--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The word 'image' is in bad repute because…" description: "\"“The word 'image' is in bad repute because we have thoughtlessly believed that a drawing was a tracing, a copy, a second thing, and that the mental ima..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11a/maurice-merleau-ponty-2834_dreams_the-word-image-is-in-bad-repute-because_2666216.jpg" --- # The word 'image' is in bad repute because we have… ![“The word 'image' is in bad repute because we have thoughtlessly believed that a drawing was a tracing, a copy, a second thing, and that the mental image was such a drawing, belonging among our private bric-a-brac. But if in fact it is nothing of the kind, then neither the drawing nor the picture…” quote by Maurice Merleau-Ponty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11a/maurice-merleau-ponty-2834_dreams_the-word-image-is-in-bad-repute-because_2666216.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11a/maurice-merleau-ponty-2834_dreams_the-word-image-is-in-bad-repute-because_2666216.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11a/maurice-merleau-ponty-2834_dreams_the-word-image-is-in-bad-repute-because_2666216.jpg) > ““The word 'image' is in bad repute because we have thoughtlessly believed that a drawing was a tracing, a copy, a second thing, and that the mental image was such a drawing, belonging among our private bric-a-brac. But if in fact it is nothing of the kind, then neither the drawing nor the picture belongs to the in-itself any more than the image does. They are the inside of the outside and the outside of the inside, which the duplicity of sensing makes possible and without which we would never understand the quasi-presence and imminent visibility which make up the whole problem of the imaginary. The picture, the actor's mimicry--these are not extras that I borrow from the real world in order to aim across them at prosaic things in their absence. The imaginary is much nearer to and much farther away from the actual. It is nearer because it is the diagram of the life of the actual in my body, its pulp and carnal obverse exposed to view for the first time...And the imaginary is much further away from the actual because the picture is an analogue only according to the body; because it does not offer to the mind an occasion to rethink the constitutive relations of things, but rather it offers to the gaze traces of the vision of the inside, in order that the gaze may espouse them; it offers to vision that which clothes vision internally, the imaginary texture of the real.”” [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. The image is not a mere copy; it bridges internal perception and external reality, revealing how imagination shapes our understanding of the world. **In simple terms:** Images link inner experience with outer reality, shaping perception. Key Takeaway Use images to explore and expand conceptual understanding. Themes perception imagination representation reality art Mood thoughtful inquisitive Type philosophical analytical When to use this quote - design - education - psychology - visual arts Key Concepts phenomenology visual cognition Questions to Reflect On - What role do images play in your thinking? - How can we differentiate imagination from reality? A Different Perspective Images can mislead if taken as literal truth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Absence Imaginary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absence-imaginary-2467294/) [Dreams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dreams/) [First time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/first-time/) [Imaginary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imaginary/) [Imaginary Picture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imaginary-picture-2467292/) [Internally Imaginary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/internally-imaginary-2467293/) [Mental Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mental-image-739981/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Real world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real-world/) [Vision](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vision/) ## Related quotes > [The first four months of writing the book, my mental image is scratching with my hands through granite. My other image is pushing a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-higgins-clark/the-first-four-months-of-writing-the-book-my-mental-image-is/) [Mary Higgins Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-higgins-clark/) > [A visual image in the hand of an artist is merely a tool to trigger a mental image.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roy-h-williams/a-visual-image-in-the-hand-of-an-artist-is-merely-a-tool-to-trigger-a/) [Roy H. Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roy-h-williams/) > [A mental image gives you a framework upon which to work. It is like the drawing of the architect, or the map of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-walker-atkinson/a-mental-image-gives-you-a-framework-upon-which-to-work-it-is-like/) [William Walker Atkinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-walker-atkinson/) > [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/) > [The Ego is a transparent mental image: You, the physical person as a whole, look right through it. You do not see it. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-metzinger/the-ego-is-a-transparent-mental-image-you-the-physical-person-as-a/) [Thomas Metzinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-metzinger/) > [We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/we-tend-by-a-secret-law-of-the-soul-to-move-toward-our-mental-image/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [As long as they're making beloved books into movies, people are going to be like, 'That's not my mental image of them.' It takes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/as-long-as-they-re-making-beloved-books-into-movies-people-are-going/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [Thoughts and words form your mental image. And since we become what we picture be sure your thoughts and words express prosperity and blessing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-vincent-peale/thoughts-and-words-form-your-mental-image-and-since-we-become-what-we/) [Norman Vincent Peale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-vincent-peale/) > [“If our mental processes become focused on our internal dogmas and isolated from the unfolding, constantly dynamic outside world, we experience mismatches between our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coram/if-our-mental-processes-become-focused-on-our-internal-dogmas-and/) [Robert Coram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coram/) > [Old age is a special problem for me because I've never been able to shed the mental image I have of myself - a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/old-age-is-a-special-problem-for-me-because-i-ve-never-been-able-to/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [The scientific use of thought consists in forming a clear and distinct mental image of what you want; in holding fast to the purpose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-d-wattles/the-scientific-use-of-thought-consists-in-forming-a-clear-and/) [Wallace D. Wattles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-d-wattles/) > [If I can't get a mental image from the song, I won't sing it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/namie-amuro/if-i-can-t-get-a-mental-image-from-the-song-i-won-t-sing-it/) [Namie Amuro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/namie-amuro/) > [“Rorschach’s body could activate his vision: “When, for example, I am unable to call up Schwind’s painting Falkenstein’s Ride as a memory image but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/damion-searls/rorschach-s-body-could-activate-his-vision-when-for-example-i-am/) [Damion Searls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/damion-searls/) > [We tend by a secret law of the soul to move towards our mental image of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/we-tend-by-a-secret-law-of-the-soul-to-move-towards-our-mental-image/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [The whole universe is composed of name and form. Whatever we see is either a compound of name and form, or simply name with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/the-whole-universe-is-composed-of-name-and-form-whatever-we-see-is/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) ## 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 Dreams quotes > [“Cine a ucis stelele? Cine a surpat drumul spre viitor al celor din morminte?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ionel-teodoreanu/cine-a-ucis-stelele-cine-a-surpat-drumul-spre-viitor-al-celor-din/) [Ionel Teodoreanu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ionel-teodoreanu/) > [“Once we become sensitive to dreams, we discover that every dynamic in a dream is manifesting itself in some way in our practical lives”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-johnson/once-we-become-sensitive-to-dreams-we-discover-that-every-dynamic-in/) [Robert A. Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-johnson/) > [“Now you’re wet. You’re so wet you’re leaking down your ass. You’re soaking my pillow. I don’t think I’m ever washing it. I want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-stoker/now-you-re-wet-you-re-so-wet-you-re-leaking-down-your-ass-you-re/) [Susan Stoker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-stoker/) > [“Not that it matters, when you dream, there's no outside or in. Your mind is an unimaginable bloom. A willow catkin as big as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rich-shapero/not-that-it-matters-when-you-dream-there-s-no-outside-or-in-your-mind/) [Rich Shapero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rich-shapero/) > [Sometimes we wish for the feel but we never understand that we have to give a lot to get the feel !](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-reynolds/sometimes-we-wish-for-the-feel-but-we-never-understand-that-we-have/) [Robert Reynolds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-reynolds/) > [The vision of the left, full of envy and resentment, takes its worst toll on those at the bottom - whether black or white…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/the-vision-of-the-left-full-of-envy-and-resentment-takes-its-worst/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [It’s so important to create in your own voice, to hold onto what makes you unique, and have faith in your vision.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lasseter/it-s-so-important-to-create-in-your-own-voice-to-hold-onto-what-makes/) [John Lasseter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lasseter/) > [“As dreams are the healing songs from the wilderness of our unconscious - So wild animals, wild plants, wild landscapes are the healing dreams…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dale-pendell/as-dreams-are-the-healing-songs-from-the-wilderness-of-our/) [Dale Pendell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dale-pendell/) > [Alone in a world, With millions of souls Walking in circles Trapped in their dreams unhealthy, unclean walking in circles, now do not disturb…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chester-bennington/alone-in-a-world-with-millions-of-souls-walking-in-circles-trapped-in/) [Chester Bennington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chester-bennington/) > [“Doing the work to transform your dreams into reality is like walking across the earth. It can be that hard, and it can take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dragos-bratasanu/doing-the-work-to-transform-your-dreams-into-reality-is-like-walking/) [Dragos Bratasanu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dragos-bratasanu/) > [As far as Im concerned, I didnt dream - ever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-sturgeon/as-far-as-im-concerned-i-didnt-dream-ever/) [Theodore Sturgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-sturgeon/) > [I guess, it's a father's dream for his daughter to be known around the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/liza-soberano/i-guess-it-s-a-father-s-dream-for-his-daughter-to-be-known-around-the/) [Liza Soberano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/liza-soberano/) > [I am just enjoying the dream of being Milan coach at the age of 40.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gennaro-gattuso/i-am-just-enjoying-the-dream-of-being-milan-coach-at-the-age-of-40/) [Gennaro Gattuso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gennaro-gattuso/) > [Sometimes life seems like a dream, especially when I look down and see that I forgot to put on my pants.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-handey/sometimes-life-seems-like-a-dream-especially-when-i-look-down-and-see/) [Jack Handey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-handey/) > [“I had a dream. I had an awesome dream.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-had-a-dream-i-had-an-awesome-dream/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 40,599 Dreams quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dreams/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The word 'image' is in bad repute because we have thoughtlessly believed that a drawing was a tracing, a copy, a second thing, and that the mental image was such a drawing, belonging among our private bric-a-brac. But if in fact it is nothing of the kind, then neither the drawing nor the picture belongs to the in-itself any more than the image does. They are the inside of the outside and the outside of the inside, which the duplicity of sensing makes possible and without which we would never understand the quasi-presence and imminent visibility which make up the whole problem of the imaginary. The picture, the actor's mimicry--these are not extras that I borrow from the real world in order to aim across them at prosaic things in their absence. The imaginary is much nearer to and much farther away from the actual. It is nearer because it is the diagram of the life of the actual in my body, its pulp and carnal obverse exposed to view for the first time...And the imaginary is much further away from the actual because the picture is an analogue only according to the body; because it does not offer to the mind an occasion to rethink the constitutive relations of things, but rather it offers to the gaze traces of the vision of the inside, in order that the gaze may espouse them; it offers to vision that which clothes vision internally, the imaginary texture of the real.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Maurice Merleau-Ponty" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maurice-merleau-ponty/the-word-image-is-in-bad-repute-because-we-have-thoughtlessly/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Dreams" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maurice-merleau-ponty/the-word-image-is-in-bad-repute-because-we-have-thoughtlessly/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11a/maurice-merleau-ponty-2834_dreams_the-word-image-is-in-bad-repute-because_2666216.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11a/maurice-merleau-ponty-2834_dreams_the-word-image-is-in-bad-repute-because_2666216.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/11a/maurice-merleau-ponty-2834_dreams_the-word-image-is-in-bad-repute-because_2666216.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The word 'image' is in bad repute because we have thoughtlessly believed that a drawing was a tracing, a…” — Maurice Merleau-Ponty", "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": "Maurice Merleau-Ponty", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maurice-merleau-ponty/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“The word 'image' is in bad...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maurice-merleau-ponty/the-word-image-is-in-bad-repute-because-we-have-thoughtlessly/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maurice-merleau-ponty/the-word-image-is-in-bad-repute-because-we-have-thoughtlessly/#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 } } ] } ```