# A soul can be understood as an abstract pattern rather than a particular piece of matter by Douglas Hofstadter > "A soul can be understood as an abstract pattern rather than a particular piece of matter." > **— Douglas Hofstadter**, *I Am a Strange Loop (2007), compressed candidate wording* Verification Status: Unverified — exact wording/source has not yet been independently confirmed against a primary source; source clue: I Am a Strange Loop (2007), compressed candidate wording.