Metaphors We Live By

by George Lakoff & Mark Johnson

Last tended to March 22, 2020

Metaphors are not a neat storytelling trick or variety of linguistic flourish. They're the foundation of all human thought and reasoning – the invisible structure holding up our mental world that affects everything we think, say, and do.

This idea is known as Cognitive Metaphor theory, and was pioneered by cognitive scientists George Lakoff and Mark Johnson in this 1980 book.

All human thought is fundamentally metaphorical.