Misreading Quotes

These friends represent an oversimplified "orthodoxy," based on a misreading of the wisdom tradition to the effect that all troubles are punishments for wrongdoing. Their "comfort" consists largely of applying this message to Job, urging him to identify his sin and repent of it. ~ Anonymous

Saint Paul lives in the Christian imagination as the chief sponsor of Christian contempt for Jews, the avatar of law versus grace, flesh versus spirit, works versus faith, Moses versus Jesus, the Old Covenant versus the New. This brutal dichotomizing was attributed to Paul most influentially by Martin Luther, who used a perceived Jewish legalism, materialism, and obsession with externals as stand-ins for the decadence of his nemesis, the pope. "Because the Papists, like the Jews," he wrote, "insist that anyone wishing to be saved must observe their ceremonies, they will perish like the Jews."39 After Luther, both Protestants and Catholics read Paul as the preeminent tribune of Jewish corruption - a misreading that had terrible consequences, especially in Luther's Germany, where the Volk were defined in ontological opposition to Juden. Paul's ~ James Carroll

We shouldn't confuse grief over the passing of our favorite technology with resentment because some digital alchemy failed to preserve analog experiences. Whether or not we admit it, the internet and its artifacts are not just like their cultural precedents. They're not even a rough translation -- or a strong misreading -- of those precedents. ~ Virginia Heffernan

We can't leave the snow all bloody," I told the underside of his chin,shadowed with stubble. "It will scare the tourists."
"The new snow will cover it up." He looked down at me."Shhh."
Something in his Shhh tugged at my heart. He kept watchiing me,not examining m ear for medical emergencies but looking into my eyes,for a few more steps. I couldn't read his look.He was kind of blurry,for one thing,and I was kind of dizzy. I thought he looked..concerned. Sympathetic. Determined to rescue me from danger. I wished that was what he felt. But it couldn't have been.I was misreading him. ~ Jennifer Echols

Hamlet, I will argue, is a play about reading and misreading, about the difficulties of interpretation. ~ William Shakespeare

I think the Greek New Testament is the strongest and most successful misreading of a great prior text in the entire history of influence. ~ Harold Bloom

In a language as idiomatically stressed as English, opportunities for misreadings are bound to arise. By a mere backward movement of stress, a verb can become a noun, an act a thing. To refuse, to insist on saying no to what you believe is wrong, becomes at a stroke refuse, an insurmountable pile of garbage. ~ Ian McEwan

But the demagogues and regional divisions that troubled Washington still afflicted the nation with 'ill-founded jealousies and false alarms,' spreading the flames of faction under the cover of pretend patriotism, fueled by a fundamental misreading of the Constitution. ~ John P. Avlon

Duane's mouth parted slightly and his eyebrows lifted high on his forehead. All hints of his earlier frown had vanished. Unless I was misreading his expression, he appeared to be a little lost, like maybe I'd stolen his breath and his wallet and his passport and his memories. Really, he looked stunned. ~ Penny Reid

At first sight, Paul's command that slaves obey their masters seems simply to endorse the status quo. But we need to see that what he writes here also subtly undermines it. First, it is significant that Paul chooses to address slaves at all, implying not only that they are assembled with the other Christians of the Colossian church to hear the letter being read but that they are responsible people who need to choose a certain kind of behavior. Second, Paul clearly relativizes the status of the slave's master by repeatedly reminding both slave (vv. 22, 23, 24) and master (4:1) of the ultimate "master" to whom both are responsible: the Lord Jesus Christ. Third, Paul never hints that he endorses the institution of slavery. He tells slaves and masters how they are to conduct themselves within the institution, but it is a bad misreading of Paul to read into his teaching approval of the institution itself. (For ~ Douglas J. Moo

A far worse mistake than misreading an animal's emotions is to assume the animal hasn't any emotions at all. ~ Sy Montgomery

Kant argued that, where nature could be considered beautiful in her acts of destruction, human violence appeared instead as monstrous. However, a misreading of Kant in Romantic philosophy led to the idealization of the murderer as a sublime genius that has colored constructions of that criminal figure ever since. ~ Richard Marshall

Hey, Breanna."
I glance over my shoulder. "Yes?"
"Be safe."
Those are two enticing and lovely words. "I will be. I have you protecting me, right?"
Maybe I'm misreading Razor, but his eyes travel my body like he might toss me onto the bed of the truck and kiss me in a way I've never been kissed before. "Don't worry. I completely have your back. ~ Katie McGarry

Fifteen love,' Chris said in a strong, clear voice as he set up for his next serve, and Elizabeth sensed that in addition to announcing the score, he was sending her a special message. A message about love ... ~ Francine Pascal

Misreading is a big part of reading, the way in which the level of attention you're paying can lead to some interesting residue. ~ Brian Evenson

Success requires a persistent misreading of the odds. ~ Tom Peters

Allyson sees Willem's face, his panic, and she knows he is misreading her. But she is helpless to explain right now. Words have left her. She is emotion only. ~ Gayle Forman

The nostalgic is looking for a spiritual addressee. Encountering silence, he looks for memorable signs, desperately misreading them. ~ Svetlana Boym

I knew what was wrong with me, but I could not correct it. The words and actions of
white people were baffling signs to me. I was living in a culture and not a civilization and I
could learn how that culture worked only by living with it. Misreading the reactions of whites
around me made me say and do the wrong things. In my dealing with whites I was conscious of the entirety of my relations with them, and they were conscious
only of what was happening at a given moment. I had to keep remembering what others took
for granted; I had to think out what others felt. ~ Richard Wright

Studios felt like Blu-ray was going to be the next panacea, and so they dumped the prices (of traditional DVDs) and devalued the product. That's a misreading of consumer behavior as well as a misreading of the economic environment. ~ Bill Mechanic

I believe that the creative impulse is natural in all human beings, and that it is particularly powerful in children unless it is suppressed. Consequently, one is behaving normally and instinctively and healthily when one is creating - literature, art, music, or whatever. An excellent cook is also creative! I am disturbed that a natural human inclination [creative work] should, by some Freudian turn of phrase, be considered compulsive - perhaps even pathological. To me this is a complete misreading of the human enterprise. One should also enjoy one's work, and look forward to it daily. ~ Joyce Carol Oates

Rob turned the rustling pages and grinned.
'Ach, she's writ here: "Oh, the dear Feegles ha' turned up again,"' he said. This met with general applause.
'Ach, what a kind girl she is tae write that,' said Billy Bigchin. 'Can I see?'
He read: "Oh dear, the Feegles have turned up again."
'Ah,' he said. ~ Terry Pratchett

I think it's a misreading of Dostoevsky to think of him as a programmatic theist. He's actually much closer to someone like William James. He's actually a pragmatist. ~ Will Self

We misread the Fifth Amendment [of Constitution] and have been misreading it for the past three decades. ~ Joe Biden

You know, sleeping outdoors isn't all bad. You get to stare up at the stars and cool breezes ruffle your fur after a hot day. The grass smells sweet and," he made eye contact with me, "so does your hair."
I blushed and grumbled, "Well, I'm glad someone enjoyed it."
He smiled smugly and said, "I did."
I had a quick flash of him as a man snuggled up next to me in the forest, imagined him resting his head on my lap while I stroked his hair, and decided to focus on the matter at hand.
"Well, listen, Ren, you're changing the subject. I don't appreciate the way you manipulated me into being here. Mr. Kadam should've told me at the circus."
He shook his head. "We didn't think you'd believe his story. He made up the trip to the tiger reserve to get you to India. We figured once you were here, I could change into a man and clarify everything."
I admitted, "You're probably right. If you had changed to a man there, I don't think I would have come"
"Why did you come?"
"I wanted to spend more time with…you. You know, the tiger. I would have missed him. I mean you." I blushed.
He grinned lopsidedly. "I would have missed you too."
I wrung the hem of my shirt between my hands.
Misreading my thoughts, he said, "Kelsey. I'm truly sorry for the deception. If there'd been any other way-"
I looked up. He hung his head in a way that reminded me of the tiger. The frustration and awkwardness I felt about him dissipated. My instincts told me ~ Colleen Houck

My feeling is that it's a misreading of history to say that, as the Reagan supporters do, that Reagan won the Cold War. ~ Robert Dallek

I have spent my life watching, not to see beyond the world, merely to see, great mystery, what is plainly before my eyes. I think the concept of transcendence is based on a misreading of creation. With all respect to heaven, the scene of the miracle is here, among us. The eternal as an idea is much less preposterous than time, and this very fact should seize our attention. ~ Marilynne Robinson

Every reading is a misreading. ~ Phyllis Rose

Do not however suppose that the conclusion to be drawn will turn out to be one of despair. Angst is an intermittently fashionable emotion and the misreading of some existentialist texts has turned despair itself into a kind of psychological nostrum. But if we are indeed in as bad a state as I take us to be, pessimism too will turn out to be one more cultural luxury that we shall have to dispense with in order to survive in these hard times. ~ Alasdair MacIntyre