--- title: "4 Doing things Quotes By Joan Didion" description: "4 Doing things quotes by Joan Didion. Plus more from Joan Didion and more Doing things sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b53/joan-didion-497_doing-things_he-meant-doing-things-not-because-we-wer_308198.jpg" --- > [“He meant doing things not because we were expected to do them or had always done them or should do them but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/he-meant-doing-things-not-because-we-were-expected-to-do-them-or-had/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b53/joan-didion-497_doing-things_he-meant-doing-things-not-because-we-wer_308198.jpg) > [“Character — the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life — is the source from which self-respect springs. Self-respect is something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/character-the-willingness-to-accept-responsibility-for-one-s-own-life/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9dd/joan-didion-497_character_character-the-willingness-to-accept-resp_941290.jpg) > [We were not having any fun, he had recently begun pointing out. I would take exception (didn't we do this, didn't we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/we-were-not-having-any-fun-he-had-recently-begun-pointing-out-i-would/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/984/joan-didion-497_doing-things_we-were-not-having-any-fun-he-had-recent_1099000.jpg) > [“We had gone with David and Jean Halberstam to see the Lakers play the Knicks. David had gotten seats through the commissioner…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/we-had-gone-with-david-and-jean-halberstam-to-see-the-lakers-play-the/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c17/joan-didion-497_doing-things_we-had-gone-with-david-and-jean-halberst_1148560.jpg) ## Other authors on Doing things ## More by Joan Didion > [To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/to-shift-the-structure-of-a-sentence-alters-the-meaning-of-that/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I work every day. Sometimes I don't accomplish anything every day, but if I don't work every day, I get depressed and get afraid…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-work-every-day-sometimes-i-don-t-accomplish-anything-every-day-but/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [Style is character.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/style-is-character/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [California is a place in which a boom mentality and a sense of Chekhovian loss meet in uneasy suspension.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/california-is-a-place-in-which-a-boom-mentality-and-a-sense-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“I went because I was interested in the alchemy of issues.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-went-because-i-was-interested-in-the-alchemy-of-issues/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Why did I write it down? In order to remember, of course, but exactly what was it I wanted to remember? How much of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/why-did-i-write-it-down-in-order-to-remember-of-course-but-exactly/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I no longer want reminders of what was, what got broken, what got lost, what got wasted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-no-longer-want-reminders-of-what-was-what-got-broken-what-got-lost/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [My mother 'gave teas' the way other mothers breathed. Her own mother 'gave teas.' All of their friends 'gave teas,' each involving butter cookies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/my-mother-gave-teas-the-way-other-mothers-breathed-her-own-mother/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I'm not very interested in people. I recognize it in myself - there is a basic indifference toward people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-m-not-very-interested-in-people-i-recognize-it-in-myself-there-is-a/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Was there ever in anyone's life span a point free in time, devoid of memory, a point when choice was any more than sum…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/was-there-ever-in-anyone-s-life-span-a-point-free-in-time-devoid-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Research to date has shown that, like many other stressors, grief frequently leads to changes in the endocrine, immune, autonomic nervous, and cardiovascular systems;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/research-to-date-has-shown-that-like-many-other-stressors-grief/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“By the end of the week she was thinking constantly about where her body stopped and the air began about the exact point in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/by-the-end-of-the-week-she-was-thinking-constantly-about-where-her/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“I just can't see the upside in this," I heard myself say by way of explanation. Later he said that if John had been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-just-can-t-see-the-upside-in-this-i-heard-myself-say-by-way-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [ I read so ravenously that I would read through whole categories. I was crazy about reading biographies. \[...\] I think biographies are very urgent… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-read-so-ravenously-that-i-would-read-through-whole-categories-i-was/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [To those of us who remained committed mainly to the exploration of moral distinctions and ambiguities, the feminist analysis may have seemed a particularly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/to-those-of-us-who-remained-committed-mainly-to-the-exploration-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doing-things/joan-didion/#itemlist", "name": "4 Doing things Quotes By Joan Didion", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“He meant doing things not because we were expected to do them or had always done them or should do them but because we wanted to do them”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joan Didion" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/he-meant-doing-things-not-because-we-were-expected-to-do-them-or-had/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b53/joan-didion-497_doing-things_he-meant-doing-things-not-because-we-wer_308198.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b53/joan-didion-497_doing-things_he-meant-doing-things-not-because-we-wer_308198.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b53/joan-didion-497_doing-things_he-meant-doing-things-not-because-we-wer_308198.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“He meant doing things not because we were expected to do them or had always done them or should do them but…” — Joan Didion", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Character — the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life — is the source from which self-respect springs. 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