--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When we talk about our lives, long or…" description: "\"When we talk about our lives, long or short, brief and tragic or enduring beyond comprehension, we impose a continuity on them, and that continuity is ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/445/anne-rice-238_comprehension_when-we-talk-about-our-lives-long-or-sho_1094136.jpg" --- # When we talk about our lives, long or short, brief and… ![“When we talk about our lives, long or short, brief and tragic or enduring beyond comprehension, we impose a continuity on them, and that continuity is a lie.” quote by Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/445/anne-rice-238_comprehension_when-we-talk-about-our-lives-long-or-sho_1094136.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/445/anne-rice-238_comprehension_when-we-talk-about-our-lives-long-or-sho_1094136.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/445/anne-rice-238_comprehension_when-we-talk-about-our-lives-long-or-sho_1094136.jpg) > “When we talk about our lives, long or short, brief and tragic or enduring beyond comprehension, we impose a continuity on them, and that continuity is a lie.” [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. We impose a false sense of continuity on our lives, treating them as a single thread, but this narrative is a construct, not reality. **In simple terms:** Life narratives are often invented. Key Takeaway Question the stories we tell about ourselves. Themes identity memory storytelling philosophy Mood reflective introspective Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - personal reflection - therapy - creative writing Key Concepts narrative construction existential doubt Questions to Reflect On - What parts of your story feel constructed? - How does recognizing the lie change your view? A Different Perspective Continuity may oversimplify complex experiences. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Comprehension](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/comprehension/) [Continuity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/continuity/) [Continuity Continuity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/continuity-continuity-2230906/) [Continuity Lie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/continuity-lie-2844638/) [Endure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/endure/) [Impose Continuity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/impose-continuity-2844639/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long/) [Long life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long-life/) [Lying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lying/) [Talk Lives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/talk-lives-1816335/) [Tragic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tragic/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [Calculus required continuity, and continuity was supposed to require the infinitely little; but nobody could discover what the infinitely little might be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/calculus-required-continuity-and-continuity-was-supposed-to-require/) [Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/) > [I love continuity. I was a continuity nerd growing up. I loved buying a comic in the middle of something and loved digging for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-king/i-love-continuity-i-was-a-continuity-nerd-growing-up-i-loved-buying-a/) [Tom King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-king/) > [It is not coincidence that makes a designer but his continuity. And continuity means working and searching, working and fighting, working and finding, finding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helmut-schmid/it-is-not-coincidence-that-makes-a-designer-but-his-continuity-and/) [Helmut Schmid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helmut-schmid/) > [VLADIMIR: What do they say? ESTRAGON: They talk about their lives. VLADIMIR: To have lived is not enough for them. ESTRAGON: They have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/vladimir-what-do-they-say-estragon-they-talk-about-their-lives/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [“There is no normal anymore,” he heard himself say. “You kind of…just keep going, because that’s all you got. The hardest thing is being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-r-ward/there-is-no-normal-anymore-he-heard-himself-say-you-kind-of-just-keep/) [J.R. Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-r-ward/) > [Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-heller/let-s-take-a-drive-into-the-middle-of-nowhere-with-a-packet-of/) [Joseph Heller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-heller/) > [Talk lives in a man’s head, but sometimes it is very lonely because in the heads of many men there is nothing to keep…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beryl-markham/talk-lives-in-a-man-s-head-but-sometimes-it-is-very-lonely-because-in/) [Beryl Markham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beryl-markham/) > [With ordinary men the moments which are united in a close continuity out of the original discrete multiplicity are very few, and the course…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/otto-weininger/with-ordinary-men-the-moments-which-are-united-in-a-close-continuity/) [Otto Weininger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/otto-weininger/) > [A reader does not suddenly comprehend what is being read or studied, in a snap, miraculously. Comprehension needs to be worked forged, by those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/a-reader-does-not-suddenly-comprehend-what-is-being-read-or-studied/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [Plato long ago pointed out the importance of being governed by men with sufficient sense of responsibility and comprehension of public duties to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/plato-long-ago-pointed-out-the-importance-of-being-governed-by-men/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [In all our academies we attempt far too much. ... In earlier times lectures were delivered upon chemistry and botany as branches of medicine,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/in-all-our-academies-we-attempt-far-too-much-in-earlier-times/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [I refer to the misunderstanding of Soviet Russia as an aggressive power, militaristically and ideologically bent upon world domination 'seeing', to quote a recent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/enoch-powell/i-refer-to-the-misunderstanding-of-soviet-russia-as-an-aggressive/) [Enoch Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/enoch-powell/) > [“Under ordinary circumstances, we learn to speak before we learn to read, and anyone who has tried to learn a foreign language knows that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kory-stamper/under-ordinary-circumstances-we-learn-to-speak-before-we-learn-to/) [Kory Stamper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kory-stamper/) > [We are living at a time where a handful of people have wealth beyond comprehension - huge yachts, jet planes, tens of billions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernie-sanders/we-are-living-at-a-time-where-a-handful-of-people-have-wealth-beyond/) [Bernie Sanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernie-sanders/) > [Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know-and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/suppose-that-we-are-wise-enough-to-learn-and-know-and-yet-not-wise/) [Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/) ## More by Anne Rice > [But just remember, life without me would be even more unbearable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/but-just-remember-life-without-me-would-be-even-more-unbearable/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [“There had never been any talent, any talent to draw or paint or to make music or to write or to make any of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/there-had-never-been-any-talent-any-talent-to-draw-or-paint-or-to/) [anne rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [“there are only two things which I believe—the first is that no mortal can refuse the Dark Gift once he really knows what it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/there-are-only-two-things-which-i-believe-the-first-is-that-no-mortal/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [“Lie quiet and you will lapse back into peace again. Be like the god Heimdall before the battle call, so still that you can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/lie-quiet-and-you-will-lapse-back-into-peace-again-be-like-the-god/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [All the stories I have told you are finally as useless as all ancient knowledge is to man and to us. Its images and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/all-the-stories-i-have-told-you-are-finally-as-useless-as-all-ancient/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [If you want to be a writer, write. Write and write and write. If you stop, start again. Save everything that you write. If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/if-you-want-to-be-a-writer-write-write-and-write-and-write-if-you/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [How can so much beauty hide such a bruised and steely heart, and why must I love him, why must I lean in my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/how-can-so-much-beauty-hide-such-a-bruised-and-steely-heart-and-why/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [“you do get wiser when you live for hundreds of years; but you also have more time to turn out as badly as your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/you-do-get-wiser-when-you-live-for-hundreds-of-years-but-you-also/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [I never lie," I said offhand. "At least not to those I don't love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/i-never-lie-i-said-offhand-at-least-not-to-those-i-don-t-love/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [“I don't need to sleep to play. I'm crazy anyway. Being crazier still could only help.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/i-don-t-need-to-sleep-to-play-i-m-crazy-anyway-being-crazier-still/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [“what I felt was inexpressible gratitude for the music, that in this horror there could be something as beautiful as that.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/what-i-felt-was-inexpressible-gratitude-for-the-music-that-in-this/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [I stumble through a carnival of horrors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/i-stumble-through-a-carnival-of-horrors/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [“Look up at heaven and hell in the sky, for the stars are balls of fire suspended there by the angels.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/look-up-at-heaven-and-hell-in-the-sky-for-the-stars-are-balls-of-fire/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [I do not allow fan-fiction. The characters are copyrighted. It upsets me terribly to even think about fan-fiction with my characters. I advise my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/i-do-not-allow-fan-fiction-the-characters-are-copyrighted-it-upsets/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [Truth is a risky proposition. It's the nature of mediocre human beings to believe that lies are necessary, that they serve a purpose, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/truth-is-a-risky-proposition-it-s-the-nature-of-mediocre-human-beings/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) [Explore all 826 Anne Rice quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) ## More Comprehension quotes > [Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know-and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/suppose-that-we-are-wise-enough-to-learn-and-know-and-yet-not-wise/) [Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/) > [We are living at a time where a handful of people have wealth beyond comprehension - huge yachts, jet planes, tens of billions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernie-sanders/we-are-living-at-a-time-where-a-handful-of-people-have-wealth-beyond/) [Bernie Sanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernie-sanders/) > [“Under ordinary circumstances, we learn to speak before we learn to read, and anyone who has tried to learn a foreign language knows that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kory-stamper/under-ordinary-circumstances-we-learn-to-speak-before-we-learn-to/) [Kory Stamper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kory-stamper/) > [I refer to the misunderstanding of Soviet Russia as an aggressive power, militaristically and ideologically bent upon world domination 'seeing', to quote a recent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/enoch-powell/i-refer-to-the-misunderstanding-of-soviet-russia-as-an-aggressive/) [Enoch Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/enoch-powell/) > [In all our academies we attempt far too much. ... In earlier times lectures were delivered upon chemistry and botany as branches of medicine,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/in-all-our-academies-we-attempt-far-too-much-in-earlier-times/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Plato long ago pointed out the importance of being governed by men with sufficient sense of responsibility and comprehension of public duties to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/plato-long-ago-pointed-out-the-importance-of-being-governed-by-men/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [A reader does not suddenly comprehend what is being read or studied, in a snap, miraculously. Comprehension needs to be worked forged, by those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/a-reader-does-not-suddenly-comprehend-what-is-being-read-or-studied/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [There are thus two tasks for the Mass Media division of Unesco, the one general, the other special. The special one is to enlist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-huxley/there-are-thus-two-tasks-for-the-mass-media-division-of-unesco-the/) [Julian Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-huxley/) > [I must make MAGICK the essential factor in the life of ALL. In presenting this book to the world, I must then explain and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleister-crowley/i-must-make-magick-the-essential-factor-in-the-life-of-all-in/) [Aleister Crowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleister-crowley/) > [The magic of the mechanisms inside each genetic structure saying exactly where that nerve cell should go - the complexity of these mathematical models…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-tsiaras/the-magic-of-the-mechanisms-inside-each-genetic-structure-saying/) [Alexander Tsiaras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-tsiaras/) > [This revelation of the secrets of nature, long mercifully withheld from man, should arouse the most solemn reflections in the mind and conscience of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/this-revelation-of-the-secrets-of-nature-long-mercifully-withheld/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [“The illusion of comprehension allowed people to think they were more alike than they really were.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-illusion-of-comprehension-allowed-people-to-think-they-were-more/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [On the dogmas of religion, as distinguished from moral principles, all mankind, from the beginning of the world to this day, have been quarrelling,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/on-the-dogmas-of-religion-as-distinguished-from-moral-principles-all/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [My parents read to me a lot as a kid, and I started writing very early, probably spurred on by Aesop's fables. Then they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-vandermeer/my-parents-read-to-me-a-lot-as-a-kid-and-i-started-writing-very-early/) [Jeff VanderMeer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-vandermeer/) > [I'm inspired by people like Nelson Mandela. Can you imagine - you know how racist America was back then - imagine how racism was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nas/i-m-inspired-by-people-like-nelson-mandela-can-you-imagine-you-know/) [Nas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nas/) [Browse all 389 Comprehension quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/comprehension/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When we talk about our lives, long or short, brief and tragic or enduring beyond comprehension, we impose a continuity on them, and that continuity is a lie.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Anne Rice" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/when-we-talk-about-our-lives-long-or-short-brief-and-tragic-or/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Comprehension" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/when-we-talk-about-our-lives-long-or-short-brief-and-tragic-or/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/445/anne-rice-238_comprehension_when-we-talk-about-our-lives-long-or-sho_1094136.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/445/anne-rice-238_comprehension_when-we-talk-about-our-lives-long-or-sho_1094136.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/445/anne-rice-238_comprehension_when-we-talk-about-our-lives-long-or-sho_1094136.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“When we talk about our lives, long or short, brief and tragic or enduring beyond comprehension, we impose a…” — Anne Rice", "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": "Anne Rice", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "When we talk about our lives,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/when-we-talk-about-our-lives-long-or-short-brief-and-tragic-or/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/when-we-talk-about-our-lives-long-or-short-brief-and-tragic-or/#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 } } ] } ```