--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: You can't explain the unknown in terms of…" description: "\"You can't explain the unknown in terms of the incomprehensible.\" — Theodore Schick" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e32/theodore-schick-282721_explain_you-can-t-explain-the-unknown-in-terms-o_262578.png" --- # You can't explain the unknown in terms of the… ![“You can't explain the unknown in terms of the incomprehensible.” quote by Theodore Schick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e32/theodore-schick-282721_explain_you-can-t-explain-the-unknown-in-terms-o_262578.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e32/theodore-schick-282721_explain_you-can-t-explain-the-unknown-in-terms-o_262578.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e32/theodore-schick-282721_explain_you-can-t-explain-the-unknown-in-terms-o_262578.png) > “You can't explain the unknown in terms of the incomprehensible.” Theodore Schick ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Explaining the unknown cannot rely on terms that are themselves incomprehensible; clarity requires understandable concepts. **In simple terms:** Explain unknowns with understandable terms. Key Takeaway Seek clear language for complex ideas. Themes philosophy epistemology communication logic education Mood thoughtful analytical inquisitive Type Explain:1 Incomprehensible:1 Philosophy:1 Term:0 Terms Incomprehensible:0 Explain Unknown:0 Unknown Terms:0 When to use this quote - teaching - public speaking - writing - scientific discourse - policy making Key Concepts conceptual clarity semantic analysis knowledge limits Questions to Reflect On - How do we define 'incomprehensible'? - When is simplification misleading? A Different Perspective Complex subjects may resist simplification. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Philosophy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy/) ## Related quotes > [“It’s always easy to explain the unknown by postulating a superhuman and arbitrary will.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/it-s-always-easy-to-explain-the-unknown-by-postulating-a-superhuman/) [Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/) > [To explain the unknown by the known is a logical procedure; to explain the known by the unknown is a form of theological lunacy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-brooks/to-explain-the-unknown-by-the-known-is-a-logical-procedure-to-explain/) [David Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-brooks/) > [I'm not the guy who will sit in a room with somebody who's using a bunch of big words and just act like I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-wahlberg/i-m-not-the-guy-who-will-sit-in-a-room-with-somebody-who-s-using-a/) [Mark Wahlberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-wahlberg/) > [It is always incomprehensible to a man that a woman should ever refuse an offer of marriage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/it-is-always-incomprehensible-to-a-man-that-a-woman-should-ever/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [What I like best about your system? It is as incomprehensible as the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/what-i-like-best-about-your-system-it-is-as-incomprehensible-as-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Incomprehensible jargon is the hallmark of a profession.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kingman-brewster-jr/incomprehensible-jargon-is-the-hallmark-of-a-profession/) [Kingman Brewster, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kingman-brewster-jr/) > [Be warned in time, James, and remain, as I do, incomprehensible: to be great is to be misunderstood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/be-warned-in-time-james-and-remain-as-i-do-incomprehensible-to-be/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [In Tasmania, an island the size of Ireland whose primeval forests astonished 19th-century Europeans, an incomprehensible ecological tragedy is being played out.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-flanagan/in-tasmania-an-island-the-size-of-ireland-whose-primeval-forests/) [Richard Flanagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-flanagan/) > [Sometimes people accuse me of being incomprehensible only because they look for an explicative side to my pictures which is not there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-gauguin/sometimes-people-accuse-me-of-being-incomprehensible-only-because/) [Paul Gauguin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-gauguin/) > [He has to live in the midst of the incomprehensible, which is also detestable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/he-has-to-live-in-the-midst-of-the-incomprehensible-which-is-also/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [I do not want to found anything on the incomprehensible. 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One lived and ran about the earth and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-hesse/o-how-incomprehensible-everything-was-and-actually-sad-although-it/) [Herman Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-hesse/) > [To say that a work of art is good, but incomprehensible to the majority of men, is the same as saying of some kind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/to-say-that-a-work-of-art-is-good-but-incomprehensible-to-the/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [“All the same I keep on looking for someone incomprehensible who won't understand me either, because I have a terrible thirst for brotherhood”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-ajar/all-the-same-i-keep-on-looking-for-someone-incomprehensible-who-won-t/) Emile Ajar ## More Explain quotes > [You have to talk about why things happened the way they did. 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A star or a super star or just someone from the Gods.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anu-malik/how-do-you-explain-a-person-like-asha-bhosle-a-star-or-a-super-star/) [Anu Malik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anu-malik/) > [If you win you need not explain……But if you lose you should not be there to explain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-win-you-need-not-explain-but-if-you-lose-you-should-not-be/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“I'm afraid I can't explain myself, sir. Because I am not myself, you see?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-carroll/i-m-afraid-i-can-t-explain-myself-sir-because-i-am-not-myself-you-see/) [Lewis Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-carroll/) > [There is an indefinable quality possessed by some artists. You simply can't explain it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-ellen/there-is-an-indefinable-quality-possessed-by-some-artists-you-simply/) [Vera-Ellen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-ellen/) > [To be in a room and have to explain your point of view is a huge skill in Hollywood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-savage/to-be-in-a-room-and-have-to-explain-your-point-of-view-is-a-huge/) [Stephanie Savage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-savage/) > [“I am not sure how to explain it, except that - truth matters to us.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliezer-yudkowsky/i-am-not-sure-how-to-explain-it-except-that-truth-matters-to-us/) [Eliezer Yudkowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliezer-yudkowsky/) > [When I'm creating art or music, when something is resonating or a scene is going well, that almost feels religious to me... there's this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophie-thatcher/when-i-m-creating-art-or-music-when-something-is-resonating-or-a/) [Sophie Thatcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophie-thatcher/) > [In a Western, you don't over-explain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-dean-morgan/in-a-western-you-don-t-over-explain/) [Jeffrey Dean Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-dean-morgan/) > [I'm not the guy who will sit in a room with somebody who's using a bunch of big words and just act like I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-wahlberg/i-m-not-the-guy-who-will-sit-in-a-room-with-somebody-who-s-using-a/) [Mark Wahlberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-wahlberg/) > [I explain at the parties that I believe knitting is a transformative and intriguing act that can change the life and brain of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-pearl-mcphee/i-explain-at-the-parties-that-i-believe-knitting-is-a-transformative/) [Stephanie Pearl-McPhee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-pearl-mcphee/) > [Old cookbooks connect you to your past and explain the history of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/old-cookbooks-connect-you-to-your-past-and-explain-the-history-of-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [There is no way to explain enlightenment. It is just a word to indicate something beyond, something very, very far beyond the normal human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/there-is-no-way-to-explain-enlightenment-it-is-just-a-word-to/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) Browse all 989 Explain quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "You can't explain the unknown in terms of the incomprehensible.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Theodore Schick" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-schick/you-can-t-explain-the-unknown-in-terms-of-the-incomprehensible/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Explain" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-schick/you-can-t-explain-the-unknown-in-terms-of-the-incomprehensible/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e32/theodore-schick-282721_explain_you-can-t-explain-the-unknown-in-terms-o_262578.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e32/theodore-schick-282721_explain_you-can-t-explain-the-unknown-in-terms-o_262578.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e32/theodore-schick-282721_explain_you-can-t-explain-the-unknown-in-terms-o_262578.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“You can't explain the unknown in terms of the incomprehensible.” — Theodore Schick", "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": "Theodore Schick", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-schick/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "You can't explain the unknown in...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-schick/you-can-t-explain-the-unknown-in-terms-of-the-incomprehensible/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-schick/you-can-t-explain-the-unknown-in-terms-of-the-incomprehensible/#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 } } ] } ```