--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: This, dear Phaedrus, is the most…" description: "\"“This, dear Phaedrus, is the most important point: no geometry without the word. Without it, figures are accidents, and neither make manifest nor serve..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/124/paul-valery-1464_eupalinos_this-dear-phaedrus-is-the-most-important_2925222.jpg" --- # This, dear Phaedrus, is the most important point: no… ![“This, dear Phaedrus, is the most important point: no geometry without the word. Without it, figures are accidents, and neither make manifest nor serve the power of the mind.” quote by Paul Valéry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/124/paul-valery-1464_eupalinos_this-dear-phaedrus-is-the-most-important_2925222.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/124/paul-valery-1464_eupalinos_this-dear-phaedrus-is-the-most-important_2925222.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/124/paul-valery-1464_eupalinos_this-dear-phaedrus-is-the-most-important_2925222.jpg) > ““This, dear Phaedrus, is the most important point: no geometry without the word. Without it, figures are accidents, and neither make manifest nor serve the power of the mind.”” [Paul Valéry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Language gives shape to thought; without words, geometric concepts become meaningless, highlighting the power of language in structuring cognition. **In simple terms:** Words shape how we think about space and ideas. Key Takeaway Cultivate precise language to clarify thinking. Themes philosophy language cognition Mood reflective intellectual Type philosophical analytical When to use this quote - education - writing - critical thinking Key Concepts semantic theory geometry Questions to Reflect On - How does language constrain or enable imagination? - What happens when concepts lack words? A Different Perspective Language may limit thought when concepts are inexpressible. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Geometry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/geometry/) [Mathematics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mathematics/) [Power of the mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/power-of-the-mind/) ## Related quotes > [“O thoughtful waste of my days! What an artist I have destroyed!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/o-thoughtful-waste-of-my-days-what-an-artist-i-have-destroyed/) [Paul Valéry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [“I would hear the song of the columns and visualize in the pure sky the monument of a melody.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/i-would-hear-the-song-of-the-columns-and-visualize-in-the-pure-sky/) [Paul Valéry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [“What soul would hesitate to turn the universe upside down in order to be a little more itself?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/what-soul-would-hesitate-to-turn-the-universe-upside-down-in-order-to/) [Paul Valéry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [“I think of the presence and of the habits of mortals in this so fluid stream, and reflect that I was among them, striving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/i-think-of-the-presence-and-of-the-habits-of-mortals-in-this-so-fluid/) [Paul Valéry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [The important point is to not just follow your passion but something larger than yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-jobs/the-important-point-is-to-not-just-follow-your-passion-but-something/) [Steve Jobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-jobs/) > [“I have always lived in a world in which I'm just a spot in history. My life is not the important point. I'm just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheri-s-tepper/i-have-always-lived-in-a-world-in-which-i-m-just-a-spot-in-history-my/) [Sheri S. Tepper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheri-s-tepper/) > [The most important point is to accept yourself and stand on your two feet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shunryu-suzuki/the-most-important-point-is-to-accept-yourself-and-stand-on-your-two/) [Shunryu Suzuki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shunryu-suzuki/) > [“Whether she knew she was mine wasn't the important point in my mind. It was inevitable.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-march/whether-she-knew-she-was-mine-wasn-t-the-important-point-in-my-mind/) [Meghan March](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-march/) > [And to understand this, I think this is a most important point where I would like always to be understood what we do with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-masur/and-to-understand-this-i-think-this-is-a-most-important-point-where-i/) [Kurt Masur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-masur/) > [If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/if-you-have-an-important-point-to-make-don-t-try-to-be-subtle-or/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [My life is more important. At this point in my life I'm alone. I don't think about it a lot.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nan-goldin/my-life-is-more-important-at-this-point-in-my-life-i-m-alone-i-don-t/) [Nan Goldin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nan-goldin/) > [I got tired of soundchecks. At first it was important. But after a while, there was no point in me doing one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shaun-ryder/i-got-tired-of-soundchecks-at-first-it-was-important-but-after-a/) [Shaun Ryder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shaun-ryder/) > [It's an important point to make that people can't just be invalidated, eradicated, because they don't fit tidily into a box. And more and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lindsay-duncan/it-s-an-important-point-to-make-that-people-can-t-just-be-invalidated/) [Lindsay Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lindsay-duncan/) > [“But the important point here is not that you have — or don’t have — what other artists have, but rather that it doesn’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-bayles/but-the-important-point-here-is-not-that-you-have-or-don-t-have-what/) [David Bayles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-bayles/) > [“The important point here is that you must not doubt of what you say because if you do, every single person in that room…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-johnson/the-important-point-here-is-that-you-must-not-doubt-of-what-you-say/) [Rick Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-johnson/) ## More by Paul Valéry > [In the eyes of those lovers of perfection, a work is never finished a word that for them has no sense but abandoned; and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/in-the-eyes-of-those-lovers-of-perfection-a-work-is-never-finished-a/) [Paul Valery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [“O Socrates, the universe cannot for one instant endure to be only what it is. It is strange to think that that which is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/o-socrates-the-universe-cannot-for-one-instant-endure-to-be-only-what/) [Paul Valéry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [We civilizations now know ourselves mortal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/we-civilizations-now-know-ourselves-mortal/) [Paul Valery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [It seems to me that the soul, when alone with itself and speaking to itself, uses only a small number of words, none of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/it-seems-to-me-that-the-soul-when-alone-with-itself-and-speaking-to/) [Paul Valery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [Serious people have few ideas. People with ideas are never serious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/serious-people-have-few-ideas-people-with-ideas-are-never-serious/) [Paul Valery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [“I am now going to make an admission. I confess, I agree, that all these good people who protested, who laughed, who did not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/i-am-now-going-to-make-an-admission-i-confess-i-agree-that-all-these/) [Paul Valery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [“Degas is one of the very few painters who have given the floor its true importance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/degas-is-one-of-the-very-few-painters-who-have-given-the-floor-its/) [Paul Valéry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [Politics is the art of preventing people from busying themselves with what is their own business.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/politics-is-the-art-of-preventing-people-from-busying-themselves-with/) [Paul Valery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [God created man and, finding him not sufficiently alone, gave him a companion to make him feel his solitude more keenly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/god-created-man-and-finding-him-not-sufficiently-alone-gave-him-a/) [Paul Valery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [The most ridiculous were those who, on their own authority, made themselves the judges and justices of the tribe. They seemed never to suspect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/the-most-ridiculous-were-those-who-on-their-own-authority-made/) [Paul Valery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [The folly of mistaking oneself for an oracle is built right into us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/the-folly-of-mistaking-oneself-for-an-oracle-is-built-right-into-us/) [Paul Valery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [Thought must be hidden in the verse like nutritional virtue in a fruit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/thought-must-be-hidden-in-the-verse-like-nutritional-virtue-in-a-fruit/) [Paul Valery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [To be sincere means to be the same person when one is with oneself; that is to say, alone - but that is all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/to-be-sincere-means-to-be-the-same-person-when-one-is-with-oneself/) [Paul Valery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [No work of art is ever completed, it is only abandoned.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/no-work-of-art-is-ever-completed-it-is-only-abandoned/) [Paul Valery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [Interruption, incoherence, surprise are the ordinary conditions of our life. They have even become real needs for many people, whose minds are no longer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/interruption-incoherence-surprise-are-the-ordinary-conditions-of-our/) [Paul Valery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) [Explore all 215 Paul Valéry quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) ## More Eupalinos quotes > [“I think of the presence and of the habits of mortals in this so fluid stream, and reflect that I was among them, striving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/i-think-of-the-presence-and-of-the-habits-of-mortals-in-this-so-fluid/) [Paul Valéry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [“What soul would hesitate to turn the universe upside down in order to be a little more itself?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/what-soul-would-hesitate-to-turn-the-universe-upside-down-in-order-to/) [Paul Valéry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [“I would hear the song of the columns and visualize in the pure sky the monument of a melody.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/i-would-hear-the-song-of-the-columns-and-visualize-in-the-pure-sky/) [Paul Valéry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) > [“O thoughtful waste of my days! What an artist I have destroyed!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-valery/o-thoughtful-waste-of-my-days-what-an-artist-i-have-destroyed/) [Paul Valéry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-valery/) Browse all 5 Eupalinos quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“This, dear Phaedrus, is the most important point: no geometry without the word. 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