On Metaphors II

“The drive toward the formation of metaphors is the fundamental human drive, which one cannot for a single instant dispense with in thought, for one would thereby dispense with man himself.” (Friedrich Nietzsche, “On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense”, 1873)

“A metaphor holds a truth and an untruth, felt as inextricably bound up with each other. If one takes it as it is and gives it some sensual form, in the shape of reality, one gets dreams and art; but between these two and real, full-scale life there is a glass partition. If one analyzes it for its rational content and separates the unverifiable from the verifiable, one gets truth and knowledge but kills the feeling.” (Robert Musil, “Man Without Qualities”, 1943) 

"[...] one cannot describe reality; only give metaphors that indicate it. All human modes of description (photographic, mathematical, and literary) are metaphorical. Even the most precise scientific description of an object or movement is a tissue of metaphors." (John Fowles, “'Notes on an Unfinished Novel”, 1969) 

“A metaphor is a word used in an unfamiliar context to give us a new insight; a good metaphor moves us to see our ordinary world in an extraordinary way.” (Sallie McFague, “Speaking in Parables”, 1975)

"The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another. […] Metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action. Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature.” (George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Metaphors We Live By, 1980)

“Metaphors can have profound significance because, as images or figures, they allow the mind to grasp or discover unsuspected ideal and material relationships between objects.” (Giuseppe Del Re, “Cosmic Dance”, 1999)

“[metaphors] are always open to more than one interpretation. But far from being a defect this essential openness is the reason why a number of those metaphors have had a very long life and have been able to survive great changes both in science and in the social background against which they first appeared.” (Olaf Pedersen, “The Book of Nature”, 1992)

“A metaphor is not an ornament. It is an organ of perception. Through metaphors, we see the world as one thing or another.” (Neil Postman, “The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School”, 1996)

“Metaphor is evidence of the human ability to visualize the universe as a coherent organism. Proof of our capacity, not just to see one thing in another but to change the very nature of things. When a metaphor is accepted as fact, it enters groupthink, taking on an existence in the real world. [...] Metaphor is the default form of thought, providing many angles from which to literally 'see' the world." (Marcel Danesi, "Poetic Logic: The Role of Metaphor in Thought, Language, and Culture", 2004)

"Metaphor is a primary cognitive tool by which we make sense of the world." (Terry Marks-Tarlow, "Psyche's Veil: Psychotherapy, Fractals and Complexity", 2008)