---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I wonder,” James wrote, “if we haven’t…"
description: "\"“I wonder,” James wrote, “if we haven’t become so numbed by all these numbers that we are no longer capable of truly assimilating any knowledge which m..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf2/michael-lewis-705_james-wrote_i-wonder-james-wrote-if-we-haven-t-becom_263816.jpg"
---

#  I wonder,” James wrote, “if we haven’t become so numbed by…

![“I wonder,” James wrote, “if we haven’t become so numbed by all these numbers that we are no longer capable of truly assimilating any knowledge which might result from them.” quote by Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf2/michael-lewis-705_james-wrote_i-wonder-james-wrote-if-we-haven-t-becom_263816.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf2/michael-lewis-705_james-wrote_i-wonder-james-wrote-if-we-haven-t-becom_263816.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf2/michael-lewis-705_james-wrote_i-wonder-james-wrote-if-we-haven-t-becom_263816.jpg)

> ““I wonder,” James wrote, “if we haven’t become so numbed by all these numbers that we are no longer capable of truly assimilating any knowledge which might result from them.””

[Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Data overload can numb our ability to truly understand knowledge.

**In simple terms:** Too many numbers dull insight.

Key Takeaway

Limit data to essential insights.

Themes

information overload knowledge analysis

Mood

analytical concerned

Type

philosophical inspirational

When to use this quote

- financial reports
- scientific studies
- news consumption

Key Concepts

cognitive fatigue critical thinking data literacy

Questions to Reflect On

- How do you filter essential data?
- Can numbers ever fully capture truth?

A Different Perspective

Data is essential; selective focus matters.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

## Related quotes

> [“The ultimate aim of assimilating knowledge is to create new ideas or gain wisdom.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-zhu/the-ultimate-aim-of-assimilating-knowledge-is-to-create-new-ideas-or/)

[Pearl Zhu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-zhu/)

> [“William James wrote, “We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-j-nichols/william-james-wrote-we-are-like-islands-in-the-sea-separate-on-the/)

Wallace J. Nichols

> [“That city has changed and the United States has changed since James wrote his American novel, but dead phrases, empty rhetoric, clichéd though, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siri-hustvedt/that-city-has-changed-and-the-united-states-has-changed-since-james/)

[Siri Hustvedt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siri-hustvedt/)

> [“In the arts," James wrote, "feeling is always meaning.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siri-hustvedt/in-the-arts-james-wrote-feeling-is-always-meaning/)

[Siri Hustvedt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siri-hustvedt/)

> [“The day after the British entered the war Henry James wrote a friend: The plunge of civilization into this abyss of blood and darkness...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-fussell/the-day-after-the-british-entered-the-war-henry-james-wrote-a-friend/)

[Paul Fussell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-fussell/)

> [“William James wrote in The Varieties of Religious Experience that religion “consists of the belief that there is an unseen order, and that our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-wright/william-james-wrote-in-the-varieties-of-religious-experience-that/)

[Robert Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-wright/)

> [“When I was 10, I read James Baldwin's 'Another Country,' and that book broke me. Not because I was encountering homosexual sex and love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/when-i-was-10-i-read-james-baldwin-s-another-country-and-that-book/)

[Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/)

> [“But there were and are no words for that particular state of hell. I couldn't tell her that I was submerged. Numbed. Unable to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-fortunati/but-there-were-and-are-no-words-for-that-particular-state-of-hell-i/)

[Karen Fortunati](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-fortunati/)

> [I think in my 20s I numbed myself, almost daily, trying not to feel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-savoretti/i-think-in-my-20s-i-numbed-myself-almost-daily-trying-not-to-feel/)

[Jack Savoretti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-savoretti/)

> [Dumbed down and numbed by time and age. Your dreams to catch the world, the cag.e The highway sets the travelers stage. All exits…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/the-avett-brothers/dumbed-down-and-numbed-by-time-and-age-your-dreams-to-catch-the-world/)

[The Avett Brothers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/the-avett-brothers/)

> [In a 24/7 landscape of rolling news, social media, phone alerts and notifications it's all too easy to feel numbed by all the shouting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/konnie-huq/in-a-24-7-landscape-of-rolling-news-social-media-phone-alerts-and/)

[Konnie Huq](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/konnie-huq/)

> [“Sometimes he missed the numbed, walking-underwater feeling feel that the cocktail of narcotics used to give him. But if a situation went down in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-ronald/sometimes-he-missed-the-numbed-walking-underwater-feeling-feel-that/)

[R.D. Ronald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-ronald/)

> [“She was having a hard time managing her feelings at this point, mostly because she hadn't felt them in so long-they confused her... After…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danielle-laporte/she-was-having-a-hard-time-managing-her-feelings-at-this-point-mostly/)

[Danielle LaPorte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danielle-laporte/)

> [“There I am then back in the saddle, in my numbed heart a prick of misgiving, like one dying of cancer obliged to consult…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/there-i-am-then-back-in-the-saddle-in-my-numbed-heart-a-prick-of/)

[Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/)

> [My boredom with everything has numbed me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/my-boredom-with-everything-has-numbed-me/)

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

## More by Michael Lewis

> [“Crucial decisions are made, today as thousands of years ago, in terms of the intuitive guesses and preferences of a few men in positions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/crucial-decisions-are-made-today-as-thousands-of-years-ago-in-terms/)

[Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/)

> [“You saw someone who reminded you of you, and then you looked for the reasons why you liked him. The”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/you-saw-someone-who-reminded-you-of-you-and-then-you-looked-for-the/)

[Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/)

> [“At other places management says, ‘Well, gee, fellas, do we really want to bet the ranch on this deal?’ Lewie was not only willing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/at-other-places-management-says-well-gee-fellas-do-we-really-want-to/)

[Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/)

> [“BILLY WOULD SAY later that his wife left him because she was unnerved by his intensity—that she could even see it in his hands…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/billy-would-say-later-that-his-wife-left-him-because-she-was-unnerved/)

[Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/)

> [“The great thing about baseball players, from the point of view of personal hygiene, is how seldom they break a sweat.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/the-great-thing-about-baseball-players-from-the-point-of-view-of/)

[Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/)

> [There was but one question he left unasked, and it vibrated between his lines: if gross miscalculations of a person's value could occur on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/there-was-but-one-question-he-left-unasked-and-it-vibrated-between/)

[Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/)

> [“The author refers to a player's affected nonchalance and comments he is, "too young to realize you are what you pretend to be.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/the-author-refers-to-a-player-s-affected-nonchalance-and-comments-he/)

[Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/)

> [A banking system is an act of faith: it survives only for as long as people believe it will.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/a-banking-system-is-an-act-of-faith-it-survives-only-for-as-long-as/)

[Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/)

> [Some coaches believed they could judge a player's performance simply by watching it. In this they were deeply mistaken. The naked eye was an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/some-coaches-believed-they-could-judge-a-player-s-performance-simply/)

[Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/)

> [“No longer were the prices of ordinary mortgage bonds allowed to roam inefficiently, for they were now linked to the CMO market, in much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/no-longer-were-the-prices-of-ordinary-mortgage-bonds-allowed-to-roam/)

[Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/)

> [“The difference between Strauss and Ranieri?” says one trader still at Salomon. “That’s easy. Strauss wouldn’t stoop to use the men’s room on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/the-difference-between-strauss-and-ranieri-says-one-trader-still-at/)

[Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/)

> [“The only inexplicable aspect of the process was that economic theory (which is, after all, what economics students were supposed to know) served almost…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/the-only-inexplicable-aspect-of-the-process-was-that-economic-theory/)

[Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/)

> [“It's not easy to stand apart from mass hysteria - to believe that most of what's in the financial news is wrong, to believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/it-s-not-easy-to-stand-apart-from-mass-hysteria-to-believe-that-most/)

[Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/)

> [“Dont worry about where i am , i'll let you know when i get there .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/dont-worry-about-where-i-am-i-ll-let-you-know-when-i-get-there/)

[Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/)

> [“Someone out there was using the fact that stock market orders arrived at different times at different exchanges to front-run orders from one market…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/someone-out-there-was-using-the-fact-that-stock-market-orders-arrived/)

[Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/)

[Explore all 398 Michael Lewis quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/)

## More James Wrote quotes

> [“When I was 10, I read James Baldwin's 'Another Country,' and that book broke me. Not because I was encountering homosexual sex and love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/when-i-was-10-i-read-james-baldwin-s-another-country-and-that-book/)

[Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/)

> [“William James wrote in The Varieties of Religious Experience that religion “consists of the belief that there is an unseen order, and that our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-wright/william-james-wrote-in-the-varieties-of-religious-experience-that/)

[Robert Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-wright/)

> [“In the arts," James wrote, "feeling is always meaning.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siri-hustvedt/in-the-arts-james-wrote-feeling-is-always-meaning/)

[Siri Hustvedt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siri-hustvedt/)

> [“That city has changed and the United States has changed since James wrote his American novel, but dead phrases, empty rhetoric, clichéd though, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siri-hustvedt/that-city-has-changed-and-the-united-states-has-changed-since-james/)

[Siri Hustvedt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siri-hustvedt/)

> [“William James wrote, “We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-j-nichols/william-james-wrote-we-are-like-islands-in-the-sea-separate-on-the/)

Wallace J. Nichols

> [“The day after the British entered the war Henry James wrote a friend: The plunge of civilization into this abyss of blood and darkness...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-fussell/the-day-after-the-british-entered-the-war-henry-james-wrote-a-friend/)

[Paul Fussell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-fussell/)

Browse all 7 James Wrote quotes

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“I wonder,” James wrote, “if we haven’t become so numbed by all these numbers that we are no longer capable of truly assimilating any knowledge which might result from them.”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Michael Lewis"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/i-wonder-james-wrote-if-we-haven-t-become-so-numbed-by-all-these/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "James Wrote"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/i-wonder-james-wrote-if-we-haven-t-become-so-numbed-by-all-these/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf2/michael-lewis-705_james-wrote_i-wonder-james-wrote-if-we-haven-t-becom_263816.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf2/michael-lewis-705_james-wrote_i-wonder-james-wrote-if-we-haven-t-becom_263816.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf2/michael-lewis-705_james-wrote_i-wonder-james-wrote-if-we-haven-t-becom_263816.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“I wonder,” James wrote, “if we haven’t become so numbed by all these numbers that we are no longer capable…” — Michael Lewis",
                "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": "Michael Lewis",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "“I wonder,” James wrote, “if we...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/i-wonder-james-wrote-if-we-haven-t-become-so-numbed-by-all-these/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/i-wonder-james-wrote-if-we-haven-t-become-so-numbed-by-all-these/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
