--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The things I have are nameless, old and…" description: "\"The things I have are nameless, old and true; they may not be named; few may live and know.\" — Hilda Doolittle" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/380/hilda-doolittle-7061_knowledge_the-things-i-have-are-nameless-old-and-t_219433.jpg" --- # The things I have are nameless, old and true; they may not… ![“The things I have are nameless, old and true; they may not be named; few may live and know.” quote by Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/380/hilda-doolittle-7061_knowledge_the-things-i-have-are-nameless-old-and-t_219433.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/380/hilda-doolittle-7061_knowledge_the-things-i-have-are-nameless-old-and-t_219433.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/380/hilda-doolittle-7061_knowledge_the-things-i-have-are-nameless-old-and-t_219433.jpg) > “The things I have are nameless, old and true; they may not be named; few may live and know.” [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. She reflects on unnamed, ancient truths that persist without labels. **In simple terms:** Timeless truths exist beyond naming. Key Takeaway Seek understanding beyond labels. Themes truth timelessness reflection Mood contemplative introspective Type philosophical poetic When to use this quote - personal reflection - spiritual practice - literary analysis Key Concepts philosophical existential Questions to Reflect On - What unnamed truths guide your life? - How do you recognize timeless values? A Different Perspective Abstract concepts may be hard to articulate. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) ## Related quotes > [“And even my sense of identity was wrapped in a namelessness often hard to penetrate, as we have just seen I think…Yes, even then,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/and-even-my-sense-of-identity-was-wrapped-in-a-namelessness-often/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [“Roland Barthes says, “That which cannot be named is a disturbance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-tempest-williams/roland-barthes-says-that-which-cannot-be-named-is-a-disturbance/) [Terry Tempest Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-tempest-williams/) > [The nameless is the beginning of Heaven and Earth. The named is the mother of all things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laozi/the-nameless-is-the-beginning-of-heaven-and-earth-the-named-is-the/) [Laozi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laozi/) > [I had an interesting day. I was in the studio with a group of musicians, who shall remain nameless, and I said to them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-had-an-interesting-day-i-was-in-the-studio-with-a-group-of/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [I have supped mead with lords and ladies; so to have I slumbered in nameless lanes and gored upon mutton.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dusty-rhodes/i-have-supped-mead-with-lords-and-ladies-so-to-have-i-slumbered-in/) [Dusty Rhodes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dusty-rhodes/) > [So here comes Gabriel again, and what he says is "Good tidings of great joy ... for all people." ... That's why the shepherds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-wangerin/so-here-comes-gabriel-again-and-what-he-says-is-good-tidings-of-great/) [Walter Wangerin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-wangerin/) > [The quality of light by which we scrutinize our lives has direct bearing upon the product which we live, and upon the changes which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/the-quality-of-light-by-which-we-scrutinize-our-lives-has-direct/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) > [ The most interesting - in fact, inspiring - people I met there \[Porto Alegre\] are those who remain nameless: representatives of the international campesino… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/the-most-interesting-in-fact-inspiring-people-i-met-there-porto/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [And so it is that we do not exist until we do; and then it is that we play with our world of existent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malaclypse-the-younger/and-so-it-is-that-we-do-not-exist-until-we-do-and-then-it-is-that-we/) [Malaclypse the Younger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malaclypse-the-younger/) > [And some days, he went on, were days of hearing every trump and trill of the universe. Some days were good for tasting and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/and-some-days-he-went-on-were-days-of-hearing-every-trump-and-trill/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [The acute experience of great beauty readily evokes a nameless yearning for something more than earth can offer. Elegant splendor reawakens our spirit's aching…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-dubay/the-acute-experience-of-great-beauty-readily-evokes-a-nameless/) [Thomas Dubay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-dubay/) > [The only thing we have to fear is fear itself-and possibly teh bogey man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-paulsen/the-only-thing-we-have-to-fear-is-fear-itself-and-possibly-teh-bogey/) [Pat Paulsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-paulsen/) > [You are my inspiration and my folly. You are my light across the sea, my million nameless joys, and my day's wage. You are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/you-are-my-inspiration-and-my-folly-you-are-my-light-across-the-sea/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [God has a thousand names, or rather He is Nameless.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/god-has-a-thousand-names-or-rather-he-is-nameless/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [“Men with names never truly die. It is only the nameless and faceless who vanish like smoke into the early morning air.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwidge-dandicat/men-with-names-never-truly-die-it-is-only-the-nameless-and-faceless/) Edwidge Dandicat ## 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/) > [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/) > [Take what the old-church found in Mithra's tomb, candle and script and bell, take what the new-church spat upon and broke and shattered.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/take-what-the-old-church-found-in-mithra-s-tomb-candle-and-script-and/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) [Explore all 95 Hilda Doolittle quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) ## More Knowledge quotes > [“Knowledge without conscience is but the ruin of the soul.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabelaise/knowledge-without-conscience-is-but-the-ruin-of-the-soul/) Rabelaise > [For successful education there must always be a certain freshness in the knowledge dealt with. It must be either new in itself or invested…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-north-whitehead/for-successful-education-there-must-always-be-a-certain-freshness-in/) [Alfred North Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-north-whitehead/) > [Nothing is so powerful as an insight into human nature... what compulsions drive a man, what instincts dominate his action. If you know these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-bernbach/nothing-is-so-powerful-as-an-insight-into-human-nature-what/) [William Bernbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-bernbach/) > [But I already saw no great difference between the psyche and spirituality. To amass knowledge without becoming wise is not my idea of progress…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-scott-peck/but-i-already-saw-no-great-difference-between-the-psyche-and/) [M. Scott Peck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-scott-peck/) > [If we will not interfere with our thought, but will act entirely, or see how the thing stands in God, we know the particular…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/if-we-will-not-interfere-with-our-thought-but-will-act-entirely-or/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [An enlightened awareness is within each one of us, right at this moment. This enlightened awareness is truly unborn and marvellously illuminating; and everything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bankei-yotaku/an-enlightened-awareness-is-within-each-one-of-us-right-at-this/) [Bankei Yotaku](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bankei-yotaku/) > [One of the deepest and strangest of all human moods is the mood which will suddenly strike us perhaps in a garden at night,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/one-of-the-deepest-and-strangest-of-all-human-moods-is-the-mood-which/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“I never knew any man who had once tasted the sweetness of experimental knowledge, that ever afterward fasted after ye Vapour garlick and onions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-zimmer/i-never-knew-any-man-who-had-once-tasted-the-sweetness-of/) [Carl Zimmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-zimmer/) > [I would rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent than in the extent of my powers and dominion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-the-great/i-would-rather-excel-others-in-the-knowledge-of-what-is-excellent/) [Alexander the Great](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-the-great/) > [We know accurately only when we know little, with knowledge doubt increases.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/we-know-accurately-only-when-we-know-little-with-knowledge-doubt/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [I've always been a believer in research. It's great to have an instinctual human reaction to a character, too, of course, but it has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chiwetel-ejiofor/i-ve-always-been-a-believer-in-research-it-s-great-to-have-an/) [Chiwetel Ejiofor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chiwetel-ejiofor/) > [I am an aware citizen, so I want my characters to be aware, too. They should be aware of what's happening in the society…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-tripathi/i-am-an-aware-citizen-so-i-want-my-characters-to-be-aware-too-they/) [Pankaj Tripathi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-tripathi/) > [Technology means the systematic application of scientific or other organized knowledge to practical tasks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kenneth-galbraith/technology-means-the-systematic-application-of-scientific-or-other/) [John Kenneth Galbraith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-kenneth-galbraith/) > [Love is a vision,love carry our vision,and love by-step our vision. we carry our love to our by-step. once love is vision love is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/love-is-a-vision-love-carry-our-vision-and-love-by-step-our-vision-we/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Man is an ignoramus athirst for knowledge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-wagner/man-is-an-ignoramus-athirst-for-knowledge/) [Charles Wagner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-wagner/) [Browse all 13,227 Knowledge quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The things I have are nameless, old and true; they may not be named; few may live and know.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Hilda Doolittle" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/the-things-i-have-are-nameless-old-and-true-they-may-not-be-named-few/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Knowledge" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/the-things-i-have-are-nameless-old-and-true-they-may-not-be-named-few/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/380/hilda-doolittle-7061_knowledge_the-things-i-have-are-nameless-old-and-t_219433.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/380/hilda-doolittle-7061_knowledge_the-things-i-have-are-nameless-old-and-t_219433.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/380/hilda-doolittle-7061_knowledge_the-things-i-have-are-nameless-old-and-t_219433.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The things I have are nameless, old and true; they may not be named; few may live and know.” — 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": "The things I have are nameless,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/the-things-i-have-are-nameless-old-and-true-they-may-not-be-named-few/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/the-things-i-have-are-nameless-old-and-true-they-may-not-be-named-few/#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 } } ] } ```