--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: human beings do not perceive things…" description: "\"“human beings do not perceive things whole; we are not gods but wounded creatures, cracked lenses, capable only of fractured perceptions”\" — Salman Rus..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7f9/salman-rushdie-153_memory_human-beings-do-not-perceive-things-whol_1178328.jpg" --- # human beings do not perceive things whole; we are not gods… ![“human beings do not perceive things whole; we are not gods but wounded creatures, cracked lenses, capable only of fractured perceptions” quote by Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7f9/salman-rushdie-153_memory_human-beings-do-not-perceive-things-whol_1178328.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7f9/salman-rushdie-153_memory_human-beings-do-not-perceive-things-whol_1178328.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7f9/salman-rushdie-153_memory_human-beings-do-not-perceive-things-whol_1178328.jpg) > ““human beings do not perceive things whole; we are not gods but wounded creatures, cracked lenses, capable only of fractured perceptions”” [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human perception is limited and fragmented, never fully capturing reality. **In simple terms:** We see only pieces, not the whole. Key Takeaway Accept our limited view and seek multiple perspectives. Themes perception humanity limitations Mood reflective thoughtful Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - art criticism - scientific research - personal relationships - media consumption Key Concepts Epistemology subjectivity cognitive bias Questions to Reflect On - How do your biases shape your reality? - What steps can you take to broaden your perspective? A Different Perspective Our fragmented view can lead to misunderstanding if not acknowledged. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Memory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memory/) [Philosophy of Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy-of-mind/) [Writers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writers/) ## Related quotes > [“But human beings do not perceive things whole; we are not gods but wounded creatures, cracked lenses, capable only of fractured perceptions. Partial beings,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/but-human-beings-do-not-perceive-things-whole-we-are-not-gods-but/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [Human beings do not perceive things whole; we are not gods but wounded creatures, cracked lenses, capably only of fractured perceptions. Partial beings, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/human-beings-do-not-perceive-things-whole-we-are-not-gods-but-wounded-2/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [Do not think dishonestly... Distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters. Develop intuitive judgement and understanding for everything. Perceive those things which cannot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miyamoto-musashi/do-not-think-dishonestly-distinguish-between-gain-and-loss-in-worldly/) [Miyamoto Musashi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miyamoto-musashi/) > [If man looks within himself he must perceive two things: a law of right, and that which it condemns.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-parry-liddon/if-man-looks-within-himself-he-must-perceive-two-things-a-law-of/) [Henry Parry Liddon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-parry-liddon/) > [Remember this maxim: When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. The way you perceive things is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-dyer/remember-this-maxim-when-you-change-the-way-you-look-at-things-the/) [Wayne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wayne-dyer/) > [The light is there, and colors surround us. However, if there were no light nor colors in our own eye, we wouldn't perceive such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/the-light-is-there-and-colors-surround-us-however-if-there-were-no/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [There's no way we can possibly understand anything. But we can see things, we can perceive things, and we can wonder. We can just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/there-s-no-way-we-can-possibly-understand-anything-but-we-can-see/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [I'm an actor, and everything about me - the way I perceive things, the way I have seen the world - has been in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-pacino/i-m-an-actor-and-everything-about-me-the-way-i-perceive-things-the/) [Al Pacino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-pacino/) > [For a very long time now, we've seen things one way, which is through the eyes of men. 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Sometimes during moments of intense study their hearing's troubled: the hidden sound of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-p-cavafy/of-what-s-to-come-the-wise-perceive-things-about-to-happen-sometimes/) [C.P. Cavafy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-p-cavafy/) > [Understanding like the eye; whilst it makes us see and perceive all things, takes no notice of itself; and it requires art and pains…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-locke/understanding-like-the-eye-whilst-it-makes-us-see-and-perceive-all/) [John Locke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-locke/) > [No amount of effort could have stopped that, because our points of view - the way we perceive things - are inextricably linked to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-crutcher/no-amount-of-effort-could-have-stopped-that-because-our-points-of/) [Chris Crutcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-crutcher/) > [You perceive, now, that these things are all impossible except in a dream. You perceive that they are pure and puerile insanities, the silly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/you-perceive-now-that-these-things-are-all-impossible-except-in-a/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) ## More by Salman Rushdie > [If my child had prejudice in his head, I'd be ashamed. I would see it as my failure as a parent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/if-my-child-had-prejudice-in-his-head-i-d-be-ashamed-i-would-see-it/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [It's a terrible thing that your life turns into a good story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/it-s-a-terrible-thing-that-your-life-turns-into-a-good-story/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [Sometimes by a woodland stream he watched the water rush over the pebbled bed, its tiny modulations of bounce and flow. A woman's body…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/sometimes-by-a-woodland-stream-he-watched-the-water-rush-over-the/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [I want to write novels. I want to write stories. I want to do the stuff that I became a writer to do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/i-want-to-write-novels-i-want-to-write-stories-i-want-to-do-the-stuff/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [If you want to be a serious writer, then you have to write what there is to write about. If you're going to pull…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/if-you-want-to-be-a-serious-writer-then-you-have-to-write-what-there/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [“Después de exigir mi marcha, ya no posees jurisdicción en lo concerniente a mi salud.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/despu-s-de-exigir-mi-marcha-ya-no-posees-jurisdicci-n-en-lo/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [If there is a choice between absolute safety and freedom, then freedom must always prevail.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/if-there-is-a-choice-between-absolute-safety-and-freedom-then-freedom/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [I'm not a prophet, but I always thought it was natural for dictatorships to fall. I remember in 1989, two months before the fall…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/i-m-not-a-prophet-but-i-always-thought-it-was-natural-for/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [I'd wanted to create a storm so that I could become more famous and richer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/i-d-wanted-to-create-a-storm-so-that-i-could-become-more-famous-and/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [Who what am I? My answer: I am the sum total of everything that went before me, of all I have been seen done,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/who-what-am-i-my-answer-i-am-the-sum-total-of-everything-that-went/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [“...proving once again that there was no escape from recurrence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/proving-once-again-that-there-was-no-escape-from-recurrence/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [“information, in a stream-of-consciousness soliloquy that revealed the extent to which he had internalised the adversarial fragmentation of American culture and made it a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/information-in-a-stream-of-consciousness-soliloquy-that-revealed-the/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [A little bit of one story joins onto an idea from another, and hey presto, . . . not old tales but new ones.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/a-little-bit-of-one-story-joins-onto-an-idea-from-another-and-hey/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [I'm a novelist. Fortunately I don't have to rule the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/i-m-a-novelist-fortunately-i-don-t-have-to-rule-the-world/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [The First Amendment defends all forms of speech including hate speech, which is why groups like Ku Klux Klan are allowed to utter their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/the-first-amendment-defends-all-forms-of-speech-including-hate-speech/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) [Explore all 1,087 Salman Rushdie quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) ## More Beings quotes > [Here's the reality. The image of a white Jesus has been used to justify enslavement, conquest, colonialism, the genocide of indigenous peoples. There are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-wise/here-s-the-reality-the-image-of-a-white-jesus-has-been-used-to/) [Tim Wise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-wise/) > [What we're supposed to do as actors is be able to portray real human beings and emotions. And if you grow up in this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-browning/what-we-re-supposed-to-do-as-actors-is-be-able-to-portray-real-human/) [Emily Browning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-browning/) > [“Is there any holy beings like human beings?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/is-there-any-holy-beings-like-human-beings/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [A composer knows that music is written by human beings for human beings and that music is a continuation of life, not something separated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hanns-eisler/a-composer-knows-that-music-is-written-by-human-beings-for-human/) Hanns Eisler > [For our purposes as human beings, the mind is the center of everything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/for-our-purposes-as-human-beings-the-mind-is-the-center-of-everything/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [I'm a humanist at heart: at the end of the day, we are all human beings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chet-faker/i-m-a-humanist-at-heart-at-the-end-of-the-day-we-are-all-human-beings/) [Chet Faker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chet-faker/) > [My intended audience was everybody. I just want to make cartoons for human beings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kricfalusi/my-intended-audience-was-everybody-i-just-want-to-make-cartoons-for/) [John Kricfalusi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-kricfalusi/) > [Everyone else on the planet, from the lowest amoebae to the great blue whale, expresses all their component elements in a perfect dance with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-lore/everyone-else-on-the-planet-from-the-lowest-amoebae-to-the-great-blue/) [Nicholas Lore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-lore/) > [I have never really been fond of animals. I certainly wasn't an 'animal lover' when I became involved in the movement. I just came…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-singer/i-have-never-really-been-fond-of-animals-i-certainly-wasn-t-an-animal/) [Peter Singer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-singer/) > [As human beings, we aren't as individual as we'd like to believe we are. And I think that's what makes acting possible. Despite the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lupita-nyong-o/as-human-beings-we-aren-t-as-individual-as-we-d-like-to-believe-we/) [Lupita Nyong'o](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lupita-nyong-o/) > [We cannot deal with people like human beings, we cannot deal with them on the high level of true humanity, unless we really know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/we-cannot-deal-with-people-like-human-beings-we-cannot-deal-with-them/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Spiritual beings, either from the beginning or soon thereafter, become what they are to be for ever and ever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giovanni-pico-della-mirandola/spiritual-beings-either-from-the-beginning-or-soon-thereafter-become/) [Giovanni Pico della Mirandola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giovanni-pico-della-mirandola/) > [We're human beings trying to love each other. 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Wirthlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-b-wirthlin/) Browse all 979 Beings quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“human beings do not perceive things whole; we are not gods but wounded creatures, cracked lenses, capable only of fractured perceptions”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Salman Rushdie" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/human-beings-do-not-perceive-things-whole-we-are-not-gods-but-wounded/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Beings" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/human-beings-do-not-perceive-things-whole-we-are-not-gods-but-wounded/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7f9/salman-rushdie-153_memory_human-beings-do-not-perceive-things-whol_1178328.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7f9/salman-rushdie-153_memory_human-beings-do-not-perceive-things-whol_1178328.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7f9/salman-rushdie-153_memory_human-beings-do-not-perceive-things-whol_1178328.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“human beings do not perceive things whole; we are not gods but wounded creatures, cracked lenses, capable…” — Salman Rushdie", "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": "Salman Rushdie", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“human beings do not perceive things...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/human-beings-do-not-perceive-things-whole-we-are-not-gods-but-wounded/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/human-beings-do-not-perceive-things-whole-we-are-not-gods-but-wounded/#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 } } ] } ```