--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Like Midas, the Rationalist is always in…" description: "\"Like Midas, the Rationalist is always in the unfortunate position of not being able to touch anything, without transforming it into an abstraction; he ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4bd/michael-joseph-oakeshott-25415_able_like-midas-the-rationalist-is-always-in_1963382.png" --- # Like Midas, the Rationalist is always in the unfortunate… ![“Like Midas, the Rationalist is always in the unfortunate position of not being able to touch anything, without transforming it into an abstraction; he can never get a square meal of experience.” quote by Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4bd/michael-joseph-oakeshott-25415_able_like-midas-the-rationalist-is-always-in_1963382.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4bd/michael-joseph-oakeshott-25415_able_like-midas-the-rationalist-is-always-in_1963382.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4bd/michael-joseph-oakeshott-25415_able_like-midas-the-rationalist-is-always-in_1963382.png) > “Like Midas, the Rationalist is always in the unfortunate position of not being able to touch anything, without transforming it into an abstraction; he can never get a square meal of experience.” [Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Rationalists turn experience into abstraction, losing tangible reality and simple pleasures. **In simple terms:** Abstraction can detach from lived experience. Key Takeaway Stay grounded while thinking. Themes rationalism abstraction experience Mood thoughtful critical Type philosophical analytical When to use this quote - academic work - daily life - creative projects Key Concepts philosophy epistemology Questions to Reflect On - How to balance theory and feeling? - When does abstraction hinder action? A Different Perspective Risk of over‑intellectualizing. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Midas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/midas/) [Rationalist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rationalist/) [Transforming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/transforming/) ## Related quotes > [“Man with his new powers became rich like Midas but all that he touched had gone dead and cold.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/man-with-his-new-powers-became-rich-like-midas-but-all-that-he/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [DNA is like Midas's gold, everyone who touches it goes mad.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maurice-wilkins/dna-is-like-midas-s-gold-everyone-who-touches-it-goes-mad/) Maurice Wilkins > [“There's an internal compass inside of me that laid still for so long, stuck behind its arc of glass, listless and without hope. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raven-kennedy/there-s-an-internal-compass-inside-of-me-that-laid-still-for-so-long/) Raven Kennedy > [Just as King Midas turned everything to gold, Stalin turned everything to mediocrity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/just-as-king-midas-turned-everything-to-gold-stalin-turned-everything/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [I have become rather like King Midas, except that everything turns not into gold but into a circus.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/i-have-become-rather-like-king-midas-except-that-everything-turns-not/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [“The other story about Midas is that he was called upon to judge between the music of Pan and Apollo and found in favour…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caroline-taggart/the-other-story-about-midas-is-that-he-was-called-upon-to-judge/) Caroline Taggart > [To me, the capacity to earn money has never been a measurement of success. It is my belief that people must develop a philosophy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudy-vallee/to-me-the-capacity-to-earn-money-has-never-been-a-measurement-of/) [Rudy Vallee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudy-vallee/) > [I don't have a good thing to say about Eric Bischoff or anything he ever did. Talk about the Midas touch, he was the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bret-hart/i-don-t-have-a-good-thing-to-say-about-eric-bischoff-or-anything-he/) [Bret Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bret-hart/) > [It is the system, rather than individuals, that is the source of pollution and degradation. My prison-house environment is but another manifestation of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-berkman/it-is-the-system-rather-than-individuals-that-is-the-source-of/) [Alexander Berkman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-berkman/) > [ Accumulating knowledge is a form of avarice and lends itself to another version of the Midas story ...man \[is\] so avid for knowledge that… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/accumulating-knowledge-is-a-form-of-avarice-and-lends-itself-to/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [Midas-eared Mammonism, double-barrelled Dilettantism, and their thousand adjuncts and corollaries, are not the Law by which God Almighty has appointed this His universe to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/midas-eared-mammonism-double-barrelled-dilettantism-and-their/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [“This guy was beyond lucky. He was Midas with a better attorney, or the owner of a Monkey’s Paw version 2.0, or Richard Cory…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-l-monk/this-guy-was-beyond-lucky-he-was-midas-with-a-better-attorney-or-the/) [John L. Monk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-l-monk/) > [ I feel like Travis \[Stevens\] is just a Midas touch producer. Seemingly everything he touches turns to gold lately, so that was quite exciting… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-crampton/i-feel-like-travis-stevens-is-just-a-midas-touch-producer-seemingly/) [Barbara Crampton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-crampton/) > [Ten thousand casks, Forever dribbling out their base contents, Touch'd by the Midas finger of the state, Bleed gold for ministers to sport away.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-cowper/ten-thousand-casks-forever-dribbling-out-their-base-contents-touch-d/) [William Cowper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-cowper/) > [“It does not have walls splattered with gold leaf like King Midas has had a nosebleed.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-rayner/it-does-not-have-walls-splattered-with-gold-leaf-like-king-midas-has/) [Jay Rayner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-rayner/) ## More by Michael Joseph Oakeshott > [In political activity, then, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea; there is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place nor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/in-political-activity-then-men-sail-a-boundless-and-bottomless-sea/) [Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/) > [Education is ... the invitation to disentangle oneself, for a time, from the urgencies of the here and now and to listen to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/education-is-the-invitation-to-disentangle-oneself-for-a-time-from/) [Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/) > [It is certain that most who concentrate upon achievement miss life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/it-is-certain-that-most-who-concentrate-upon-achievement-miss-life/) [Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/) > [A recorded past is no more than a bygone present composed of the footprints made by human beings actually going somewhere but not knowing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/a-recorded-past-is-no-more-than-a-bygone-present-composed-of-the/) [Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/) > [To be conservative…is to prefer the familiar to the unknown, to prefer the tried to the untried, fact to mystery, the actual to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/to-be-conservative-is-to-prefer-the-familiar-to-the-unknown-to-prefer/) [Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/) > [The man of conservative temperament believes that a known good is not lightly to be surrendered for an unknown better.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/the-man-of-conservative-temperament-believes-that-a-known-good-is-not/) [Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/) > [The rule of law bakes no bread, it is unable to distribute loaves or fishes (it has none), and it cannot protect itself against…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/the-rule-of-law-bakes-no-bread-it-is-unable-to-distribute-loaves-or/) [Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/) > [The conjunction of ruling and dreaming generates tyranny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/the-conjunction-of-ruling-and-dreaming-generates-tyranny/) [Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/) > [This, I believe, is the appropriate image of human intercourse -- appropriate because it recognizes the qualities, the diversities, and the proper relationships of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/this-i-believe-is-the-appropriate-image-of-human-intercourse/) [Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/) > [Our predicament is not the difficulty of attaining happiness, but the difficult of avoiding the misery to which the pursuit of happiness exposes us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/our-predicament-is-not-the-difficulty-of-attaining-happiness-but-the/) [Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/) > [History is what the evidence compels us to believe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/history-is-what-the-evidence-compels-us-to-believe/) [Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/) > [Politics I take to be the activity of attending to the general arrangements of a set of people whom chance or choice have brought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/politics-i-take-to-be-the-activity-of-attending-to-the-general/) [Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/) > [Economics is not an attempt to generalize human desires or human behavior; but to generalize the phenomena of price.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/economics-is-not-an-attempt-to-generalize-human-desires-or-human/) [Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/) > [We consider ourselves to be free because no one in our society is allowed unlimited powerno leader, faction, party or 'class', no majority, no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/we-consider-ourselves-to-be-free-because-no-one-in-our-society-is/) [Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/) > [“So far from a political ideology being the quasi-divine parent of political activity, it turns out to be its earthly stepchild. 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