--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It\" is the idea of him or her that…" description: "\"“It\" is the idea of him or her that resides in us--inspired by the \"Something\" in them, as Pope has it, \"That gives us back the Image of our Mind.\" Alt..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7cb/joseph-roach-75942_alexander-pope_it-is-the-idea-of-him-or-her-that-reside_537615.jpg" --- # It" is the idea of him or her that resides in us--inspired… ![“It" is the idea of him or her that resides in us--inspired by the "Something" in them, as Pope has it, "That gives us back the Image of our Mind." Although the perception of It must be excited by some extraordinary perturbation in the looks and personality of the adored, the aura that It…” quote by Joseph Roach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7cb/joseph-roach-75942_alexander-pope_it-is-the-idea-of-him-or-her-that-reside_537615.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7cb/joseph-roach-75942_alexander-pope_it-is-the-idea-of-him-or-her-that-reside_537615.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7cb/joseph-roach-75942_alexander-pope_it-is-the-idea-of-him-or-her-that-reside_537615.jpg) > ““It" is the idea of him or her that resides in us--inspired by the "Something" in them, as Pope has it, "That gives us back the Image of our Mind." Although the perception of It must be excited by some extraordinary perturbation in the looks and personality of the adored, the aura that It broadcasts arises not merely from the singularity of an original, as Walter Benjamin supposed, but also from the fabulous success of its reproducibility in the imaginations of many others, charmed exponentially by the number of its copies. The one-of-kind item must become a type, a replicable role-icon of itself--from "a Charles Hart" or "a Nell Gwyn" to "a Mary Pickford" or "a Douglas Fairbanks"--in order to unleash the Pygmalion effect in the hearts and minds of the fans, making the idea of him or her theirs--as much or more than anything else they might call their own.”” Joseph Roach ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Roach explores how iconic figures become replicated symbols that inspire collective imagination, turning unique individuals into archetypal icons that influence cultural perception and identity. **In simple terms:** Iconic people become symbols that shape how we see ourselves and others. Key Takeaway Recognize the power of cultural icons in shaping identity. Themes culture identity media iconography psychology Mood thoughtful analytical Type theoretical interpretive When to use this quote - advertising - celebrity culture - fan communities - educational curricula Key Concepts symbolic representation collective imagination replication Pygmalion effect Questions to Reflect On - What makes an icon resonate across cultures? - How does replication affect authenticity? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on icons can oversimplify complex individuals and histories. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Pygmalion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pygmalion/) ## Related quotes > [“Back hunched magician with golden knife Notch the velvet green skin of English life Couplet from ‘Dads’ by Mk Bhutta”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lecturer-m-k-bhutta-poet/back-hunched-magician-with-golden-knife-notch-the-velvet-green-skin/) [Lecturer M K Bhutta Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lecturer-m-k-bhutta-poet/) > [Giorgio Agamben is possibly the most delicate and probing thinker since Walter Benjamin.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/avital-ronell/giorgio-agamben-is-possibly-the-most-delicate-and-probing-thinker/) [Avital Ronell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/avital-ronell/) > [Walter Benjamin talks about art losing its original "aura" in an age of mechanical reproduction. In writing memoir, we're taking something that happened in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucas-mann/walter-benjamin-talks-about-art-losing-its-original-aura-in-an-age-of/) [Lucas Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucas-mann/) > [“Reading Proust nearly silenced Virginia Woolf. She loved his novel, but loved it rather too much. There wasn’t enough wrong with it—a crushing recognition…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/reading-proust-nearly-silenced-virginia-woolf-she-loved-his-novel-but/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) > [Bertrand Russell said, 'Electricity is not a thing like St. Paul's Cathedral; it is a way in which things behave.' And it's not 'they'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-jo-bang/bertrand-russell-said-electricity-is-not-a-thing-like-st-paul-s/) [Mary Jo Bang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-jo-bang/) > [“Not to find one’s way in a city may well be uninteresting and banal. It requires ignorance—nothing more," says the twentieth-century philosopher-essayist Walter Benjamin.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/not-to-find-one-s-way-in-a-city-may-well-be-uninteresting-and-banal/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [An exciting and yet highly lucid account of the formation and significance of Karl Kraus's modernist journalism, an activity that Walter Benjamin and Gershom…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/istvan-deak/an-exciting-and-yet-highly-lucid-account-of-the-formation-and/) Istvan Deak > [ At any rate, nothing was more characteristic of him \[Walter Benjamin\] in the thirties than the little notebooks with black covers which he always… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/at-any-rate-nothing-was-more-characteristic-of-him-walter-benjamin-in/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“(Mind you, according to Walter Benjamin, the twentieth century’s great philosopher of collecting, browsing and what we’d now call vintage shopping, ‘the non-reading of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-reynolds/mind-you-according-to-walter-benjamin-the-twentieth-century-s-great/) [Simon Reynolds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-reynolds/) > [Walter Benjamin has this notion of the angel of history and in a way that's paradoxical itself. We don't have angels in history anymore.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-stern/walter-benjamin-has-this-notion-of-the-angel-of-history-and-in-a-way/) [Steve Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-stern/) > [“The research projects that I have recently undertaken have shown me that our modern societies, which claim to be secular, are, on the contrary,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-research-projects-that-i-have-recently-undertaken-have-shown-me/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Briskly aestheticizing politics, this predecessor of today’s live-streaming militants outlined a likely endgame for a world in which, as Walter Benjamin wrote, the self-alienation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/briskly-aestheticizing-politics-this-predecessor-of-today-s-live/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [“The difference between a person who appreciates books, even loves them, and a collector is not only degrees of affection, I realized. For the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allison-hoover-bartlett/the-difference-between-a-person-who-appreciates-books-even-loves-them/) [Allison Hoover Bartlett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allison-hoover-bartlett/) > [The German philosopher Walter Benjamin had the curious notion that we could change the past. For most of us, the past is fixed while…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/the-german-philosopher-walter-benjamin-had-the-curious-notion-that-we/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [I was fascinated by quotations and lists. And then I noticed that other people were fascinated by quotations and lists: people as different as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/i-was-fascinated-by-quotations-and-lists-and-then-i-noticed-that/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## More by Joseph Roach > [“Modern anxiety is expressed in the longing for what most people fear, even as modern grief is expressed in the unconsummated mourning for what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-roach/modern-anxiety-is-expressed-in-the-longing-for-what-most-people-fear/) Joseph Roach > [“Perhaps part of the uncanny allure of fashionable clothing resides in the paradoxical impact of its expressiveness: the act of covering up with mere…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-roach/perhaps-part-of-the-uncanny-allure-of-fashionable-clothing-resides-in/) Joseph Roach Explore all 3 Joseph Roach quotes ## More Alexander-pope quotes > [“Back hunched magician with golden knife Notch the velvet green skin of English life Couplet from ‘Dads’ by Mk Bhutta”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lecturer-m-k-bhutta-poet/back-hunched-magician-with-golden-knife-notch-the-velvet-green-skin/) [Lecturer M K Bhutta Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lecturer-m-k-bhutta-poet/) Browse all 2 Alexander-pope quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It\" is the idea of him or her that resides in us--inspired by the \"Something\" in them, as Pope has it, \"That gives us back the Image of our Mind.\" Although the perception of It must be excited by some extraordinary perturbation in the looks and personality of the adored, the aura that It broadcasts arises not merely from the singularity of an original, as Walter Benjamin supposed, but also from the fabulous success of its reproducibility in the imaginations of many others, charmed exponentially by the number of its copies. The one-of-kind item must become a type, a replicable role-icon of itself--from \"a Charles Hart\" or \"a Nell Gwyn\" to \"a Mary Pickford\" or \"a Douglas Fairbanks\"--in order to unleash the Pygmalion effect in the hearts and minds of the fans, making the idea of him or her theirs--as much or more than anything else they might call their own.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joseph Roach" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-roach/it-is-the-idea-of-him-or-her-that-resides-in-us-inspired-by-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Alexander-pope" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-roach/it-is-the-idea-of-him-or-her-that-resides-in-us-inspired-by-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7cb/joseph-roach-75942_alexander-pope_it-is-the-idea-of-him-or-her-that-reside_537615.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7cb/joseph-roach-75942_alexander-pope_it-is-the-idea-of-him-or-her-that-reside_537615.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7cb/joseph-roach-75942_alexander-pope_it-is-the-idea-of-him-or-her-that-reside_537615.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It\" is the idea of him or her that resides in us--inspired by the \"Something\" in them, as Pope has it, \"That…” — Joseph Roach", "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": "Joseph Roach", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-roach/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“It\" is the idea of him...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-roach/it-is-the-idea-of-him-or-her-that-resides-in-us-inspired-by-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-roach/it-is-the-idea-of-him-or-her-that-resides-in-us-inspired-by-the/#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 } } ] } ```