---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: While walking back to the highway I stop…"
description: "\"“While walking back to the highway I stop, choke back a sob, my throat tightens. \"I just want to...\" Facing the skyline, through all the baby talk, I m..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e1/bret-easton-ellis-1028_quote_while-walking-back-to-the-highway-i-stop_1185564.jpg"
---

#  While walking back to the highway I stop, choke back a…

![“While walking back to the highway I stop, choke back a sob, my throat tightens. "I just want to..." Facing the skyline, through all the baby talk, I murmur, "keep the game going." As I stand, frozen in position, an old woman emerges behind a Threepenny Opera poster at a deserted bus stop and she's…” quote by Bret Easton Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e1/bret-easton-ellis-1028_quote_while-walking-back-to-the-highway-i-stop_1185564.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e1/bret-easton-ellis-1028_quote_while-walking-back-to-the-highway-i-stop_1185564.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e1/bret-easton-ellis-1028_quote_while-walking-back-to-the-highway-i-stop_1185564.jpg)

> ““While walking back to the highway I stop, choke back a sob, my throat tightens. "I just want to..." Facing the skyline, through all the baby talk, I murmur, "keep the game going." As I stand, frozen in position, an old woman emerges behind a Threepenny Opera poster at a deserted bus stop and she's homeless and begging, hobbling over, her face covered with sores that look like bugs, holding out a shaking red hand. "Oh will you please go away?" I sigh. She tells me to get a haircut.””

[Bret Easton Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bret-easton-ellis/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

The narrator confronts personal despair while witnessing homelessness, highlighting inner conflict between self‑absorption and empathy.

**In simple terms:** Seeing a homeless woman forces the narrator to face his own emptiness.

Key Takeaway

Recognize and act on compassion despite personal turmoil.

Themes

loneliness empathy social disparity inner conflict

Mood

melancholic reflective

Type

narrative social commentary

When to use this quote

- street encounter
- personal crisis
- social awareness

Key Concepts

existentialism urban alienation human dignity

Questions to Reflect On

- How does witnessing suffering change your self‑perception?
- What prevents you from helping when you feel overwhelmed?

A Different Perspective

Compassion may be limited by personal numbness.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Begging](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/begging/) [Begging Hobbling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/begging-hobbling-3495543/) [Choke Sob](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/choke-sob-3495544/) [Homeless Begging](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/homeless-begging-2626140/) [Stop Homeless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stop-homeless-3495545/)

## Related quotes

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> [A man in love ... is the master, so it seems, but only if his lady friend permits it! The need to interchange the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-desclos/a-man-in-love-is-the-master-so-it-seems-but-only-if-his-lady-friend/)

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> [I would willingly stand at street corners, hat in hand, begging passerby to drop their unused minutes into it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-berenson/i-would-willingly-stand-at-street-corners-hat-in-hand-begging/)

[Bernard Berenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-berenson/)

> [While you're ignoring me, someone else is begging for my attention.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/while-you-re-ignoring-me-someone-else-is-begging-for-my-attention/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [The desperation was coming off you in waves. You were all but begging to dance with me. I am doing you a favor.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amanda-hocking/the-desperation-was-coming-off-you-in-waves-you-were-all-but-begging/)

[Amanda Hocking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amanda-hocking/)

> [We long for our father. We wear his clothes, and actually try to fill his shoes. . . . We hang on to him,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-pittman/we-long-for-our-father-we-wear-his-clothes-and-actually-try-to-fill/)

[Frank Pittman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-pittman/)

> [“He kept begging God, “Please, please, please open my heart.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-gilbert/he-kept-begging-god-please-please-please-open-my-heart/)

[Elizabeth Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-gilbert/)

> [“Any fool that had once helped you will someday make known to everyone that you were once a needy. No matter how broke you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/any-fool-that-had-once-helped-you-will-someday-make-known-to-everyone/)

[Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/)

> [How much more of the mosque, of prayer and fasting? Better go drunk and begging round the taverns. Khayyam, drink wine, for soon this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/omar-khayy-m/how-much-more-of-the-mosque-of-prayer-and-fasting-better-go-drunk-and/)

[Omar Khayyam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/omar-khayy-m/)

> [Daddy always said the only thing worth begging for was your life, but maybe he was wrong. Maybe sometimes your love is a little…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabrielle-zevin/daddy-always-said-the-only-thing-worth-begging-for-was-your-life-but/)

[Gabrielle Zevin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabrielle-zevin/)

> [“You are the queen, he ought to be begging leave of you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-r-r-martin/you-are-the-queen-he-ought-to-be-begging-leave-of-you/)

[George R.R. Martin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-r-r-martin/)

## More by Bret Easton Ellis

> [“he looked at me with such vehemence that I felt like a blip, a fart, in the course of his life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bret-easton-ellis/he-looked-at-me-with-such-vehemence-that-i-felt-like-a-blip-a-fart-in/)

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[Bret Easton Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bret-easton-ellis/)

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[Bret Easton Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bret-easton-ellis/)

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[Bret Easton Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bret-easton-ellis/)

> [I've forgotten who I had lunch with earlier, and even more important, where.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bret-easton-ellis/i-ve-forgotten-who-i-had-lunch-with-earlier-and-even-more-important/)

[Bret Easton Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bret-easton-ellis/)

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[Bret Easton Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bret-easton-ellis/)

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[Bret Easton Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bret-easton-ellis/)

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[Bret Easton Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bret-easton-ellis/)

[Explore all 286 Bret Easton Ellis quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bret-easton-ellis/)

## More Begging quotes

> [“You are the queen, he ought to be begging leave of you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-r-r-martin/you-are-the-queen-he-ought-to-be-begging-leave-of-you/)

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[Kabir Bedi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kabir-bedi/)

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