--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It never occurred to me that what had…" description: "\"“It never occurred to me that what had totally panicked me when he touched me was exactly what startles virgins on being touched for the first time by ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/638/andre-aciman-459_first-time_it-never-occurred-to-me-that-what-had-to_99464.png" --- # It never occurred to me that what had totally panicked me… ![“It never occurred to me that what had totally panicked me when he touched me was exactly what startles virgins on being touched for the first time by the person they desire: he stirs nerves in them they never knew existed and that produce far, far more disturbing pleasures than they are used to on…” quote by André Aciman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/638/andre-aciman-459_first-time_it-never-occurred-to-me-that-what-had-to_99464.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/638/andre-aciman-459_first-time_it-never-occurred-to-me-that-what-had-to_99464.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/638/andre-aciman-459_first-time_it-never-occurred-to-me-that-what-had-to_99464.png) > ““It never occurred to me that what had totally panicked me when he touched me was exactly what startles virgins on being touched for the first time by the person they desire: he stirs nerves in them they never knew existed and that produce far, far more disturbing pleasures than they are used to on their own.”” [André Aciman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-aciman/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. First intimate contact can awaken dormant nerves, producing intense, unfamiliar pleasure that feels unsettling to the inexperienced. **In simple terms:** Touch can trigger new, intense sensations for virgins. Key Takeaway Novel physical experiences can be both thrilling and disorienting. Themes desire sensory novelty Mood intense curious Type reflective sensual When to use this quote - first dates - intimate counseling - sensory therapy Key Concepts psychosexual development sensory awakening Practical Applications - approach new intimacy with patience and communication Questions to Reflect On - Why do unfamiliar sensations feel unsettling? - How can one navigate intense new pleasures safely? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Exactly Startles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exactly-startles-1211370/) [First time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/first-time/) [Panicked Touched](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/panicked-touched-1211369/) [Startles Virgins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/startles-virgins-1211367/) [Virgins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virgins/) [Virgins Touched](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virgins-touched-1211368/) ## Related quotes > [“We got into the car. It was my first time. 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I'd plow this virgin who's on her period, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zach-braff/when-things-seem-to-be-slowing-down-there-s-this-little-trick-i-like/) [Zach Braff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zach-braff/) > [I got a gymnastics scholarship to college, fell in love with my true love of my whole life - who I'm married to now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victoria-jackson/i-got-a-gymnastics-scholarship-to-college-fell-in-love-with-my-true/) [Victoria Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victoria-jackson/) > [There is a word we haven't used yet: virginity... To make a photograph, the plate must be virgin, but your eye as well.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edouard-boubat/there-is-a-word-we-haven-t-used-yet-virginity-to-make-a-photograph/) [Edouard Boubat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edouard-boubat/) > [Justice requires lawyers who are prepared, witnesses who tell the truth, judges who know the law, and jurors who stay awake. Justice is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-levine/justice-requires-lawyers-who-are-prepared-witnesses-who-tell-the/) [Paul Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-levine/) > [The early Mussalmans accepted Islam not because they knew it to be revealed but because it appealed to their virgin reason.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/the-early-mussalmans-accepted-islam-not-because-they-knew-it-to-be/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [White and shining virgin of all human virtues, ark of the covenant between earth and heaven, tender and strong companion partaking of the lion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/white-and-shining-virgin-of-all-human-virtues-ark-of-the-covenant/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [I used to be a virgin, but I gave it up because there was no money in it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marsha-warfield/i-used-to-be-a-virgin-but-i-gave-it-up-because-there-was-no-money-in/) [Marsha Warfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsha-warfield/) > [There are believers who by God's grace, have climbed the mountains of full assurance and near communion, their place is with the eagle in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-spurgeon/there-are-believers-who-by-god-s-grace-have-climbed-the-mountains-of/) [Charles Spurgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-spurgeon/) > [And as regards Adam and Eve we must maintain that before the fall they were virgins in Paradise: but after they sinned, and were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-jerome/and-as-regards-adam-and-eve-we-must-maintain-that-before-the-fall/) [St. Jerome](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-jerome/) > [Instead of finding himself in nerd heaven—where every nerd gets fifty-eight virgins to role-play with—he woke up in Robert Wood Johnson with two broken…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/junot-diaz/instead-of-finding-himself-in-nerd-heaven-where-every-nerd-gets-fifty/) [Junot Diaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junot-diaz/) > [Me, my niggas and some Madonna hoes that look just like virgins but trust they down to go.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/drake/me-my-niggas-and-some-madonna-hoes-that-look-just-like-virgins-but/) [Drake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/drake/) > [Ye youths and virgins, when your generous blood Has drunk the warmth of fifteen summers, now The loves invite; now to new rapture wakes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-armstrong/ye-youths-and-virgins-when-your-generous-blood-has-drunk-the-warmth/) [John Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-armstrong/) > [The very purpose for being in this body, for every one of us, is to live and rejoice in that virgin area, that untouched,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sri-sri-ravi-shankar/the-very-purpose-for-being-in-this-body-for-every-one-of-us-is-to/) [Sri Sri Ravi Shankar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sri-sri-ravi-shankar/) ## More by André Aciman > [Don't all writers have a hidden nerve, call it a secret chamber, something irreducibly theirs, which stirs their prose and makes it tick and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andre-aciman/don-t-all-writers-have-a-hidden-nerve-call-it-a-secret-chamber/) [Andre Aciman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-aciman/) > [“I wanted him to remember the morning on Monet's berm when I'd kissed him not the first but the second time and given him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andre-aciman/i-wanted-him-to-remember-the-morning-on-monet-s-berm-when-i-d-kissed/) [André Aciman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-aciman/) > [Rituals are how we step into our private field of dreams, a small Elysium all our own. 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