Logo - Feel The Words

Incomprehensible Quotes

On the things that resist being understood.

These incomprehensible quotes touch on ideas that resist easy explanation, including a respectful nod to how the Christian notion of redemption can seem incomprehensible from a purely mechanical view. Even something as ordinary as a tree gets called an incomprehensible mystery here.

The Christian notion of the possibility of redemption is incomprehensible to the computer.

Quotes by Vance Packard

The mind begins to boggle at unnatural substances as things paradoxical and incomprehensible.

Quotes by Robert South

The utter incompetence of the U.N. is literally incomprehensible.

Quotes by Malcolm Wallop

The consequence of a world full of nuclear powers to me is so incomprehensible in terms of the dangers that that implies.

Quotes by Lawrence Eagleburger

Begins Quotes

Incomprehensible jargon is the hallmark of a profession.

Quotes by Kingman Brewster, Jr.

Education: the inculcation of the incomprehensible into the indifferent by the incompetent.

Quotes by John Maynard Keynes

A tree is an incomprehensible mystery.

Quotes by Jim Woodring

How inscrutable and incomprehensible are the hidden works of Nature!

Quotes by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

An economist is a man who states the obvious in terms of the incomprehensible.

Quotes by Alfred A. Knopf

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the quote about redemption and computers mean?
It respectfully notes that the Christian concept of redemption, the idea that a person can be freed from wrongdoing, is difficult to translate into something a computer could process mechanically. It's presented as a reflection on the limits of purely logical systems, not a comment on faith itself.
How does the education quote use the word incomprehensible?
It offers a sharp, cyclical definition, describing education as passing incomprehensible material from indifferent instructors to disinterested learners. It's a critical, somewhat cynical joke about how teaching can go wrong.
Why is a tree called 'an incomprehensible mystery'?
One quote uses something as ordinary as a tree to illustrate that even simple, everyday things can resist full understanding if you consider them closely enough. It's a small, almost meditative observation about the limits of human comprehension.
What is the quote about the U.N. criticizing?
It calls the organization's incompetence 'literally incomprehensible,' using the word here as a strong expression of frustration with institutional failure rather than a philosophical point. It's the most pointed and critical quote in the set.
Do these quotes agree on what makes something incomprehensible?
Not really; they range from spiritual and philosophical uses to institutional criticism and simple wonder at nature. That range shows how broadly the word applies, a variety also reflected in the education quotes and Christian quotes.

Another quote turns the word on institutions, calling both education's failures and the U.N.'s shortcomings literally incomprehensible. For more, see education quotes and Christian quotes.