Logo - Feel The Words

Decipher Quotes

The hard work of figuring out what something really means.

One actor calls deciphering Shakespeare's language 'a rigour,' something that matters as much to them as a human being as it does as a performer. A scientist applies the same word to cracking DNA's genetic code, a pairing you'll also see in Biology quotes.

The tasks of paleontologists and classical historians and archaeologists are remarkably similar - to excavate, decipher and bring to life the tantalizing remnants of a time we will never see.

Quotes by Adrienne Mayor

I'm constantly intimidated by Shakespeare's work. Trying to decipher what he's saying and holding on to that thought - not just as an actor, but as a human being - is a rigour.

Quotes by Zoe Wanamaker

Once upon a time, it was hard to decipher what was more difficult to stomach: the foolish, detrimental behavior of a professional athlete or the apologists disguised as their inner circle, eager to excuse the inexcusable. And then there came...

Quotes by Stephen A. Smith

I'm an infant with Shakespeare; I'm kind of learning how to walk. I am trying to decipher the code, you know? I do my research. And I get a clear understanding of what the language is. It is a tremendous...

Quotes by Ruben Santiago-Hudson

Able Quotes

I really can't blame anyone but myself, because I didn't have to deliver the album. But when you get caught up in the gas, and you're young, and there's so much helium going on around you, you can't decipher the...

Quotes by Pras Michel

I was commissioned in 2003 to create an original show, and began developing 'Upwake.' 'Upwake' tells the story of Zero, a modern-day business man, going to work with his life in a suitcase, stuck between dream and reality and not...

Quotes by Natasha Tsakos

Much of modern molecular biology and microbiology has been based on the effort to decipher the basic code of life, which is made up of four nucleotides: adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine.

Quotes by Michael Specter

Sometimes the reader will decide something else than the author's intent; this is certainly true of attempts to empirically decipher reality.

Quotes by John M. Ford

People change with time. There are things that happened to a person in his childhood and years later they seem to him alien and strange. I am trying to decipher that child. Sometimes he is a stranger to me. When...

Quotes by Gunter Grass

Attempting Quotes

As we decipher our biology and learn to modify and adjust it, we are learning to modify ourselves - and we will do so. No laws will stop this.

Quotes by Gregory Stock

I'm not supposed to be able to speak clearly, and decipher what's going on in the media. I'm supposed to be the typical amateur who's 22 and scared to death and can't believe he won the Olympics.

Quotes by Carl Lewis

I work fitfully, in hope rather than in expectation, invent methods which last a week, and fill notebooks with tiny, illegible writing which often defies my own attempts to decipher it.

Quotes by Anthony Minghella

The hours I spent attempting to decipher some of Dunnett's more oblique passages opened me to the possibilities of romantic storytelling.

Quotes by Alaya Dawn Johnson

Frequently Asked Questions

What's this Decipher quotes collection about?
These quotes use "decipher" for the work of figuring out something difficult - Shakespeare's language, the genetic code, or even confusing real-world situations - treating interpretation itself as a skill worth discussing.
What does the quote about Shakespeare describe as difficult to decipher?
It describes the challenge of grasping not just the words but the underlying thought in Shakespeare's work, framing it as a discipline that matters both as an actor and simply as a person trying to understand another mind.
Why do people search for quotes about deciphering something?
People often want language for the effort of understanding something dense or unclear, whether that's a text, a scientific concept, or a confusing situation, and these quotes offer varied, concrete examples of that struggle.
Is there a scientific quote in this collection?
Yes - one describes decades of molecular biology and microbiology as a push to work out the fundamental genetic code, built from four nucleotides, tying the word to real scientific history rather than just personal struggle. Related science-themed quotes appear in the Biology quotes collection.
Does any quote use "decipher" in a more everyday, less technical sense?
Yes - one uses it to describe struggling to figure out what's harder to accept: an athlete's own poor behavior, or the excuses made on their behalf, applying the word to a moral judgment rather than a text or code.

Whether the puzzle is a play, a protein, or a public scandal, these quotes treat interpretation as genuine labor. For more on the effort behind understanding, browse Able quotes and Being quotes.