amendment-makes-confidence-in-the-common-sense-of-our/) [William O. Douglas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-o-douglas/) [Browse all 1,646 Judgement quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/judgement/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "...if you do not even understand what words say, how can you expect to pass judgement on what words conceal?", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Hilda Doolittle" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/if-you-do-not-even-understand-what-words-say-how-can-you-expect-to/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Judgement" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/if-you-do-not-even-understand-what-words-say-how-can-you-expect-to/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6db/hilda-doolittle-7061_judgement_if-you-do-not-even-understand-what-words_2163165.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6db/hilda-doolittle-7061_judgement_if-you-do-not-even-understand-what-words_2163165.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6db/hilda-doolittle-7061_judgement_if-you-do-not-even-understand-what-words_2163165.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“...if you do not even understand what words say, how can you expect to pass judgement on what words conceal?” — Hilda Doolittle", "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": "Hilda Doolittle", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "...if you do not even understand...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/if-you-do-not-even-understand-what-words-say-how-can-you-expect-to/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/if-you-do-not-even-understand-what-words-say-how-can-you-expect-to/#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 } } ] } ```