--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: For why are we here if not to try to…" description: "\"For why are we here if not to try to fathom one another? Not through facts alone, but with the full extent of our imaginations. And what are stories if..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ca/leah-hager-cohen-16901_facts_for-why-are-we-here-if-not-to-try-to-fat_771983.png" --- # For why are we here if not to try to fathom one another?… ![“For why are we here if not to try to fathom one another? Not through facts alone, but with the full extent of our imaginations. And what are stories if not tools for imagining?” quote by Leah Hager Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ca/leah-hager-cohen-16901_facts_for-why-are-we-here-if-not-to-try-to-fat_771983.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ca/leah-hager-cohen-16901_facts_for-why-are-we-here-if-not-to-try-to-fat_771983.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ca/leah-hager-cohen-16901_facts_for-why-are-we-here-if-not-to-try-to-fat_771983.png) > “For why are we here if not to try to fathom one another? Not through facts alone, but with the full extent of our imaginations. And what are stories if not tools for imagining?” [Leah Hager Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leah-hager-cohen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. We exist to understand each other deeply, using imagination beyond facts, and stories are the vehicles for that imaginative connection. **In simple terms:** We use imagination and stories to understand each other. Key Takeaway Embrace imagination and storytelling to connect. Themes connection imagination storytelling empathy Mood reflective inspirational Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - team building - education - therapy - marketing - cross‑cultural dialogue Key Concepts Narrative theory cognitive empathy creative cognition Questions to Reflect On - How can you use stories to bridge gaps in understanding? - What limits do facts impose on imagination? A Different Perspective Stories can oversimplify or bias perception if not critically examined. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Facts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts/) [Imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination/) [Stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) [Tools](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tools/) ## Related quotes > [“...Don't insult readers by questioning the extent of their imaginations. Most need only to be nudged to solve a good mystery.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peggy-kopman-owens/don-t-insult-readers-by-questioning-the-extent-of-their-imaginations/) [Peggy Kopman-Owens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peggy-kopman-owens/) > [“Birds are magical. Their flight alone can arouse a clever thought.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/birds-are-magical-their-flight-alone-can-arouse-a-clever-thought/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) > [The world is full of horror. Our imaginations struggle to keep up. It would be a poor life without imagining. I’m not sure we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-rasnic-tem/the-world-is-full-of-horror-our-imaginations-struggle-to-keep-up-it/) [Steve Rasnic Tem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-rasnic-tem/) > [Reading fairytales to children expands their imaginations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lepage/reading-fairytales-to-children-expands-their-imaginations/) [Robert Lepage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lepage/) > [Can we only love Something created in our own imaginations?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/can-we-only-love-something-created-in-our-own-imaginations/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Our thoughts and imaginations are the only real limits to our possibilities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orison-swett-marden/our-thoughts-and-imaginations-are-the-only-real-limits-to-our/) [Orison Swett Marden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orison-swett-marden/) > [I feel like we are at a time of great creativity if we choose to embrace it as such, if we choose to engage…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-tempest-williams/i-feel-like-we-are-at-a-time-of-great-creativity-if-we-choose-to/) [Terry Tempest Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-tempest-williams/) > [To be successful we must live from our imaginations, not from our memories.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-covey/to-be-successful-we-must-live-from-our-imaginations-not-from-our/) [Stephen Covey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-covey/) > [O never give me over to my own heart's desires, nor let me follow my own imaginations!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-wesley/o-never-give-me-over-to-my-own-heart-s-desires-nor-let-me-follow-my/) [John Wesley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-wesley/) > [“Imagination is paradise.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/imagination-is-paradise/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [“Those who receive the most images into their memories have the most lively imaginations.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/those-who-receive-the-most-images-into-their-memories-have-the-most/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [Never be limited by other people's limited imaginations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mae-jemison/never-be-limited-by-other-people-s-limited-imaginations/) [Mae Jemison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mae-jemison/) > [People who work with me think I should cut my hair. They say casting directors are less likely to hire me with long hair…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rory-culkin/people-who-work-with-me-think-i-should-cut-my-hair-they-say-casting/) [Rory Culkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rory-culkin/) > [“Dullness. Only humans could have invented it. What imaginations they had.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/dullness-only-humans-could-have-invented-it-what-imaginations-they-had/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [Television deprives children of their imaginations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-isaac-rubin/television-deprives-children-of-their-imaginations/) [Theodore Isaac Rubin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-isaac-rubin/) ## More by Leah Hager Cohen > [Is there a wrong way to say "I don't know"? Yes. When we declare ignorance, it should be a) honest and b) in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leah-hager-cohen/is-there-a-wrong-way-to-say-i-don-t-know-yes-when-we-declare/) [Leah Hager Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leah-hager-cohen/) > [Who could ever tell a story complete?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leah-hager-cohen/who-could-ever-tell-a-story-complete/) [Leah Hager Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leah-hager-cohen/) > [“Wally gives gifts all the time, at the drop of a hat, little, odd ones. The gift not so much in the item itself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leah-hager-cohen/wally-gives-gifts-all-the-time-at-the-drop-of-a-hat-little-odd-ones/) [Leah hager Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leah-hager-cohen/) > [“The easy danger of stories, their adhesive allure.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leah-hager-cohen/the-easy-danger-of-stories-their-adhesive-allure/) [Leah Hager Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leah-hager-cohen/) > [Every sad thing, every loss or hurt really a challenge to love that much more, really just another of beauty's many strongholds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leah-hager-cohen/every-sad-thing-every-loss-or-hurt-really-a-challenge-to-love-that/) [Leah Hager Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leah-hager-cohen/) > [“The words came fast and slow, because the act of writing plunged me so wantonly down slippery avenues of thought that frequently I found…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leah-hager-cohen/the-words-came-fast-and-slow-because-the-act-of-writing-plunged-me-so/) [Leah Hager Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leah-hager-cohen/) > [“We are at the mercy of our own narrative impulses.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leah-hager-cohen/we-are-at-the-mercy-of-our-own-narrative-impulses/) [Leah Hager Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leah-hager-cohen/) > [“Like storytelling, that incessant loving rush of explaining and repositioning and telling again, all for the sake of finding something shared, something mutually recognized…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leah-hager-cohen/like-storytelling-that-incessant-loving-rush-of-explaining-and/) [Leah Hager Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leah-hager-cohen/) > [People cheat when they are afraid. When there is no cost to being wrong or confessing ignorance, there is no reason to cheat or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leah-hager-cohen/people-cheat-when-they-are-afraid-when-there-is-no-cost-to-being/) [Leah Hager Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leah-hager-cohen/) > [“That our intuition could lead us astray is troubling in direct proportion to the degree of trust we place in it. The solution would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leah-hager-cohen/that-our-intuition-could-lead-us-astray-is-troubling-in-direct/) [Leah Hager Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leah-hager-cohen/) > [Unfortunately, being physically equipped to hear has little to do with the actual predilection to listen. Sharing a common tongue does not ensure earnest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leah-hager-cohen/unfortunately-being-physically-equipped-to-hear-has-little-to-do-with/) [Leah Hager Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leah-hager-cohen/) > [“Always, even on a solemn occasion like this, an undercurrent of laughter in her voice. She possessed a keen sense of the fundamental absurdity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leah-hager-cohen/always-even-on-a-solemn-occasion-like-this-an-undercurrent-of/) [Leah Hager Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leah-hager-cohen/) > [Increasing pressure on students to subject themselves to ever more tests, whittling themselves down to rows and rows of tight black integers upon a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leah-hager-cohen/increasing-pressure-on-students-to-subject-themselves-to-ever-more/) [Leah Hager Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leah-hager-cohen/) > [“Brant had said my embellishing constituted a disservice to history and its players. But I believed the opposite. Marooning them on the forlorn island…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leah-hager-cohen/brant-had-said-my-embellishing-constituted-a-disservice-to-history/) [Leah Hager Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leah-hager-cohen/) > [“He spoke slowly; I had a sense he was groping between words for the thread of his own thoughts.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leah-hager-cohen/he-spoke-slowly-i-had-a-sense-he-was-groping-between-words-for-the/) [Leah Hager Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leah-hager-cohen/) [Explore all 38 Leah Hager Cohen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leah-hager-cohen/) ## More Facts quotes > [It is indeed a surprising and fortunate fact that nature can be expressed by relatively low-order mathematical functions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudolf-carnap/it-is-indeed-a-surprising-and-fortunate-fact-that-nature-can-be/) [Rudolf Carnap](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudolf-carnap/) > [So the fool, as distinct from the scoundrel, is completely self- satisfied; in fact, he can easily become dangerous, as it does not take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/so-the-fool-as-distinct-from-the-scoundrel-is-completely-self/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) > [He bombarded me with words, of all things, apparently clueless to the fact that the predawn hours rendered me incapable of coherent thought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/darynda-jones/he-bombarded-me-with-words-of-all-things-apparently-clueless-to-the/) [Darynda Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/darynda-jones/) > [Scrabble - The game is available in Braille. That’s a nice fact. This makes me feel better about humanity for some reason. I can’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/scrabble-the-game-is-available-in-braille-that-s-a-nice-fact-this/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'm Fine!, the most common LIE in the world...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/punkinhead-abhishek/i-m-fine-the-most-common-lie-in-the-world/) [Punkinhead Abhishek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/punkinhead-abhishek/) > [The time that one gains cannot be accumulated in a storehouse; it is contradictory to want to save up existence, which, the fact is,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/the-time-that-one-gains-cannot-be-accumulated-in-a-storehouse-it-is/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [What is history after all? History is facts which become lies in the end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/what-is-history-after-all-history-is-facts-which-become-lies-in-the/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Don't take too much comfort in the fact that you're successful today because tomorrow could bring failure. There's no surety in life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-savage/don-t-take-too-much-comfort-in-the-fact-that-you-re-successful-today/) [Michael Savage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-savage/) > [I am told many children block out the memory of trauma. In fact, the healing process can only truly begin when we are willing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phoebe-stone/i-am-told-many-children-block-out-the-memory-of-trauma-in-fact-the/) [Phoebe Stone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phoebe-stone/) > [Because the truth is that gossip is as good as gospel in this town. You can save face but you won't ever save your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conor-oberst/because-the-truth-is-that-gossip-is-as-good-as-gospel-in-this-town/) [Conor Oberst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conor-oberst/) > [Truth be told from compulsive liars with a history/Everything must change 2nd chances are a mystery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-dash/truth-be-told-from-compulsive-liars-with-a-history-everything-must/) C-DASH > [We did an episode where she goes out to get a job and she gets fired because she's not good. They hire a babysitter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-heaton/we-did-an-episode-where-she-goes-out-to-get-a-job-and-she-gets-fired/) [Patricia Heaton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-heaton/) > [Le biologiste passe, la grenouille reste. The biologist passes, the frog remains.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-rostand/le-biologiste-passe-la-grenouille-reste-the-biologist-passes-the-frog/) [Jean Rostand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-rostand/) > [I guess he'll have to figure out someday that he is supposed to have this dark side, that it is part of what it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/i-guess-he-ll-have-to-figure-out-someday-that-he-is-supposed-to-have/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [The fact -- not theory -- that evolution has occurred and the Darwinian theory as to how it occurred have become so confused in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-gaylord-simpson/the-fact-not-theory-that-evolution-has-occurred-and-the-darwinian/) [George Gaylord Simpson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-gaylord-simpson/) [Browse all 19,906 Facts quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "For why are we here if not to try to fathom one another? 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