--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I think I would be happy in that place I…" description: "\"“I think I would be happy in that place I happen not to be, and this question of moving house is the subject of a perpetual dialogue I have with my sou..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc2/bruce-chatwin-11797_baudelaire_i-think-i-would-be-happy-in-that-place-i_27668.jpg" --- # I think I would be happy in that place I happen not to be… ![“I think I would be happy in that place I happen not to be, and this question of moving house is the subject of a perpetual dialogue I have with my soul. Baudelaire, ‘Any Where Out of this World!” quote by Bruce Chatwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc2/bruce-chatwin-11797_baudelaire_i-think-i-would-be-happy-in-that-place-i_27668.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc2/bruce-chatwin-11797_baudelaire_i-think-i-would-be-happy-in-that-place-i_27668.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc2/bruce-chatwin-11797_baudelaire_i-think-i-would-be-happy-in-that-place-i_27668.jpg) > ““I think I would be happy in that place I happen not to be, and this question of moving house is the subject of a perpetual dialogue I have with my soul. Baudelaire, ‘Any Where Out of this World!”” [Bruce Chatwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-chatwin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker feels a longing for an imagined place, reflecting an inner conflict about staying versus moving, and treats the decision as an ongoing conversation with their deeper self. **In simple terms:** Yearning for an idealized location and inner dialogue about relocation. Key Takeaway Desire for a place that feels right, even if imagined. Themes longing self-reflection place attachment decision-making imagination existential yearning Mood nostalgic contemplative yearning Type philosophical personal reflective When to use this quote - contemplating a move - feeling stuck in current environment - seeking personal growth - navigating life transitions Key Concepts identity home inner conflict perception of place Practical Applications - creative writing - personal coaching Questions to Reflect On - What does 'home' mean to you? - How does your inner dialogue shape your choices? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Communication](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/communication/) [Home](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/home/) [Moving House](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moving-house/) ## Related quotes > [I think I would be happy in that place I happen not to be, and this question of moving house is the subject of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/i-think-i-would-be-happy-in-that-place-i-happen-not-to-be-and-this-2/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Where you come from now is much less important than where you're going. More and more of us are rooted in the future or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pico-iyer/where-you-come-from-now-is-much-less-important-than-where-you-re/) [Pico Iyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pico-iyer/) > [When you're ready to do something, when you're in a good place, that's when it will happen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-draper/when-you-re-ready-to-do-something-when-you-re-in-a-good-place-that-s/) [Jack Draper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-draper/) > [If you create a place where anything can happen, anything will happen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trevor-paglen/if-you-create-a-place-where-anything-can-happen-anything-will-happen/) [Trevor Paglen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trevor-paglen/) > [Home is not just the place where you happen to be born. Its the place where you become yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pico-iyer/home-is-not-just-the-place-where-you-happen-to-be-born-its-the-place/) [Pico Iyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pico-iyer/) > [“Here was a place where real things were going on. Here was a scene of vital action. Here was a place where anything might…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/here-was-a-place-where-real-things-were-going-on-here-was-a-scene-of/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [When you want something enough, it brings out primal emotions. You get into this place of 'must happen, must happen.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-pine/when-you-want-something-enough-it-brings-out-primal-emotions-you-get/) [Chris Pine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-pine/) > [My Hollywood is a place where anything can happen, where dreams can become reality, and reality often morphs into fiction. It's a place where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bonnie-hammer/my-hollywood-is-a-place-where-anything-can-happen-where-dreams-can/) [Bonnie Hammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bonnie-hammer/) > [Here was a place where real things were going on. Here was a scene of vital action. Here was a place where anything might…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/here-was-a-place-where-real-things-were-going-on-here-was-a-scene-of-2/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [“Studies suggest that Scots spend less on home décor than anywhere else in the UK, but what we do spend big on is renovating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriella-bennett/studies-suggest-that-scots-spend-less-on-home-d-cor-than-anywhere/) [Gabriella Bennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriella-bennett/) > [I'm always moving apartments or moving houses or moving cities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-wesley/i-m-always-moving-apartments-or-moving-houses-or-moving-cities/) [Paul Wesley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-wesley/) > [The only pleasure in redecorating or moving house comes from stumbling across books that I'd almost forgotten I owned.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burnside/the-only-pleasure-in-redecorating-or-moving-house-comes-from/) [John Burnside](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burnside/) > [That was the trouble with moving houses; no matter how carefully you packed the books, they never ended up on the new shelves in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/val-mcdermid/that-was-the-trouble-with-moving-houses-no-matter-how-carefully-you/) [Val McDermid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/val-mcdermid/) > [Stress is part of life. It is something we all experience from time to time. Sometimes it reflects our own busy lifestyles or key…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luciana-berger/stress-is-part-of-life-it-is-something-we-all-experience-from-time-to/) [Luciana Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luciana-berger/) > [Emma Thompson and her husband, Greg Wise, have become citizens of Venice. I'm not sure whether it's just laziness, or fear of one of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susanna-reid/emma-thompson-and-her-husband-greg-wise-have-become-citizens-of/) [Susanna Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susanna-reid/) ## More by Bruce Chatwin > [Tyranny sets up its own echo-chamber.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-chatwin/tyranny-sets-up-its-own-echo-chamber/) [Bruce Chatwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-chatwin/) > [And the formation of man is the most pressing problem facing humanity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-chatwin/and-the-formation-of-man-is-the-most-pressing-problem-facing-humanity/) [Bruce Chatwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-chatwin/) > [A Sufi manual, the Kashf-al-Mahjub, says that, towards the end of his journey, the dervish becomes the Way not the wayfarer, i.e. a place…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-chatwin/a-sufi-manual-the-kashf-al-mahjub-says-that-towards-the-end-of-his/) [Bruce Chatwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-chatwin/) > [I pictured a low timber house with a shingled roof, caulked against storms, with blazing log fires inside and the walls lined with all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-chatwin/i-pictured-a-low-timber-house-with-a-shingled-roof-caulked-against/) [Bruce Chatwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-chatwin/) > [“One year, he went to Paris for the week-end: but that completely upset his equilibrium.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-chatwin/one-year-he-went-to-paris-for-the-week-end-but-that-completely-upset/) [Bruce Chatwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-chatwin/) > [It's an old sailor's idea that every ship has a rope with one end made fast to her bows and the other held by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-chatwin/it-s-an-old-sailor-s-idea-that-every-ship-has-a-rope-with-one-end/) [Bruce Chatwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-chatwin/) > [“ Fino a quando, Signore, fino a quando? ... 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Since,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-chatwin/richard-lee-calculated-that-a-bushman-child-will-be-carried-a/) [Bruce Chatwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-chatwin/) > [“Gradually the idea for a book began to take shape. It was to be a wildly ambitious and intolerant work, a kind of 'Anatomy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-chatwin/gradually-the-idea-for-a-book-began-to-take-shape-it-was-to-be-a/) [Bruce Chatwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-chatwin/) > [“His legs withered. His stomach stretched taut as a drum. His skin erupted in watery pustules: whichever way he turned was agony. Phosphorescent centipedes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-chatwin/his-legs-withered-his-stomach-stretched-taut-as-a-drum-his-skin/) [Bruce Chatwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-chatwin/) [Explore all 53 Bruce Chatwin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-chatwin/) ## More Baudelaire quotes > [Artists are people who are subject to irrational convictions of the sacred. Baudelaire said that an artist is a child who has acquired adult…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-schjeldahl/artists-are-people-who-are-subject-to-irrational-convictions-of-the/) [Peter Schjeldahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-schjeldahl/) > [“Baudelaire children had a slightly different”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lemony-snicket/baudelaire-children-had-a-slightly-different/) [Lemony Snicket](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lemony-snicket/) > [“The heart contains passion but the imagination alone contains poetry,’ says Charles Baudelaire. This too was the lesson that Theophile Gautier, most subtle of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/the-heart-contains-passion-but-the-imagination-alone-contains-poetry/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [“They tried picturing leaving Uncle Monty and living by themselves, trying to find jobs and take care of each other. It was a very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lemony-snicket/they-tried-picturing-leaving-uncle-monty-and-living-by-themselves/) [Lemony Snicket](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lemony-snicket/) > [Even the best critical writing on Emily Dickinson underestimates her. She is frightening. To come to her directly from Dante, Spenser, Blake, and Baudelaire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/camille-paglia/even-the-best-critical-writing-on-emily-dickinson-underestimates-her/) [Camille Paglia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/camille-paglia/) > [Life isn't fair," he said, in his undisguised voice, and for once the Baudelaire orphans agreed with every word the man said.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/life-isn-t-fair-he-said-in-his-undisguised-voice-and-for-once-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The neo-conservative critics of leftist critics of mass culture ridicule the protest against Bach as background music in the kitchen, against Plato and Hegel,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/the-neo-conservative-critics-of-leftist-critics-of-mass-culture/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [In the time since the Baudelaire parents' death, most of the Baudelaire orphans' friends had fallen by the wayside, an expression wich here means…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/in-the-time-since-the-baudelaire-parents-death-most-of-the-baudelaire/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The story of the Baudelaires takes place in a very real world, where some people are laughed at just because they have something wrong…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-story-of-the-baudelaires-takes-place-in-a-very-real-world-where/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [He was prepared to die for it, as one of Baudelaire's dandies might have been prepared to kill himself in order to preserve himself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/he-was-prepared-to-die-for-it-as-one-of-baudelaire-s-dandies-might/) [Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/) > [(Baudelaire) had descended to the bottom of the inexhaustible mine, had picked his way along abandoned or unexplored galleries, and had finally reached those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joris-karl-huysmans/baudelaire-had-descended-to-the-bottom-of-the-inexhaustible-mine-had/) [Joris-Karl Huysmans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joris-karl-huysmans/) > [And hence the poet must seek to be essentially anonymous, He must die a little death each morning, He must swallow his toad and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/delmore-schwartz/and-hence-the-poet-must-seek-to-be-essentially-anonymous-he-must-die/) [Delmore Schwartz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/delmore-schwartz/) > [I think it's basically quite different from dreams. If only cinema was that easy. Because dreams, all you have to do is fall asleep,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-anger/i-think-it-s-basically-quite-different-from-dreams-if-only-cinema-was/) [Kenneth Anger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-anger/) > [Johnny Depp is like a brother to me. We have matching tattoos on our backs - Charles Baudelaire, the flowers of evil, this giant…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-manson/johnny-depp-is-like-a-brother-to-me-we-have-matching-tattoos-on-our/) [Marilyn Manson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-manson/) > [...then he looked at my T-shirt and saw Byron's picture on it and he quoted "She Walks in Beauty," which is like my favorite…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-moore/then-he-looked-at-my-t-shirt-and-saw-byron-s-picture-on-it-and-he/) [Christopher Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-moore/) Browse all 57 Baudelaire quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I think I would be happy in that place I happen not to be, and this question of moving house is the subject of a perpetual dialogue I have with my soul. 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