--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Man can embody truth but he cannot know it." description: "\"Man can embody truth but he cannot know it.\" — William Butler Yeats" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29e/william-butler-yeats-350_embody_man-can-embody-truth-but-he-cannot-know_1472732.png" --- # Man can embody truth but he cannot know it. ![“Man can embody truth but he cannot know it.” quote by William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29e/william-butler-yeats-350_embody_man-can-embody-truth-but-he-cannot-know_1472732.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29e/william-butler-yeats-350_embody_man-can-embody-truth-but-he-cannot-know_1472732.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29e/william-butler-yeats-350_embody_man-can-embody-truth-but-he-cannot-know_1472732.png) > “Man can embody truth but he cannot know it.” [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human beings can reflect truth yet lack full comprehension of it **In simple terms:** We can show truth but not fully grasp it Key Takeaway Recognize limits of understanding Themes philosophy epistemology humility Mood contemplative serious Type philosophical reflective When to use this quote - personal reflection - academic study - spiritual practice - teaching - dialogue Key Concepts metaphysics subjectivity Questions to Reflect On - How do you distinguish between embodying and knowing truth? - Can humility improve our pursuit of truth? A Different Perspective Truth may be partially perceived but never fully known ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Embody](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/embody/) [Embody Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/embody-truth-2859841/) [Man Embody](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/man-embody-5081021/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) [Truth Know](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth-know/) ## Related quotes > [“Man can embody the truth but he cannot know it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/man-can-embody-the-truth-but-he-cannot-know-it/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [The actor's job is to divine and embody the truth, and find it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-greengrass/the-actor-s-job-is-to-divine-and-embody-the-truth-and-find-it/) [Paul Greengrass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-greengrass/) > [We are seekers of the truth, but we do not embody the truth. And in humility, we should recognize that the same can be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-c-danforth/we-are-seekers-of-the-truth-but-we-do-not-embody-the-truth-and-in/) [John C. Danforth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-c-danforth/) > [We live in a world where it's difficult to be a woman who is strong and confident, so I like to surround myself with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mandy-moore/we-live-in-a-world-where-it-s-difficult-to-be-a-woman-who-is-strong/) [Mandy Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mandy-moore/) > [Everything that I embody is the fluidity of my own consumption.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/princess-nokia/everything-that-i-embody-is-the-fluidity-of-my-own-consumption/) [Princess Nokia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/princess-nokia/) > [For me, the most absorbing films are those that address big questions and real ideas but embody them in small examples that we can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-randall/for-me-the-most-absorbing-films-are-those-that-address-big-questions/) [Lisa Randall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-randall/) > [All of the actors that have served to me as inspiration over the years have been those more associated with dramatic work who have,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adhir-kalyan/all-of-the-actors-that-have-served-to-me-as-inspiration-over-the/) [Adhir Kalyan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adhir-kalyan/) > [Fiction allows you to embody certain ideas and give them an emotional reality. The characters allow you to get close viscerally to an idea.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-michaels/fiction-allows-you-to-embody-certain-ideas-and-give-them-an-emotional/) [Anne Michaels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-michaels/) > [The 'Bird's Nest' National Stadium, which I helped to conceive, is designed to embody the Olympic spirit of 'fair competition.' It tells people that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/the-bird-s-nest-national-stadium-which-i-helped-to-conceive-is/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [There's a whole language to movement and how you embody someone, and how you can use different techniques for different characters. I guess just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mia-wasikowska/there-s-a-whole-language-to-movement-and-how-you-embody-someone-and/) [Mia Wasikowska](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mia-wasikowska/) > [I embody highs and lows.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayo-edebiri/i-embody-highs-and-lows/) [Ayo Edebiri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayo-edebiri/) > [I'm a big believer that if you want things to change you have to embody that change.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olly-alexander/i-m-a-big-believer-that-if-you-want-things-to-change-you-have-to/) [Olly Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olly-alexander/) > [Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/don-t-explain-your-philosophy-embody-it/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) > [Playing Willie Loomis was really fun for me because it was something nice and different to embody. It was neat playing this drunken servant…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jackie-earle-haley/playing-willie-loomis-was-really-fun-for-me-because-it-was-something/) [Jackie Earle Haley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jackie-earle-haley/) > [As a former Apollo astronaut, I think it's safe to say that SpaceX and the other commercial developers embody the 21st century version of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rusty-schweickart/as-a-former-apollo-astronaut-i-think-it-s-safe-to-say-that-spacex-and/) [Rusty Schweickart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rusty-schweickart/) ## More by William Butler Yeats > [Time can but make her beauty over again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/time-can-but-make-her-beauty-over-again/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [I would have touched it like a child But knew my finger could but have touched Cold stone and water. I grew wild, Even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/i-would-have-touched-it-like-a-child-but-knew-my-finger-could-but/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [You know what the Englishman's idea of compromise is? He says, Some people say there is a God. Some people say there is no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/you-know-what-the-englishman-s-idea-of-compromise-is-he-says-some/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Beloved, let your eyes half close, and your heart beat Over my heart, and your hair fall over my breast, Drowning love's lonely hour…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/beloved-let-your-eyes-half-close-and-your-heart-beat-over-my-heart/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [That toil of growing up; The ignominy of boyhood; the distress Of boyhood changing into man; The unfinished man and his pain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/that-toil-of-growing-up-the-ignominy-of-boyhood-the-distress-of/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [I see a schoolboy when I think of him, With face and nose pressed to a sweet-shop window.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/i-see-a-schoolboy-when-i-think-of-him-with-face-and-nose-pressed-to-a/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Only God, my dear, Could love you for yourself alone And not your yellow hair.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/only-god-my-dear-could-love-you-for-yourself-alone-and-not-your/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [We can only begin to live when we conceive life as Tragedy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/we-can-only-begin-to-live-when-we-conceive-life-as-tragedy/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [I know that I shall meet my fate somewhere among the clouds above; those that I fight I do not hate, those that I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/i-know-that-i-shall-meet-my-fate-somewhere-among-the-clouds-above/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Great literature has always been written in a like spirit, and is, indeed, the Forgiveness of Sin, and when we find it becoming the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/great-literature-has-always-been-written-in-a-like-spirit-and-is/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Where the wave of moonlight glosses The dim gray sands with light, Far off by furthest Rosses We foot it all the night, Weaving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/where-the-wave-of-moonlight-glosses-the-dim-gray-sands-with-light-far/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [His element is so fine Being sharpened by his death, To drink from the wine-breath While our gross palates drink from the whole wine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/his-element-is-so-fine-being-sharpened-by-his-death-to-drink-from-the/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [We poets would die of loneliness but for women, and we choose our men friends that we may have somebody to talk about women…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/we-poets-would-die-of-loneliness-but-for-women-and-we-choose-our-men/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Love is created and preserved by intellectual analysis, for we love only that which is unique, and it belongs to contemplation, not to action,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/love-is-created-and-preserved-by-intellectual-analysis-for-we-love/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Who dreamed that beauty passes like a dream? For these red lips, with all their mournful pride, Mournful that no new wonder may betide,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/who-dreamed-that-beauty-passes-like-a-dream-for-these-red-lips-with/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) [Explore all 652 William Butler Yeats quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) ## More Embody quotes > [As a former Apollo astronaut, I think it's safe to say that SpaceX and the other commercial developers embody the 21st century version of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rusty-schweickart/as-a-former-apollo-astronaut-i-think-it-s-safe-to-say-that-spacex-and/) [Rusty Schweickart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rusty-schweickart/) > [Playing Willie Loomis was really fun for me because it was something nice and different to embody. It was neat playing this drunken servant…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jackie-earle-haley/playing-willie-loomis-was-really-fun-for-me-because-it-was-something/) [Jackie Earle Haley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jackie-earle-haley/) > [Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/don-t-explain-your-philosophy-embody-it/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) > [I'm a big believer that if you want things to change you have to embody that change.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olly-alexander/i-m-a-big-believer-that-if-you-want-things-to-change-you-have-to/) [Olly Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olly-alexander/) > [I embody highs and lows.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayo-edebiri/i-embody-highs-and-lows/) [Ayo Edebiri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayo-edebiri/) > [There's a whole language to movement and how you embody someone, and how you can use different techniques for different characters. I guess just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mia-wasikowska/there-s-a-whole-language-to-movement-and-how-you-embody-someone-and/) [Mia Wasikowska](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mia-wasikowska/) > [The 'Bird's Nest' National Stadium, which I helped to conceive, is designed to embody the Olympic spirit of 'fair competition.' It tells people that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/the-bird-s-nest-national-stadium-which-i-helped-to-conceive-is/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [Fiction allows you to embody certain ideas and give them an emotional reality. The characters allow you to get close viscerally to an idea.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-michaels/fiction-allows-you-to-embody-certain-ideas-and-give-them-an-emotional/) [Anne Michaels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-michaels/) > [All of the actors that have served to me as inspiration over the years have been those more associated with dramatic work who have,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adhir-kalyan/all-of-the-actors-that-have-served-to-me-as-inspiration-over-the/) [Adhir Kalyan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adhir-kalyan/) > [For me, the most absorbing films are those that address big questions and real ideas but embody them in small examples that we can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-randall/for-me-the-most-absorbing-films-are-those-that-address-big-questions/) [Lisa Randall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-randall/) > [Everything that I embody is the fluidity of my own consumption.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/princess-nokia/everything-that-i-embody-is-the-fluidity-of-my-own-consumption/) [Princess Nokia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/princess-nokia/) > [We live in a world where it's difficult to be a woman who is strong and confident, so I like to surround myself with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mandy-moore/we-live-in-a-world-where-it-s-difficult-to-be-a-woman-who-is-strong/) [Mandy Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mandy-moore/) > [To embody a character, you have to lose all judgment about them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clemence-poesy/to-embody-a-character-you-have-to-lose-all-judgment-about-them/) [Clemence Poesy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clemence-poesy/) > [“We forget most of our past but embody all of it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-begley/we-forget-most-of-our-past-but-embody-all-of-it/) [Adam Begley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-begley/) > [It's great to be an actor, and it's great to embody something more than who you are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-varney/it-s-great-to-be-an-actor-and-it-s-great-to-embody-something-more/) [Janet Varney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-varney/) [Browse all 58 Embody quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/embody/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Man can embody truth but he cannot know it.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "William Butler Yeats" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/man-can-embody-truth-but-he-cannot-know-it/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Embody" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/man-can-embody-truth-but-he-cannot-know-it/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29e/william-butler-yeats-350_embody_man-can-embody-truth-but-he-cannot-know_1472732.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29e/william-butler-yeats-350_embody_man-can-embody-truth-but-he-cannot-know_1472732.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29e/william-butler-yeats-350_embody_man-can-embody-truth-but-he-cannot-know_1472732.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Man can embody truth but he cannot know it.” — William Butler Yeats", "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": "William Butler Yeats", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Man can embody truth but he...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/man-can-embody-truth-but-he-cannot-know-it/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/man-can-embody-truth-but-he-cannot-know-it/#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 } } ] } ```