--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Even in your hobbies, has there not…" description: "\"“Even in your hobbies, has there not always been some secret attraction which the others are curiously ignorant of--something, not to be identified wit..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/405/c-s-lewis-121_desire_even-in-your-hobbies-has-there-not-alway_907893.jpg" --- # Even in your hobbies, has there not always been some… ![“Even in your hobbies, has there not always been some secret attraction which the others are curiously ignorant of--something, not to be identified with, but always on the verge of breaking through, the smell of cut wood in the workshop or the clap-clap of water against the boat's side? Are not all…” quote by C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/405/c-s-lewis-121_desire_even-in-your-hobbies-has-there-not-alway_907893.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/405/c-s-lewis-121_desire_even-in-your-hobbies-has-there-not-alway_907893.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/405/c-s-lewis-121_desire_even-in-your-hobbies-has-there-not-alway_907893.jpg) > ““Even in your hobbies, has there not always been some secret attraction which the others are curiously ignorant of--something, not to be identified with, but always on the verge of breaking through, the smell of cut wood in the workshop or the clap-clap of water against the boat's side? Are not all lifelong friendships born at the moment when at last you meet another human being who has some inkling (but faint and uncertain even in the best) of that something which you were born desiring, and which, beneath the flux of other desires and in all the momentary silences between the louder passions, night and day, year by year, from childhood to old age, you are looking for, watching for, listening for? You have never had it. All the things that have ever deeply possesed your soul have been but hints of it--tantalizing glimspes, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear. But if it should really become manifest--if there ever came an echo that did not die away but swelled into the sound itself--you would know it. Beyond all possibility of doubt you would say 'Here at last is the thing I was made for.' We cannot tell each other about it. It is the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable want, the things we desired before we met our wives or made our friends or chose our work, and which we shall still desire on our deathbeds, when the mind no longer knows wife or friend or work. While we are, this is. If we lose this, we lose all.”” [C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The deepest longing of each person is a unique, ineffable desire that shapes life’s choices, often unspoken and unrecognizable to others. **In simple terms:** Everyone has a secret, personal yearning that guides them. Key Takeaway Seek and honor your inner calling. Themes longing identity friendship purpose selfdiscovery Mood contemplative melancholic hopeful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - career decisions - creative projects - relationship building - personal reflection Key Concepts existentialism psychology spirituality Questions to Reflect On - What hidden yearning drives your major life choices? - How can you recognize its subtle signs? A Different Perspective It may be impossible to fully articulate or share this desire with others. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Desire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desire/) [Desires](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desires/) [Friendship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friendship/) [Heaven](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heaven/) [Hobbies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hobbies/) [Lifelong Friendship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lifelong-friendship/) [Lifelong Friendships](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lifelong-friendships/) [Old age](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-age/) [Spirituality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spirituality/) ## Related quotes > [“Are not all lifelong friendships born in the moment when at last you meet another human being who has some inkling (but faint and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/are-not-all-lifelong-friendships-born-in-the-moment-when-at-last-you/) [C.S. 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It's not about searching for answers It's about REALIZING they exist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hazel-butterworth/it-s-not-about-changing-who-you-are-it-s-about-realizing-who-you-are/) Hazel Butterworth > [Friendships born on the field of athletic strife are the real gold of competition. Awards become corroded, friends gather no dust.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-owens/friendships-born-on-the-field-of-athletic-strife-are-the-real-gold-of/) [Jesse Owens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-owens/) > [Life has taught me that respect, caring and love must be shared, for it's only through sharing that friendships are born.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/life-has-taught-me-that-respect-caring-and-love-must-be-shared-for-it/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [In these fast and fickle times, it’s nice to know that there are some things you can always count on: the enduring brilliance of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-vowell/in-these-fast-and-fickle-times-it-s-nice-to-know-that-there-are-some/) [Sarah Vowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-vowell/) > [Anyone born in the year 1950 who grew to fancy themselves as a soulful 18-year-old bought 'Songs of Leonard Cohen' upon its original release…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hepworth/anyone-born-in-the-year-1950-who-grew-to-fancy-themselves-as-a/) [David Hepworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hepworth/) ## More by C.S. Lewis > [“At the moment, then, of Man’s victory over Nature, we find the whole human race subjected to some individual men, and those individuals subjected…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/at-the-moment-then-of-man-s-victory-over-nature-we-find-the-whole/) [C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/) > [“Isn’t it absolutely essential to keep a fierce Left and a fierce Right, both on their toes and each terrified of the other?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/isn-t-it-absolutely-essential-to-keep-a-fierce-left-and-a-fierce/) [C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/) > [“All Hell is smaller than one pebble of your earthly world: but it is smaller than one atom of this world, the Real World.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/all-hell-is-smaller-than-one-pebble-of-your-earthly-world-but-it-is/) [C.S. 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Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/) > [“We use a most unfortunate idiom when we say, of a lustful man prowling the streets, that he "wants a woman". Strictly speaking, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/we-use-a-most-unfortunate-idiom-when-we-say-of-a-lustful-man-prowling/) [C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/) > [“Después de cada fracaso, pedid perdón, levantaos del suelo y volved a intentarlo. Muy a menudo, lo que Dios nos otorga primero no es…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/despu-s-de-cada-fracaso-pedid-perd-n-levantaos-del-suelo-y-volved-a/) [C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/) > [“Then two wonders happened at the same moment. One was that the voice was suddenly joined by other voices; more voices than you could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/then-two-wonders-happened-at-the-same-moment-one-was-that-the-voice/) [C.S. 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Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/) > [“He sees as well as you do that courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/he-sees-as-well-as-you-do-that-courage-is-not-simply-one-of-the/) [C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/) > [“If you do not take the distinction between good and bad very seriously, then it is easy to say that anything you find in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/if-you-do-not-take-the-distinction-between-good-and-bad-very/) [C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/) > [“Now the whole offer which Christianity makes is this: that we can, if we let God have His way, come to share in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/now-the-whole-offer-which-christianity-makes-is-this-that-we-can-if/) [C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/) [Explore all 1,165 C.S. Lewis quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/) ## More Desire quotes > [I put myself in the student's place and remember the frustrations, doubts, determination, and desires I felt when I was going through the initial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-martinez/i-put-myself-in-the-student-s-place-and-remember-the-frustrations/) Ted Martinez > [Passion is what you need to be good, an unforgiving passion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-easton/passion-is-what-you-need-to-be-good-an-unforgiving-passion/) [David Easton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-easton/) > [I want the municipality to be a helping hand to the man with a desire of sympathy, to help the fallen when it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burns/i-want-the-municipality-to-be-a-helping-hand-to-the-man-with-a-desire/) [John Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burns/) > [Ye youths and virgins, when your generous blood Has drunk the warmth of fifteen summers, now The loves invite; now to new rapture wakes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-armstrong/ye-youths-and-virgins-when-your-generous-blood-has-drunk-the-warmth/) [John Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-armstrong/) > [I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/i-have-observed-this-in-my-experience-of-slavery-that-whenever-my/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [“THE ESSENCE OF YOUR DESIRE IS A FEELING”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danielle-laporte/the-essence-of-your-desire-is-a-feeling/) [Danielle LaPorte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danielle-laporte/) > [On the brink of being satiated, desire still appears infinite.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-rostand/on-the-brink-of-being-satiated-desire-still-appears-infinite/) [Jean Rostand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-rostand/) > [If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/if-there-is-any-period-one-would-desire-to-be-born-in-is-it-not-the/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [He caught her, she fell, he caught her in his arms, he held her tightly unconscious of what he was doing. He held her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/he-caught-her-she-fell-he-caught-her-in-his-arms-he-held-her-tightly/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [ Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit. My three \[great teachers\] did not… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/teaching-might-even-be-the-greatest-of-the-arts-since-the-medium-is/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“The deepest urge in human nature is the desire to be important.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/the-deepest-urge-in-human-nature-is-the-desire-to-be-important/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [In discovering books, you became free to explore the full range of human motives, desires, secrets, and lies. 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He could smell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emery-lee/from-the-devil-you-know-she-wanted-him-too-he-could-see-it-in-the/) [Emery Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emery-lee/) [Browse all 15,155 Desire quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desire/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Even in your hobbies, has there not always been some secret attraction which the others are curiously ignorant of--something, not to be identified with, but always on the verge of breaking through, the smell of cut wood in the workshop or the clap-clap of water against the boat's side? Are not all lifelong friendships born at the moment when at last you meet another human being who has some inkling (but faint and uncertain even in the best) of that something which you were born desiring, and which, beneath the flux of other desires and in all the momentary silences between the louder passions, night and day, year by year, from childhood to old age, you are looking for, watching for, listening for? You have never had it. All the things that have ever deeply possesed your soul have been but hints of it--tantalizing glimspes, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear. But if it should really become manifest--if there ever came an echo that did not die away but swelled into the sound itself--you would know it. Beyond all possibility of doubt you would say 'Here at last is the thing I was made for.' We cannot tell each other about it. It is the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable want, the things we desired before we met our wives or made our friends or chose our work, and which we shall still desire on our deathbeds, when the mind no longer knows wife or friend or work. While we are, this is. If we lose this, we lose all.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "C.S. Lewis" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/even-in-your-hobbies-has-there-not-always-been-some-secret-attraction/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Desire" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/even-in-your-hobbies-has-there-not-always-been-some-secret-attraction/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/405/c-s-lewis-121_desire_even-in-your-hobbies-has-there-not-alway_907893.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/405/c-s-lewis-121_desire_even-in-your-hobbies-has-there-not-alway_907893.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/405/c-s-lewis-121_desire_even-in-your-hobbies-has-there-not-alway_907893.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Even in your hobbies, has there not always been some secret attraction which the others are curiously…” — C.S. 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