---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: No corporeal substance can be so subtle…"
description: "\"No corporeal substance can be so subtle and swift as this.\" — William of Conches"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/815/william-of-conches-59004_corporeal_no-corporeal-substance-can-be-so-subtle_530244.jpg"
---

#  No corporeal substance can be so subtle and swift as this.

![“No corporeal substance can be so subtle and swift as this.” quote by William of Conches](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/815/william-of-conches-59004_corporeal_no-corporeal-substance-can-be-so-subtle_530244.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/815/william-of-conches-59004_corporeal_no-corporeal-substance-can-be-so-subtle_530244.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/815/william-of-conches-59004_corporeal_no-corporeal-substance-can-be-so-subtle_530244.jpg)

> “No corporeal substance can be so subtle and swift as this.”

[William of Conches](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-of-conches/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

The quote suggests that the most delicate and fast-moving thing is not material but immaterial, like ideas or emotions.

**In simple terms:** Intangible things can be finer and quicker than physical matter.

Key Takeaway

Recognize the power of non‑physical influences.

Themes

philosophy metaphysics perception

Mood

contemplative inquisitive

Type

aphilosophical reflective

When to use this quote

- creative thinking
- emotional intelligence
- spiritual practice
- scientific discovery

Key Concepts

subtlety velocity non‑materiality

Questions to Reflect On

- What intangible forces shape your decisions?
- How do you measure subtle influences?

A Different Perspective

Physical explanations may overlook intangible forces.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Corporeal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/corporeal/) [Corporeal Substance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/corporeal-substance-2266051/) [Light](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/light/) [Substance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/substance/) [Substance Subtle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/substance-subtle-4455811/) [Subtle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/subtle/) [Subtle Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/subtle-swift-4455812/)

## Related quotes

> [Every corporeal substance, so far forth as it is corporeal, has a natural fitness for resting in every place where it may be situated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johannes-kepler/every-corporeal-substance-so-far-forth-as-it-is-corporeal-has-a/)

[Johannes Kepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johannes-kepler/)

> [Of the eternal corporeal substance (which is not producible ex nihilo, nor reducible ad nihilum, but rarefiable, condensable, formable, arrangeable, and "fashionable") the composition…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giordano-bruno/of-the-eternal-corporeal-substance-which-is-not-producible-ex-nihilo/)

[Giordano Bruno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giordano-bruno/)

> [Either there are no corporeal substances, and bodies are merely phenomena which are true or consistent with each other, such as a rainbow or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gottfried-leibniz/either-there-are-no-corporeal-substances-and-bodies-are-merely/)

[Gottfried Leibniz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gottfried-leibniz/)

> [“Epidermal Macabre Indelicate is he who loathes The aspect of his fleshy clothes,- The flying fabric stitched on bone, The vesture of the skeleton,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roethke/epidermal-macabre-indelicate-is-he-who-loathes-the-aspect-of-his/)

[Theodore Roethke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roethke/)

> [“You ought to go beyond the corporeal things and explore the divinity that is residing within you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mwanandeke-kindembo/you-ought-to-go-beyond-the-corporeal-things-and-explore-the-divinity/)

[Mwanandeke Kindembo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mwanandeke-kindembo/)

> [“It is only with the eyes open that a corporeal form returns, and assembles itself firmly around the hard core of sight.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-jackson/it-is-only-with-the-eyes-open-that-a-corporeal-form-returns-and/)

[Shirley Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-jackson/)

> [“Practice corporeal politics.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/practice-corporeal-politics/)

[Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/)

> [“The soul is joined to and is separated from the body. Therefore, the soul is corporeal.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chrysippus/the-soul-is-joined-to-and-is-separated-from-the-body-therefore-the/)

[Chrysippus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chrysippus/)

> [“There were corporeal, psychic, and spiritual people. Somatics, psychics, and pneumatics, they called them, from the Greek. Equality goes against nature, however rightly one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olga-tokarczuk/there-were-corporeal-psychic-and-spiritual-people-somatics-psychics/)

[Olga Tokarczuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olga-tokarczuk/)

> [I work from the body - I try to develop a language of the body. I've invented a term I call "corporeal writing" around…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lidia-yuknavitch/i-work-from-the-body-i-try-to-develop-a-language-of-the-body-i-ve/)

[Lidia Yuknavitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lidia-yuknavitch/)

> [“So hologram means--" I finally said. "It means non-corporeal, yeah. Which sucks seeing as how there are a lot of very corporeal things I'd…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-hawkins/so-hologram-means-i-finally-said-it-means-non-corporeal-yeah-which/)

[Rachel Hawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-hawkins/)

> [“I believe that we traverse this Earth, to find the missing materials that we need, for building our eternal homes in the world that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-joybell-c/i-believe-that-we-traverse-this-earth-to-find-the-missing-materials/)

[C. JoyBell C](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-joybell-c/)

> [Lenelle Moïse's poems render the abstract - policy, disaster, history, diaspora - specific. Her words make the political not just personal, but corporeal: the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erin-mckeown/lenelle-mo-se-s-poems-render-the-abstract-policy-disaster-history/)

[Erin McKeown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erin-mckeown/)

> [Corporeal death is not the whole story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/corporeal-death-is-not-the-whole-story/)

[Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/)

> [The corporeal element in man is a large screen and partition that prevents him from perfectly perceiving abstract ideals; this would be the case…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maimonides/the-corporeal-element-in-man-is-a-large-screen-and-partition-that/)

[Maimonides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maimonides/)

## More by William of Conches

> [“God can make a cow out of a tree, but has He ever done so? Therefore show some reason why a thing is so,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-of-conches/god-can-make-a-cow-out-of-a-tree-but-has-he-ever-done-so-therefore/)

[William of Conches](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-of-conches/)

> [ \[They say\] "We do not know how this is, but we know that God can do it." You poor fools! God can make a… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-of-conches/they-say-we-do-not-know-how-this-is-but-we-know-that-god-can-do-it/)

[William of Conches](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-of-conches/)

> [Rejoicing not in the many but in the probity of the few, we toil for truth alone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-of-conches/rejoicing-not-in-the-many-but-in-the-probity-of-the-few-we-toil-for/)

[William of Conches](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-of-conches/)

> [Because they know not the forces of nature, and in order that they may have comrades in their ignorance, they suffer not that others…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-of-conches/because-they-know-not-the-forces-of-nature-and-in-order-that-they-may/)

[William of Conches](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-of-conches/)

[Explore all 5 William of Conches quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-of-conches/)

## More Corporeal quotes

> [Either there are no corporeal substances, and bodies are merely phenomena which are true or consistent with each other, such as a rainbow or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gottfried-leibniz/either-there-are-no-corporeal-substances-and-bodies-are-merely/)

[Gottfried Leibniz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gottfried-leibniz/)

> [“So hologram means--" I finally said. "It means non-corporeal, yeah. Which sucks seeing as how there are a lot of very corporeal things I'd…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-hawkins/so-hologram-means-i-finally-said-it-means-non-corporeal-yeah-which/)

[Rachel Hawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-hawkins/)

> [“I believe that we traverse this Earth, to find the missing materials that we need, for building our eternal homes in the world that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-joybell-c/i-believe-that-we-traverse-this-earth-to-find-the-missing-materials/)

[C. JoyBell C](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-joybell-c/)

> [“Epidermal Macabre Indelicate is he who loathes The aspect of his fleshy clothes,- The flying fabric stitched on bone, The vesture of the skeleton,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roethke/epidermal-macabre-indelicate-is-he-who-loathes-the-aspect-of-his/)

[Theodore Roethke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roethke/)

> [Corporeal death is not the whole story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/corporeal-death-is-not-the-whole-story/)

[Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/)

> [Lenelle Moïse's poems render the abstract - policy, disaster, history, diaspora - specific. Her words make the political not just personal, but corporeal: the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erin-mckeown/lenelle-mo-se-s-poems-render-the-abstract-policy-disaster-history/)

[Erin McKeown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erin-mckeown/)

> [The corporeal element in man is a large screen and partition that prevents him from perfectly perceiving abstract ideals; this would be the case…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maimonides/the-corporeal-element-in-man-is-a-large-screen-and-partition-that/)

[Maimonides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maimonides/)

> [I work from the body - I try to develop a language of the body. I've invented a term I call "corporeal writing" around…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lidia-yuknavitch/i-work-from-the-body-i-try-to-develop-a-language-of-the-body-i-ve/)

[Lidia Yuknavitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lidia-yuknavitch/)

> [“There were corporeal, psychic, and spiritual people. Somatics, psychics, and pneumatics, they called them, from the Greek. Equality goes against nature, however rightly one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olga-tokarczuk/there-were-corporeal-psychic-and-spiritual-people-somatics-psychics/)

[Olga Tokarczuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olga-tokarczuk/)

> [“The soul is joined to and is separated from the body. Therefore, the soul is corporeal.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chrysippus/the-soul-is-joined-to-and-is-separated-from-the-body-therefore-the/)

[Chrysippus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chrysippus/)

> [“Practice corporeal politics.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/practice-corporeal-politics/)

[Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/)

> [“It is only with the eyes open that a corporeal form returns, and assembles itself firmly around the hard core of sight.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-jackson/it-is-only-with-the-eyes-open-that-a-corporeal-form-returns-and/)

[Shirley Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-jackson/)

> [“You ought to go beyond the corporeal things and explore the divinity that is residing within you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mwanandeke-kindembo/you-ought-to-go-beyond-the-corporeal-things-and-explore-the-divinity/)

[Mwanandeke Kindembo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mwanandeke-kindembo/)

> [“Many buy gadgets they don’t really need, with money they don’t have, for people they don’t actually care for, while infringing their corporeal and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-pevernagie/many-buy-gadgets-they-don-t-really-need-with-money-they-don-t-have/)

[Erik Pevernagie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-pevernagie/)

> [Every corporeal substance, so far forth as it is corporeal, has a natural fitness for resting in every place where it may be situated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johannes-kepler/every-corporeal-substance-so-far-forth-as-it-is-corporeal-has-a/)

[Johannes Kepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johannes-kepler/)

[Browse all 21 Corporeal quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/corporeal/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "No corporeal substance can be so subtle and swift as this.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "William of Conches"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-of-conches/no-corporeal-substance-can-be-so-subtle-and-swift-as-this/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Corporeal"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-of-conches/no-corporeal-substance-can-be-so-subtle-and-swift-as-this/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/815/william-of-conches-59004_corporeal_no-corporeal-substance-can-be-so-subtle_530244.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/815/william-of-conches-59004_corporeal_no-corporeal-substance-can-be-so-subtle_530244.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/815/william-of-conches-59004_corporeal_no-corporeal-substance-can-be-so-subtle_530244.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“No corporeal substance can be so subtle and swift as this.” — William of Conches",
                "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 of Conches",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-of-conches/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "No corporeal substance can be so...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-of-conches/no-corporeal-substance-can-be-so-subtle-and-swift-as-this/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-of-conches/no-corporeal-substance-can-be-so-subtle-and-swift-as-this/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```