--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Key metaphors help determine what and how…" description: "\"Key metaphors help determine what and how we perceive and how we think about our perceptions.\" — M. H. Abrams" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d0a/m-h-abrams-28509_determine_key-metaphors-help-determine-what-and-ho_3233057.png" --- # Key metaphors help determine what and how we perceive and… ![“Key metaphors help determine what and how we perceive and how we think about our perceptions.” quote by M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d0a/m-h-abrams-28509_determine_key-metaphors-help-determine-what-and-ho_3233057.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d0a/m-h-abrams-28509_determine_key-metaphors-help-determine-what-and-ho_3233057.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d0a/m-h-abrams-28509_determine_key-metaphors-help-determine-what-and-ho_3233057.png) > “Key metaphors help determine what and how we perceive and how we think about our perceptions.” [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Metaphors shape perception and influence how we interpret our own experiences. **In simple terms:** Metaphors affect how we see and think. Key Takeaway Examine the metaphors you use. Themes language perception interpretation thought Mood reflective analytical Type educational philosophical When to use this quote - writing - teaching - personal reflection Key Concepts cognitive framing symbolic thinking semantic influence Questions to Reflect On - Which metaphors dominate your thinking? - How might alternative metaphors shift your view? A Different Perspective Metaphors can also limit understanding if taken too literally. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Determine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/determine/) [Helping](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/helping/) [Key Metaphors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/key-metaphors-6123774/) [Keys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/keys/) [Metaphor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphor/) [Metaphors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphors/) [Metaphors Help](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphors-help-5000656/) [Perceive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perceive/) [Perception](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perception/) [Perceptions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perceptions/) [Philosophy of Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy-of-mind/) [Think Perceptions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/think-perceptions-6123775/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) ## Related quotes > [But metaphors help eliminate what separates you and me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/but-metaphors-help-eliminate-what-separates-you-and-me/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [Myth is the system of basic metaphors, images, and stories that informs the perceptions, memories, and aspirations of a people; provides the rationale for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-keen/myth-is-the-system-of-basic-metaphors-images-and-stories-that-informs/) [Sam Keen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-keen/) > [It may be that universal history is the history of the different intonations given a handful of metaphors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jorge-luis-borges/it-may-be-that-universal-history-is-the-history-of-the-different/) [Jorge Luis Borges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorge-luis-borges/) > [I toyed briefly with an image someone once mentioned to me, of a village in the shadow of a twin-peaked mountain. 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Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-a-johnson/) > [Metaphors are not user-friendly. They're difficult to find and difficult to use well. Unfortunately, metaphors are a mainstay of good lyric writing-indeed of most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-pattison/metaphors-are-not-user-friendly-they-re-difficult-to-find-and/) [Pat Pattison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-pattison/) > [“Because everything you perceive is a metaphor for something your brain is not equipped to fully understand. God is as real as the clothes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-adams/because-everything-you-perceive-is-a-metaphor-for-something-your/) [Scott Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-adams/) > [She does not love you. Your metaphors thrill her you are her poet. 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In the metaphors of ordinary speech and in the stricter language of science, we use…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-henry-lewes/heart-and-brain-are-the-two-lords-of-life-in-the-metaphors-of/) [George Henry Lewes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-henry-lewes/) > [Time, space, and causality are only metaphors of knowledge, with which we explain things to ourselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/time-space-and-causality-are-only-metaphors-of-knowledge-with-which/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [The cure for mixed metaphors, I have always found, is for the patient to be obliged to draw a picture of the result.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-levin/the-cure-for-mixed-metaphors-i-have-always-found-is-for-the-patient/) [Bernard Levin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-levin/) > [Because you continue to inhabit and believe your metaphors, you cannot see what is true.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-p-young/because-you-continue-to-inhabit-and-believe-your-metaphors-you-cannot/) [William P. Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-p-young/) > [“No algorithm exists for the metaphor, nor can a metaphor be produced by means of a computer’s precise instructions, no matter what the volume…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umberto-eco/no-algorithm-exists-for-the-metaphor-nor-can-a-metaphor-be-produced/) [Umberto Eco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umberto-eco/) ## More by M. H. Abrams > [If you read quickly to get through a poem to what it means, you have missed the body of the poem.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/if-you-read-quickly-to-get-through-a-poem-to-what-it-means-you-have/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [We are human, and nothing is more interesting to us than humanity. The appeal of literature is that it is so thoroughly a human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/we-are-human-and-nothing-is-more-interesting-to-us-than-humanity-the/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [Life without literature is a life reduced to penury.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/life-without-literature-is-a-life-reduced-to-penury/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [We are human, and nothing is more interesting to us than humanity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/we-are-human-and-nothing-is-more-interesting-to-us-than-humanity/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [It's amazing how, age after age, in country after country, and in all languages, Shakespeare emerges as incomparable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/it-s-amazing-how-age-after-age-in-country-after-country-and-in-all/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [I think the hardest thing to teach a student is that what he or she puts down on paper is changeable. 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The breakthrough comes when they realize that they can make it better - can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/at-first-students-tend-to-freeze-at-the-first-effort-the-breakthrough/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [If you learn one thing from having lived through decades of changing views, it is that all predictions are necessarily false.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/if-you-learn-one-thing-from-having-lived-through-decades-of-changing/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [If you don't set your writing - teaching - at a level that makes them stretch, they are never going to develop their intellectual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/if-you-don-t-set-your-writing-teaching-at-a-level-that-makes-them/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [When I was a graduate student, the leading spirits at Harvard were interested in the history of ideas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/when-i-was-a-graduate-student-the-leading-spirits-at-harvard-were/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [When something startlingly new comes up, young people, especially, seize it. You can't complain about that. I think its heyday has passed, but it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/when-something-startlingly-new-comes-up-young-people-especially-seize/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [Hard work makes easy reading or, at least, easier reading.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/hard-work-makes-easy-reading-or-at-least-easier-reading/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) > [Life without literature is a life reduced to penury. It expands you in every way. It illuminates what you’re doing. It shows you possibilities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-h-abrams/life-without-literature-is-a-life-reduced-to-penury-it-expands-you-in/) [M. H. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) [Explore all 19 M. H. Abrams quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-h-abrams/) ## More Determine quotes > [I always say there are two things to be successful. The first is decide exactly what you want - set your goals - and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-tracy/i-always-say-there-are-two-things-to-be-successful-the-first-is/) [Brian Tracy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-tracy/) > [Vow to be valiant. Resolve to be radiant. Determine to be dynamic. Strive to be sincere. Aspire to be attuned.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-arthur-ward/vow-to-be-valiant-resolve-to-be-radiant-determine-to-be-dynamic/) [William Arthur Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-arthur-ward/) > [To an ever greater extent out experience is governed by pictures, pictures in newspapers and magazines, on television and in the cinema. Next to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-crimp/to-an-ever-greater-extent-out-experience-is-governed-by-pictures/) [Douglas Crimp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-crimp/) > [The wisdom of our actions in the first three years of peace will determine the course of world history for half a century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-a-wallace/the-wisdom-of-our-actions-in-the-first-three-years-of-peace-will/) [Henry A. Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-a-wallace/) > [Thought determines action. Do not let your whole life be a reaction to the things that happen around you each day. Let your life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-kelly/thought-determines-action-do-not-let-your-whole-life-be-a-reaction-to/) [Matthew Kelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-kelly/) > [Determine to do some thinking for yourself. Don't live entirely upon the thoughts of others. Don't be an automaton.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-cash-penney/determine-to-do-some-thinking-for-yourself-don-t-live-entirely-upon/) [James Cash Penney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-cash-penney/) > [Choices determine character.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brandon-mull/choices-determine-character/) [Brandon Mull](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brandon-mull/) > [We must recognize that every nation determines its policies in terms of its own interests.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-f-kennedy/we-must-recognize-that-every-nation-determines-its-policies-in-terms/) [John F. Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-f-kennedy/) > [All writers are forced to live within deadlines, and deadlines determine how good they can be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-o-donnell/all-writers-are-forced-to-live-within-deadlines-and-deadlines/) [Lawrence O'Donnell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-o-donnell/) > [Alfred Nobel stipulated that no distinction of race or colour will determine who received of his generosity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abdus-salam/alfred-nobel-stipulated-that-no-distinction-of-race-or-colour-will/) [Abdus Salam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abdus-salam/) > [The enmity of such a party towards Socialism does not mean that the members are only prejudiced against it because they do not know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-radek/the-enmity-of-such-a-party-towards-socialism-does-not-mean-that-the/) [Karl Radek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-radek/) > [It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/it-is-not-the-consciousness-of-men-that-determines-their-being-but-on/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [Running gives freedom. When you run you can determine your own tempo. You can choose your own course and think whatever you want. Nobody…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nina-kuscsik/running-gives-freedom-when-you-run-you-can-determine-your-own-tempo/) [Nina Kuscsik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nina-kuscsik/) > [I've ultimately decided that I will not play this NBA season. I'm going to take the remainder of this season, as well as the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-allen/i-ve-ultimately-decided-that-i-will-not-play-this-nba-season-i-m/) [Ray Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-allen/) > [The things you do determine the way people perceive you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melchor-lim/the-things-you-do-determine-the-way-people-perceive-you/) [Melchor Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melchor-lim/) [Browse all 2,194 Determine quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/determine/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Key metaphors help determine what and how we perceive and how we think about our perceptions.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "M. H. 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