Defined Quote by Thomas Reid

What should we gain by a definition, as it can only lead us to other undefined terms?

— Ludwig Wittgenstein

We want to do something and a definition is a means of doing it. If we want certain results then we must use certain…

— I. A. Richards

What is a good definition? For the philosopher or the scientist, it is a definition which applies to all the objects to be defined,…

— Henri Poincare

The word 'definition' has come to have a dangerously reassuring sound, owing no doubt to its frequent occurrence in logical and mathematical writings.

— Willard Van Orman Quine

Finally there are simple ideas of which no definition can be given; there are also axioms or postulates, or in a word primary principles,…

— Gottfried Leibniz

Definitions belong to the definer, not the defined.

— Toni Morrison

Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.

— Toni Morrison

A definition may be very exact, and yet go but a very little way towards informing us of the nature of the thing defined.

— Edmund Burke

Definitions are temporary verbalizations of concepts, and concepts- particularly difficult concepts- are usually revised repeatedly as our knowledge and understanding grows.

— Ernst Mayr

A definition is the enclosing a wilderness of idea within a wall of words.

— Samuel Butler

To define an expression is, paradoxically speaking, to explain how to get along without it. To define is to eliminate.

— Willard Van Orman Quine

Definitions would be good things if we did not use words to make them.

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau