--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It may be that what you could be haunts…" description: "\"It may be that what you could be haunts you. It is real. It is a weight you have to carry around. Each failure to become, to be, is a weight. Each stat..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/098/ben-okri-3640_burden_it-may-be-that-what-you-could-be-haunts_1565925.jpg" --- # It may be that what you could be haunts you. It is real… ![“It may be that what you could be haunts you. It is real. It is a weight you have to carry around. Each failure to become, to be, is a weight. Each state you could inhabit is a burden as heavy as any physical weight, but more so, because it weighs on your soul. It is the ghost of your possibilities…” quote by Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/098/ben-okri-3640_burden_it-may-be-that-what-you-could-be-haunts_1565925.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/098/ben-okri-3640_burden_it-may-be-that-what-you-could-be-haunts_1565925.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/098/ben-okri-3640_burden_it-may-be-that-what-you-could-be-haunts_1565925.jpg) > “It may be that what you could be haunts you. It is real. It is a weight you have to carry around. Each failure to become, to be, is a weight. Each state you could inhabit is a burden as heavy as any physical weight, but more so, because it weighs on your soul. It is the ghost of your possibilities hanging around your neck, an invisible albatros, potentials unknowingly murdered.” [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote describes how unfulfilled potential becomes a heavy psychological burden, weighing on the soul like an invisible albatross. **In simple terms:** Unrealized possibilities feel like a heavy, invisible weight on the soul. Key Takeaway Accept potential and act to lighten the burden. Themes potential burden psychology existence Mood reflective somber Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - career stagnation - creative block - personal growth - relationship stagnation - mental health Key Concepts selfactualization existential weight psychic load Questions to Reflect On - What possibilities are you avoiding? - How can you transform this weight into motivation? A Different Perspective The metaphor may overemphasize negativity, ignoring resilience and agency. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Burden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/burden/) [Ghost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ghost/) [Possibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/possibility/) [Soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soul/) [Weight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/weight/) [Your soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/your-soul/) ## Related quotes > [Seest thou how pale the sated guest rises from supper, where the appetite is puzzled with varieties? The body, too, burdened with I yesterday's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/seest-thou-how-pale-the-sated-guest-rises-from-supper-where-the/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [“Nonetheless the memory of you stayed with me, and I had no doubt whatever whom I ought to cling to, though I knew that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/augustine-of-hippo/nonetheless-the-memory-of-you-stayed-with-me-and-i-had-no-doubt/) [Augustine of Hippo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/augustine-of-hippo/) > [“When the burden is too heavy on your heart. Cast the weight upon the Lord, for he cares that, you call out to his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/when-the-burden-is-too-heavy-on-your-heart-cast-the-weight-upon-the/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [“It doesn't matter if the burden is heavy. It matters that we carry it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous-authors/it-doesn-t-matter-if-the-burden-is-heavy-it-matters-that-we-carry-it/) Anonymous Authors > [People should meet an acceptable threshold of appropriateness. But for many women in the public eye, it just seems that the burden is so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hillary-clinton/people-should-meet-an-acceptable-threshold-of-appropriateness-but-for/) [Hillary Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hillary-clinton/) > [“Life is a mystery, and it should be so, for the sorrow that accompanies being human and the choices one will have to make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-hoffman/life-is-a-mystery-and-it-should-be-so-for-the-sorrow-that-accompanies/) [Alice Hoffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-hoffman/) > [Leave each one his touch of folly; it helps to lighten life's burden which, if he could see himself as he is, might be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/leave-each-one-his-touch-of-folly-it-helps-to-lighten-life-s-burden/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [No burden is so heavy for a man to bear as a succession of happy days.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-planck/no-burden-is-so-heavy-for-a-man-to-bear-as-a-succession-of-happy-days/) [Max Planck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-planck/) > [“Everything we seek so enthusiastically before we reach adulthood—love, work, faith—turns into a burden too heavy to bear.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/everything-we-seek-so-enthusiastically-before-we-reach-adulthood-love-2/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [“Resentment is a burden too heavy and painful to bare.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/debasish-mridha/resentment-is-a-burden-too-heavy-and-painful-to-bare/) [Debasish Mridha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/debasish-mridha/) > [“My bundle is light. My burden is heavy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-mccormick/my-bundle-is-light-my-burden-is-heavy/) [Patricia McCormick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-mccormick/) > [“Eventually the burden becomes too heavy and you outgrow the weight of the world. You feel the fear and live anyway, a more authentic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikki-rowe/eventually-the-burden-becomes-too-heavy-and-you-outgrow-the-weight-of/) [Nikki Rowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikki-rowe/) > [Can freedom become a burden, too heavy for man to bear, something he tries to escape from?..Is there not also, perhaps, besides an innate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/can-freedom-become-a-burden-too-heavy-for-man-to-bear-something-he/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [Inside my head I carry: my baby goat, my baby brother, my ama's face, our family's future. My bundle is light. My burden is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-mccormick/inside-my-head-i-carry-my-baby-goat-my-baby-brother-my-ama-s-face-our/) [Patricia McCormick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-mccormick/) > [“But it is a heavy burden. So heavy that none could lay it on another. I do not lay it on you. But if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-r-r-tolkien/but-it-is-a-heavy-burden-so-heavy-that-none-could-lay-it-on-another-i/) [J.R.R. Tolkien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-r-r-tolkien/) ## More by Ben Okri > [We never think that our mothers will die. It was like suddenly an abyss opened at my feet - I was standing on nothing.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/we-never-think-that-our-mothers-will-die-it-was-like-suddenly-an/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [“In a fractured age, when cynicism is god, here is a possible heresy: we live by stories, we also live in them. One way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/in-a-fractured-age-when-cynicism-is-god-here-is-a-possible-heresy-we/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [The best writing is not about the writer, the best writing is absolutely not about the writer, it's about us, it's about the reader.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/the-best-writing-is-not-about-the-writer-the-best-writing-is/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [Maybe there are only three kinds of stories: those we live, those we tell, and those that help our souls fly upwards to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/maybe-there-are-only-three-kinds-of-stories-those-we-live-those-we/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [The earliest storytellers were magi, seers, bards, griots, shamans. They were, it would seem, old as time, and as terrifying to gaze upon as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/the-earliest-storytellers-were-magi-seers-bards-griots-shamans-they/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [An inner darkness is darker than an outer darkness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/an-inner-darkness-is-darker-than-an-outer-darkness/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [The strange thing about Africa is how past, present and future come together in a kind of rough jazz, if you like.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/the-strange-thing-about-africa-is-how-past-present-and-future-come/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [Our time here is magic! It's the only space you have to realize whatever it is that is beautiful, whatever is true, whatever is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/our-time-here-is-magic-it-s-the-only-space-you-have-to-realize/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [Fire is one of my temperaments. It is behind all my work... Fire is a chemical presence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/fire-is-one-of-my-temperaments-it-is-behind-all-my-work-fire-is-a/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [I lived rough, by my wits, was homeless, lived on the streets, lived on friends' floors, was happy, was miserable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/i-lived-rough-by-my-wits-was-homeless-lived-on-the-streets-lived-on/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [If we could be pure dancers in spirit we would never be afraid to love, and we would love with strength and wisdom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/if-we-could-be-pure-dancers-in-spirit-we-would-never-be-afraid-to/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [Without stories we would go mad. Life would lose its moorings or lose its orientations. even in silence we are living our stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/without-stories-we-would-go-mad-life-would-lose-its-moorings-or-lose/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [Literature doesn't have a country. Shakespeare is an African writer. His Falstaff, for example, is very African in his appetite for life, his largeness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/literature-doesn-t-have-a-country-shakespeare-is-an-african-writer/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [“So long as a canvas is empty its potential is infinite… The empty canvas can become a gateway into the landscape of nightmares or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/so-long-as-a-canvas-is-empty-its-potential-is-infinite-the-empty/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) > [I went to London because, for me, it was the home of literature. I went there because of Dickens and Shakespeare.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/i-went-to-london-because-for-me-it-was-the-home-of-literature-i-went/) [Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) [Explore all 124 Ben Okri quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/) ## More Burden quotes > [Everything I do is more memorable and I understand music more than ever now. It's not a burden to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seungri/everything-i-do-is-more-memorable-and-i-understand-music-more-than/) [Seungri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seungri/) > [I am at a point in my life where everything I have worked for starts to look like a burden, a weight on my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-abou-samra/i-am-at-a-point-in-my-life-where-everything-i-have-worked-for-starts/) Simone Abou Samra > [Trump's enduring appeal is a resource to be harnessed by the Republican Party, not a burden to be jettisoned.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miranda-devine/trump-s-enduring-appeal-is-a-resource-to-be-harnessed-by-the/) [Miranda Devine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miranda-devine/) > [We want to free our citizens from the burden of excessive paper documents in every office. We want paperless transactions. We will set up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/narendra-modi/we-want-to-free-our-citizens-from-the-burden-of-excessive-paper/) [Narendra Modi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/narendra-modi/) > [We cannot go back in time and change the past, but we can repent. The Savior can wipe away our tears of regret and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dieter-f-uchtdorf/we-cannot-go-back-in-time-and-change-the-past-but-we-can-repent-the/) [Dieter F. Uchtdorf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dieter-f-uchtdorf/) > [The world around us is an increasingly hostile and sinful place. Occasionally that splashes onto us, and perhaps, in the case of a few…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-r-holland/the-world-around-us-is-an-increasingly-hostile-and-sinful-place/) [Jeffrey R. Holland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-r-holland/) > ['Inequality' has become the political theme/slogan of our time in both Europe and the U.S., yet political leaders do not even bother to consider…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-singer/inequality-has-become-the-political-theme-slogan-of-our-time-in-both/) [Paul Singer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-singer/) > [With those who are willing to join, let us cooperate to reduce the burden of arms, to strengthen the structure of peace, to lift…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-m-nixon/with-those-who-are-willing-to-join-let-us-cooperate-to-reduce-the/) [Richard M. Nixon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-m-nixon/) > [“What a burden it must be to know all the terrible things you've done and support it with arms unfit to carry it all.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/k-weikel/what-a-burden-it-must-be-to-know-all-the-terrible-things-you-ve-done/) [K. Weikel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/k-weikel/) > [And that, in a way, was the burden of being a philosopher: one knew what one had to do, but it was so often…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-mccall-smith/and-that-in-a-way-was-the-burden-of-being-a-philosopher-one-knew-what/) [Alexander McCall Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-mccall-smith/) > [Wherever I am, I see the yoke on women in some form or another. On some it sits easy for they are but beasts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abby-may-alcott/wherever-i-am-i-see-the-yoke-on-women-in-some-form-or-another-on-some/) [Abby May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abby-may-alcott/) > [It's a burden trying to keep a secret. It's hard. It probably takes more out of you trying to hold it and keep it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/magic-johnson/it-s-a-burden-trying-to-keep-a-secret-it-s-hard-it-probably-takes/) [Magic Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/magic-johnson/) > [I've always liked artists like Chris Burden, who would take performances, put them in galleries, and then do things that were on the edge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-blaine/i-ve-always-liked-artists-like-chris-burden-who-would-take/) [David Blaine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-blaine/) > [Our office...subjects us to great burdens and labors, dangers and temptations, with little reward or gratitude from the world. But Christ himself will be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther/our-office-subjects-us-to-great-burdens-and-labors-dangers-and/) [Martin Luther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther/) > [The debt immense of endless gratitude, So burthensome, still paying, still to owe; Forgetful what from him I still receivd, And understood not that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-milton/the-debt-immense-of-endless-gratitude-so-burthensome-still-paying/) [John Milton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-milton/) [Browse all 2,567 Burden quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/burden/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It may be that what you could be haunts you. It is real. It is a weight you have to carry around. Each failure to become, to be, is a weight. Each state you could inhabit is a burden as heavy as any physical weight, but more so, because it weighs on your soul. It is the ghost of your possibilities hanging around your neck, an invisible albatros, potentials unknowingly murdered.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ben Okri" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/it-may-be-that-what-you-could-be-haunts-you-it-is-real-it-is-a-weight/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Burden" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/it-may-be-that-what-you-could-be-haunts-you-it-is-real-it-is-a-weight/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/098/ben-okri-3640_burden_it-may-be-that-what-you-could-be-haunts_1565925.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/098/ben-okri-3640_burden_it-may-be-that-what-you-could-be-haunts_1565925.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/098/ben-okri-3640_burden_it-may-be-that-what-you-could-be-haunts_1565925.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It may be that what you could be haunts you. It is real. It is a weight you have to carry around. Each…” — Ben Okri", "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": "Ben Okri", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "It may be that what you...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/it-may-be-that-what-you-could-be-haunts-you-it-is-real-it-is-a-weight/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/it-may-be-that-what-you-could-be-haunts-you-it-is-real-it-is-a-weight/#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 } } ] } ```