--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Personal life, expression, knowledge, and…" description: "\"“Personal life, expression, knowledge, and history advance obliquely, and not directly, toward ends or toward concepts. That which is sought too delibe..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c7/maurice-merleau-ponty-2834_circumlocution_personal-life-expression-knowledge-and-h_858492.jpg" --- # Personal life, expression, knowledge, and history advance… ![“Personal life, expression, knowledge, and history advance obliquely, and not directly, toward ends or toward concepts. That which is sought too deliberately is not obtained.” quote by Maurice Merleau-Ponty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c7/maurice-merleau-ponty-2834_circumlocution_personal-life-expression-knowledge-and-h_858492.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c7/maurice-merleau-ponty-2834_circumlocution_personal-life-expression-knowledge-and-h_858492.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c7/maurice-merleau-ponty-2834_circumlocution_personal-life-expression-knowledge-and-h_858492.jpg) > ““Personal life, expression, knowledge, and history advance obliquely, and not directly, toward ends or toward concepts. That which is sought too deliberately is not obtained.”” [Maurice Merleau-Ponty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maurice-merleau-ponty/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Knowledge and history progress indirectly; seeking them too directly hinders true understanding. **In simple terms:** Indirect paths yield deeper insight. Key Takeaway Embrace indirect discovery. Themes philosophy knowledge history Mood reflective thoughtful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - research - creative work - personal growth - education Key Concepts epistemology indirect learning Questions to Reflect On - What indirect routes have you found valuable? - How does patience affect learning? A Different Perspective Direct pursuit can cause tunnel vision and superficial results. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Advance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/advance/) [Advance Obliquely](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/advance-obliquely-825729/) [Circumlocution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/circumlocution-32795/) [Concepts Sought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/concepts-sought-825730/) [Expression](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/expression/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [History Advance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history-advance-825731/) [Knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Oblique](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/oblique/) [Obliquely](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/obliquely-803749/) [Personal life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/personal-life/) [Subterfuge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/subterfuge/) ## Related quotes > [Talk ought always to run obliquely, not nose to nose with no chance of mental escape.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-moore-colby/talk-ought-always-to-run-obliquely-not-nose-to-nose-with-no-chance-of/) [Frank Moore Colby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-moore-colby/) > [Faint equivalents can sometimes be found ... . Or it can be rendered obliquely-an adolescent's mental image of his or her parents making love,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-barthelme/faint-equivalents-can-sometimes-be-found-or-it-can-be-rendered/) [Donald Barthelme](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-barthelme/) > [“Would it not therefore be wiser in moral concerns to acquiesce in the judgement of common reason, or at most only to call in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/immanuel-kant/would-it-not-therefore-be-wiser-in-moral-concerns-to-acquiesce-in-the/) [Immanuel Kant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/immanuel-kant/) > [“There lives no man who at some period has not been tormented, for example, by an earnest desire to tantalize a listener by circumlocution.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/there-lives-no-man-who-at-some-period-has-not-been-tormented-for/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [“Your state has been seen, and will be reported on. Only it is necessary that you do not yawn. Or, of course, speak. Discretion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-dunnett/your-state-has-been-seen-and-will-be-reported-on-only-it-is-necessary/) [Dorothy Dunnett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-dunnett/) > [I use circumlocution too often, and instead of getting my point across, I tend to babble.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/genevieve-padalecki/i-use-circumlocution-too-often-and-instead-of-getting-my-point-across/) [Genevieve Padalecki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/genevieve-padalecki/) > [An oblique angle,” Jack said, and his bout of jealousy was quickly replaced with glee. “Ha! I told you I would work that in!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amanda-hocking/an-oblique-angle-jack-said-and-his-bout-of-jealousy-was-quickly/) [Amanda Hocking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amanda-hocking/) > [My best-known book remains 'Henry and Clara,' a novel about the couple who were with the Lincolns at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mallon/my-best-known-book-remains-henry-and-clara-a-novel-about-the-couple/) [Thomas Mallon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-mallon/) > [I'm fond of implied narratives, oblique angles, and leaving a little room for the viewer to finish a picture.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-carter/i-m-fond-of-implied-narratives-oblique-angles-and-leaving-a-little/) [Keith Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-carter/) > [There's always the pressure on the director of how to transition from one scene to another, especially when it can really be oblique on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-graves/there-s-always-the-pressure-on-the-director-of-how-to-transition-from/) [Alex Graves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-graves/) > [Our relations to each other are oblique and casual.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/our-relations-to-each-other-are-oblique-and-casual/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [I'm an oblique guy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-penn/i-m-an-oblique-guy/) [Michael Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-penn/) > [I'm interested is the oblique as a concept deeply connected to human lived experience, not separate from it. I was listening to an interview…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dawn-lundy-martin/i-m-interested-is-the-oblique-as-a-concept-deeply-connected-to-human/) [Dawn Lundy Martin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dawn-lundy-martin/) > [I am oblique; I think that has to do with my own nature. I like trying to do things which work on many levels,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-j-pakula/i-am-oblique-i-think-that-has-to-do-with-my-own-nature-i-like-trying/) [Alan J. Pakula](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-j-pakula/) > [Scott Bradfield writes weird, oblique, unsettling stuff.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-giles/scott-bradfield-writes-weird-oblique-unsettling-stuff/) [Jeff Giles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-giles/) ## More by Maurice Merleau-Ponty > [Science manipulates things and gives up living in them. It makes its own limited models of things; operating upon these indices or variables to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maurice-merleau-ponty/science-manipulates-things-and-gives-up-living-in-them-it-makes-its/) [Maurice Merleau-Ponty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maurice-merleau-ponty/) > [“The unfinished nature of phenomenology and the inchoate style in which it proceeds are not the signs of failure; they were inevitable because phenomenology’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maurice-merleau-ponty/the-unfinished-nature-of-phenomenology-and-the-inchoate-style-in/) [Maurice Merleau-Ponty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maurice-merleau-ponty/) > [We should be sensitive to the thread of silence from which the tissue of speech is woven.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maurice-merleau-ponty/we-should-be-sensitive-to-the-thread-of-silence-from-which-the-tissue/) [Maurice Merleau-Ponty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maurice-merleau-ponty/) > [“Man is hidden, well hidden, & this time we must make no mistake about it: this does not mean that he is there beneath…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maurice-merleau-ponty/man-is-hidden-well-hidden-this-time-we-must-make-no-mistake-about-it/) [Maurice Merleau-Ponty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maurice-merleau-ponty/) > [“There is no universal clock, but local histories take form beneath our eyes, and begin to regulate themselves, and haltingly are linked to one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maurice-merleau-ponty/there-is-no-universal-clock-but-local-histories-take-form-beneath-our/) [Maurice Merleau-Ponty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maurice-merleau-ponty/) > [We know not through our intellect but through our experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maurice-merleau-ponty/we-know-not-through-our-intellect-but-through-our-experience/) [Maurice Merleau-Ponty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maurice-merleau-ponty/) > [“There are several ways for a body to be a body, and several ways for consciousness to be consciousness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maurice-merleau-ponty/there-are-several-ways-for-a-body-to-be-a-body-and-several-ways-for/) [Maurice Merleau-Ponty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maurice-merleau-ponty/) > [“We do not have the right to level out all experience into a single world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maurice-merleau-ponty/we-do-not-have-the-right-to-level-out-all-experience-into-a-single/) [Maurice Merleau-Ponty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maurice-merleau-ponty/) > [“The world and reason are not problems; and though we might call them mysterious, this mystery is essential to them, there can be no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maurice-merleau-ponty/the-world-and-reason-are-not-problems-and-though-we-might-call-them/) [Maurice Merleau-Ponty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maurice-merleau-ponty/) > [“Memory is the irruption of other things in us.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maurice-merleau-ponty/memory-is-the-irruption-of-other-things-in-us/) [Maurice Merleau-Ponty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maurice-merleau-ponty/) > [“Expression is like a step taken in the fog--no one can say where, if anywhere, it will lead.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maurice-merleau-ponty/expression-is-like-a-step-taken-in-the-fog-no-one-can-say-where-if/) [Maurice Merleau-Ponty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maurice-merleau-ponty/) > [“Any commemoration is also a betrayal.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maurice-merleau-ponty/any-commemoration-is-also-a-betrayal/) [Maurice Merleau-Ponty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maurice-merleau-ponty/) > [The full meaning of a language is never translatable into another. We may speak several languages but one of them always remains the one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maurice-merleau-ponty/the-full-meaning-of-a-language-is-never-translatable-into-another-we/) [Maurice Merleau-Ponty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maurice-merleau-ponty/) > [ Our view of man will remain superficial so long as we fail to go back to that origin \[of silence\], so long as we… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maurice-merleau-ponty/our-view-of-man-will-remain-superficial-so-long-as-we-fail-to-go-back/) [Maurice Merleau-Ponty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maurice-merleau-ponty/) > [“This is an encounter between the human and the non-human, it is something like a behavior of the world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maurice-merleau-ponty/this-is-an-encounter-between-the-human-and-the-non-human-it-is/) [Maurice Merleau-Ponty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maurice-merleau-ponty/) [Explore all 145 Maurice Merleau-Ponty quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maurice-merleau-ponty/) ## More Advance quotes > [I don't think we should tell them what we're going to do in advance. Let them think. Worry. Wonder. Uncertainty is the most chilling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernon-a-walters/i-don-t-think-we-should-tell-them-what-we-re-going-to-do-in-advance/) [Vernon A. Walters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vernon-a-walters/) > [It's more common than not that bipolar illness will start in the teens. One of the reasons I spend a lot of time on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kay-redfield-jamison/it-s-more-common-than-not-that-bipolar-illness-will-start-in-the/) [Kay Redfield Jamison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kay-redfield-jamison/) > [The advance of science spares us from irrational dread.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-rees/the-advance-of-science-spares-us-from-irrational-dread/) [Martin Rees](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-rees/) > [Some companies out there quote a start of production that is substantially in advance of when customers get their cars.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elon-musk/some-companies-out-there-quote-a-start-of-production-that-is/) [Elon Musk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elon-musk/) > [My priority in life is my whanau, followed by my work as an artist, which has blessed me with the ability to provide opportunities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cliff-curtis/my-priority-in-life-is-my-whanau-followed-by-my-work-as-an-artist/) [Cliff Curtis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cliff-curtis/) > [Others have said it before me. If you don't have a seat at the table, you're probably on the menu. And so it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-warren/others-have-said-it-before-me-if-you-don-t-have-a-seat-at-the-table/) [Elizabeth Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-warren/) > [What I have in advance are people I want to write about and a problem or problems that I see those people encountering and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chaim-potok/what-i-have-in-advance-are-people-i-want-to-write-about-and-a-problem/) [Chaim Potok](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chaim-potok/) > [Error is discipline through which we advance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-ellery-channing/error-is-discipline-through-which-we-advance/) [William Ellery Channing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-ellery-channing/) > [I think it's important to earn your fan base and not just try to immediately advance to the top. If you ride to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jason-mraz/i-think-it-s-important-to-earn-your-fan-base-and-not-just-try-to/) [Jason Mraz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jason-mraz/) > [The Chinese public is deeply nationalist, which matters to China's unelected political leadership as much as U.S. nationalism does to American politicians. As China…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noah-feldman/the-chinese-public-is-deeply-nationalist-which-matters-to-china-s/) [Noah Feldman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noah-feldman/) > [Some might complain that nuclear disarmament is little more than a dream. But that ignores the very tangible benefits disarmament would bring for all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ban-ki-moon/some-might-complain-that-nuclear-disarmament-is-little-more-than-a/) [Ban Ki-moon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ban-ki-moon/) > [Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/let-our-advance-worrying-become-advance-thinking-and-planning/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [Let us not bankrupt our todays by paying interest on the regrets of yesterday and by borrowing in advance the troubles of tomorrow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-w-sockman-2/let-us-not-bankrupt-our-todays-by-paying-interest-on-the-regrets-of/) [Ralph W. Sockman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-w-sockman-2/) > [In times of failing health, don't hopelessly pray for the intervention of a mythical god; wish hopefully for an advance in medical science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-fowler/in-times-of-failing-health-don-t-hopelessly-pray-for-the-intervention/) [Steve Fowler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-fowler/) > [Clearly, unless thinking beings inevitably wipe themselves out soon after developing technology, extraterrestrial intelligence could often be millions or billions of years in advance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-shostak/clearly-unless-thinking-beings-inevitably-wipe-themselves-out-soon/) [Seth Shostak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-shostak/) [Browse all 263 Advance quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/advance/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Personal life, expression, knowledge, and history advance obliquely, and not directly, toward ends or toward concepts. 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