--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There was a period when I believed stuff…" description: "\"“There was a period when I believed stuff meant something. I thought that if you had matching side chairs and a sofa that harmonized and some beautiful..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db4/anna-quindlen-467_beauty_there-was-a-period-when-i-believed-stuff_1820764.png" --- # There was a period when I believed stuff meant something… ![“There was a period when I believed stuff meant something. I thought that if you had matching side chairs and a sofa that harmonized and some beautiful lamps to light them you would have a home, that elegance signaled happiness.” quote by Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db4/anna-quindlen-467_beauty_there-was-a-period-when-i-believed-stuff_1820764.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db4/anna-quindlen-467_beauty_there-was-a-period-when-i-believed-stuff_1820764.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db4/anna-quindlen-467_beauty_there-was-a-period-when-i-believed-stuff_1820764.png) > ““There was a period when I believed stuff meant something. I thought that if you had matching side chairs and a sofa that harmonized and some beautiful lamps to light them you would have a home, that elegance signaled happiness.”” [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Material harmony and décor are mistakenly equated with happiness, while true contentment stems from deeper, non‑material sources. **In simple terms:** Nice interiors don’t guarantee happiness. Key Takeaway Seek fulfillment beyond material aesthetics. Themes materialism happiness home Mood contemplative analytical Type observational philosophical When to use this quote - home decorating - real estate marketing - personal counseling Key Concepts psychology of contentment consumer culture design aesthetics Questions to Reflect On - What truly makes a place feel like home? - Can aesthetics influence mood without defining happiness? A Different Perspective May underestimate the comfort that well‑designed spaces can provide. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Beauty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/) [Happiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happiness/) [Possessions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/possessions/) ## Related quotes > [Strength may wield the ponderous spade, May turn the clod, and wheel the compost home; But elegance, chief grace the garden shows, And most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-cowper/strength-may-wield-the-ponderous-spade-may-turn-the-clod-and-wheel/) [William Cowper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-cowper/) > [An Englishman's home is his castle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/english-proverb/an-englishman-s-home-is-his-castle/) English Proverb > [The most precious possession that will ever come to you in this world is another person's heart. When it arrives, show only love & respect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bakare/the-most-precious-possession-that-will-ever-come-to-you-in-this-world/) [Bakare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bakare/) > [You will leave this world with exactly what you came with. Nothing. Enjoy memories. Not materials.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-carlile/you-will-leave-this-world-with-exactly-what-you-came-with-nothing/) [Austin Carlile](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-carlile/) > [Possession diminishes perception of value, immediately](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/possession-diminishes-perception-of-value-immediately/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [Lets be honest, whenever you get a new phone; you treat it like a new born baby.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/lets-be-honest-whenever-you-get-a-new-phone-you-treat-it-like-a-new/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [One day, when I own a house, I'll keep a library full of books. Books are different from other possessions-they're more like friends.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blake-mycoskie/one-day-when-i-own-a-house-i-ll-keep-a-library-full-of-books-books/) [Blake Mycoskie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blake-mycoskie/) > [“If he so much as mentioned the absence of any trunks or material possessions that constituted things she could attend to, by God, she'd…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christi-caldwell/if-he-so-much-as-mentioned-the-absence-of-any-trunks-or-material/) [Christi Caldwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christi-caldwell/) > [“Thankfulness acknowledges that we can’t own anything, but we can experience everything. And just knowing that makes me thankful.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-d-lounsbrough/thankfulness-acknowledges-that-we-can-t-own-anything-but-we-can/) [Craig D. Lounsbrough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-d-lounsbrough/) > [“Americans are funny," Terence O'Donnell pointed out in a conversation we had about our national need to own as much as possible, including our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-fisher/americans-are-funny-terence-o-donnell-pointed-out-in-a-conversation/) [Lionel Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-fisher/) > [“Oh, if only I were young again, I would travel! There's so much of the world I would like to have seen. But I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-alice-monroe/oh-if-only-i-were-young-again-i-would-travel-there-s-so-much-of-the/) [Mary Alice Monroe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-alice-monroe/) > [The good Bishop of Assisi expressed a sort of horror at the hard life which the Little Brothers lived at the Portiuncula, without comforts,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-good-bishop-of-assisi-expressed-a-sort-of-horror-at-the-hard-life/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The more we try to ground our identities in external possessions or triumphs, the more we plaster our names on everything we can accumulate,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-f-kavanaugh/the-more-we-try-to-ground-our-identities-in-external-possessions-or/) John F. Kavanaugh > [In sports teams, apart from talk of sporting prowess and the imparting of inspirational thought, an extraordinary amount of time is spent discussing, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harsha-bhogle/in-sports-teams-apart-from-talk-of-sporting-prowess-and-the-imparting/) [Harsha Bhogle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harsha-bhogle/) > [Possessions can possess you. Even a lawn can possess you. It makes you buy a garden hose. Which makes you water. Which cuts into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-bean/possessions-can-possess-you-even-a-lawn-can-possess-you-it-makes-you/) [Orson Bean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-bean/) ## More by Anna Quindlen > [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [Trying to be perfect may be inevitable for people who are smart and ambitious and interested in the world and its good opinion...What is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/trying-to-be-perfect-may-be-inevitable-for-people-who-are-smart-and/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [Sometimes change came all at once, with a sound like a fire taking hold of dry wood and paper, with a roar that rose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/sometimes-change-came-all-at-once-with-a-sound-like-a-fire-taking/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [Loss as muse. Loss as character. Loss as life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/loss-as-muse-loss-as-character-loss-as-life/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [knowledge of our own mortality is the greatest gift God ever gives us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/knowledge-of-our-own-mortality-is-the-greatest-gift-god-ever-gives-us/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [You teach your 16-year-old with your heart in your mouth to be a good driver and none of that makes any difference when some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/you-teach-your-16-year-old-with-your-heart-in-your-mouth-to-be-a-good/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [Every reader, I suspect, has a book like this somewhere in his or her past, a book that seemed to hold within it, at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/every-reader-i-suspect-has-a-book-like-this-somewhere-in-his-or-her/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [“I’ve finally recognized my body for what it is: a personality-delivery system, designed expressly to carry my character from place to place, now and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-ve-finally-recognized-my-body-for-what-it-is-a-personality-delivery/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [A man who builds his own pedestal had better use strong cement.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/a-man-who-builds-his-own-pedestal-had-better-use-strong-cement/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [“In England I am always madam; I arrived too late to ever be a miss. In New York I have only been madamed once,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/in-england-i-am-always-madam-i-arrived-too-late-to-ever-be-a-miss-in/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [“Yet there was always in me, even when I was very small, the sense that I ought to be somewhere else. And wander I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/yet-there-was-always-in-me-even-when-i-was-very-small-the-sense-that/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [I can't think of a single downside to motherhood now.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-can-t-think-of-a-single-downside-to-motherhood-now/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [It would take a helluva man to replace no man at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/it-would-take-a-helluva-man-to-replace-no-man-at-all/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [Not writing at all leads to nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/not-writing-at-all-leads-to-nothing/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [Reading has always been my home, my sustenance, my great invincible companion. "Book love," Trollope called it. "It will make your hours pleasant to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/reading-has-always-been-my-home-my-sustenance-my-great-invincible/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) [Explore all 538 Anna Quindlen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) ## More Beauty quotes > [We do not want nowadays temples of worship and outward rites and ceremonies. What we really want is an Asram. We want a place…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabindranath-tagore/we-do-not-want-nowadays-temples-of-worship-and-outward-rites-and/) [Rabindranath Tagore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabindranath-tagore/) > [How could anybody confuse truth with beauty, I thought as I looked at him. Truth came with sunken eyes, bony or scarred, decayed. Its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/how-could-anybody-confuse-truth-with-beauty-i-thought-as-i-looked-at/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [A thing of beauty is a joy for ever;It's loveliness increase;it will never pass into nothingness;but still will keep a bower quiet for us,and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keats/a-thing-of-beauty-is-a-joy-for-ever-it-s-loveliness-increase-it-will/) [John Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keats/) > [To fathom the power, to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain, to swing on the spiral of our divinity, and still be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tool/to-fathom-the-power-to-witness-the-beauty-to-bathe-in-the-fountain-to/) [Tool](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tool/) > [The term "black metal" has become a lot looser, or can include a larger range of sounds and extra-musical aesthetics, not just Satan and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-marston/the-term-black-metal-has-become-a-lot-looser-or-can-include-a-larger/) [Colin Marston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-marston/) > [“We've all met people who are beautiful on the outside, however, when they open their mouths to speak, they have nothing of substance to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-c-young/we-ve-all-met-people-who-are-beautiful-on-the-outside-however-when/) [Susan C. Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-c-young/) > [There are various orders of beauty, causing men to make fools of themselves in various styles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/there-are-various-orders-of-beauty-causing-men-to-make-fools-of/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [To me, the beauty of a quilt or a dress lies within the stitches and the thought of the person who made them. When…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie/to-me-the-beauty-of-a-quilt-or-a-dress-lies-within-the-stitches-and/) [Natalie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie/) > [“do not misunderstand person by beauty You really do not know its real or Mask on dirty thoughts”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohammed-zaki-ansari/do-not-misunderstand-person-by-beauty-you-really-do-not-know-its-real/) [Mohammed Zaki Ansari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohammed-zaki-ansari/) > [“I already love in you your beauty, but I am only beginning to love in you that which is eternal and ever precious –…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/i-already-love-in-you-your-beauty-but-i-am-only-beginning-to-love-in/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [The more perfect the sight is the more delightful the beautiful object. The more perfect the appetite, the sweeter the food. The more musical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-baxter/the-more-perfect-the-sight-is-the-more-delightful-the-beautiful/) [Richard Baxter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-baxter/) > [Call her beautiful a million times and she won't believe you. Call her ugly once, and she will never forget it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tumblr/call-her-beautiful-a-million-times-and-she-won-t-believe-you-call-her/) Tumblr > [Time can but make her beauty over again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/time-can-but-make-her-beauty-over-again/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [ The social \[media channel\] isn't about beauty contests and popularity contests. They're a distortion, a caricature of the real thing. It's about trust, connection,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umair-haque/the-social-media-channel-isn-t-about-beauty-contests-and-popularity/) [Umair Haque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-haque/) > [“What about you? What do you do?” I needed to ask questions, draw him out. I needed to find out all the information I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-avery-ellison/what-about-you-what-do-you-do-i-needed-to-ask-questions-draw-him-out/) [Kate Avery Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-avery-ellison/) [Browse all 24,662 Beauty quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“There was a period when I believed stuff meant something. I thought that if you had matching side chairs and a sofa that harmonized and some beautiful lamps to light them you would have a home, that elegance signaled happiness.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Anna Quindlen" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/there-was-a-period-when-i-believed-stuff-meant-something-i-thought/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Beauty" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/there-was-a-period-when-i-believed-stuff-meant-something-i-thought/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db4/anna-quindlen-467_beauty_there-was-a-period-when-i-believed-stuff_1820764.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db4/anna-quindlen-467_beauty_there-was-a-period-when-i-believed-stuff_1820764.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db4/anna-quindlen-467_beauty_there-was-a-period-when-i-believed-stuff_1820764.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There was a period when I believed stuff meant something. I thought that if you had matching side chairs and…” — Anna Quindlen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Anna Quindlen", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“There was a period when I...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/there-was-a-period-when-i-believed-stuff-meant-something-i-thought/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/there-was-a-period-when-i-believed-stuff-meant-something-i-thought/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```