--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I have sat through an Italian opera, til…" description: "\"I have sat through an Italian opera, til, for sheer pain, and inexplicable anguish, I have rushed out into the noisiest places of the crowded street, t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e45/charles-lamb-1144_anguish_i-have-sat-through-an-italian-opera-til_1009029.jpg" --- # I have sat through an Italian opera, til, for sheer pain… ![“I have sat through an Italian opera, til, for sheer pain, and inexplicable anguish, I have rushed out into the noisiest places of the crowded street, to solace myself with sounds which I was not obliged to follow and get rid of the distracting torment of endless, fruitless, barren attention!” quote by Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e45/charles-lamb-1144_anguish_i-have-sat-through-an-italian-opera-til_1009029.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e45/charles-lamb-1144_anguish_i-have-sat-through-an-italian-opera-til_1009029.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e45/charles-lamb-1144_anguish_i-have-sat-through-an-italian-opera-til_1009029.jpg) > “I have sat through an Italian opera, til, for sheer pain, and inexplicable anguish, I have rushed out into the noisiest places of the crowded street, to solace myself with sounds which I was not obliged to follow and get rid of the distracting torment of endless, fruitless, barren attention!” [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Escaping pain through sensory immersion can provide temporary relief from mental turmoil. **In simple terms:** Seek distraction in sound to ease distress. Key Takeaway Use music or noise to calm a restless mind. Themes coping sensory immersion mental health Mood contemplative soothing Type advice philosophical When to use this quote - commuting - work breaks - study sessions - therapy - personal crises Key Concepts psychology mindfulness Questions to Reflect On - When does sensory escape become harmful? - What healthier coping strategies exist? A Different Perspective Distraction can become avoidance, not resolution. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Anguish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anguish/) [Attention](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/attention/) [Italian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/italian/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) [Opera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opera/) [Pain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pain/) [Solace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/solace/) [Sound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sound/) [Streets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/streets/) [Torment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/torment/) ## Related quotes > [Life is like walking along a crowded street--there always seem to be fewer obstacles to getting along on the opposite pavement--and yet, if one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-huxley/life-is-like-walking-along-a-crowded-street-there-always-seem-to-be/) [Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-huxley/) > [The filth and noise of the crowded streets soon destroy the elasticity of health which belongs to the country boy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutherford-b-hayes/the-filth-and-noise-of-the-crowded-streets-soon-destroy-the/) [Rutherford B. Hayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutherford-b-hayes/) > [Numbers have dehumanized us. Over breakfast coffee we read of 40,000 American dead in Vietnam. Instead of vomiting, we reach for the toast. Our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dalton-trumbo/numbers-have-dehumanized-us-over-breakfast-coffee-we-read-of-40-000/) [Dalton Trumbo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dalton-trumbo/) > [There are gems of wondrous brightness Ofttimes lying at our feet, And we pass them, walking thoughtless, Down the busy, crowded street. If we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudyard-kipling/there-are-gems-of-wondrous-brightness-ofttimes-lying-at-our-feet-and/) [Rudyard Kipling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudyard-kipling/) > [But often, in the world’s most crowded streets, But often, in the din of strife, There rises an unspeakable desire After the knowledge of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/but-often-in-the-world-s-most-crowded-streets-but-often-in-the-din-of/) [Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) > [Crowded streets are cleared away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/breaking-benjamin/crowded-streets-are-cleared-away/) [Breaking Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/breaking-benjamin/) > [If you travel as much as I do - 165,000 miles last year - you exist nowhere. You're always between heaven and earth, you're…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-houston/if-you-travel-as-much-as-i-do-165-000-miles-last-year-you-exist/) [Jean Houston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-houston/) > [ When you identify with an organization and you want to do stuff \[but\] you get this inexplicable 'no' - a lot of people get… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-goff/when-you-identify-with-an-organization-and-you-want-to-do-stuff-but/) [Bob Goff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-goff/) > [If you don't understand what al Qaeda was trying to do on 9/11, if you don't have a sense of who Osama bin Laden…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-bergen/if-you-don-t-understand-what-al-qaeda-was-trying-to-do-on-9-11-if-you/) [Peter Bergen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-bergen/) > [We must assume our existence as broadly as we in any way can; everything, even the unheard - of, must be possible in it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/we-must-assume-our-existence-as-broadly-as-we-in-any-way-can/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [And also, one is a mother in order to understand the inexplicable. One is a mother to lighten the darkness. One is a mother…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mariama-b/and-also-one-is-a-mother-in-order-to-understand-the-inexplicable-one/) [Mariama Bâ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mariama-b/) > [A man may be accused of cowardice for fleeing away from all manner of physical dangers but when things supernatural, insubstantial and inexplicable threaten…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-hill/a-man-may-be-accused-of-cowardice-for-fleeing-away-from-all-manner-of/) [Susan Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-hill/) > [“We know how ninety-nine percent of the universe works," he told Carter shortly after they met, "and that's the clockworks, that's what we build…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-david-gold/we-know-how-ninety-nine-percent-of-the-universe-works-he-told-carter/) [Glen David Gold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-david-gold/) > [Love is the only inexplicable language that humans understand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-mosaic/love-is-the-only-inexplicable-language-that-humans-understand/) Keith Mosaic > [War is thus divine in itself, since it is a law of the world. War is divine through its consequences of a supernatural nature…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-de-maistre/war-is-thus-divine-in-itself-since-it-is-a-law-of-the-world-war-is/) [Joseph de Maistre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-de-maistre/) ## More by Charles Lamb > [Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/reader-if-you-are-gifted-with-nerves-like-mine-aspire-to-any/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [In the indications of female poverty there can be no disguise. No woman dresses below herself from caprice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/in-the-indications-of-female-poverty-there-can-be-no-disguise-no/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [To sigh, yet feel no pain; To weep, yet scarce know why; To sport an hour with Beauty's chain, Then throw it idly by.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/to-sigh-yet-feel-no-pain-to-weep-yet-scarce-know-why-to-sport-an-hour/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [“I love to lose myself in other men's minds. When I am not walking, I am reading.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/i-love-to-lose-myself-in-other-men-s-minds-when-i-am-not-walking-i-am/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [While childhood, and while dreams, producing childhood, shall be left, imagination shall not have spread her holy wings totally to fly the earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/while-childhood-and-while-dreams-producing-childhood-shall-be-left/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [Man, while he loves, is never quite depraved.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/man-while-he-loves-is-never-quite-depraved/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [Summer, as my friend Coleridge waggishly writes, has set in with its usual severity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/summer-as-my-friend-coleridge-waggishly-writes-has-set-in-with-its/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [Here cometh April again, and as far as I can see the world hath more fools in it than ever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/here-cometh-april-again-and-as-far-as-i-can-see-the-world-hath-more/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [A presentation copy...is a copy of a book whoch does not sell, sent you by the author, with his foolish autograph at the beginning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/a-presentation-copy-is-a-copy-of-a-book-whoch-does-not-sell-sent-you/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [I counsel thee, shut not thy heart, nor thy library.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/i-counsel-thee-shut-not-thy-heart-nor-thy-library/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [Nothing to me is more distasteful than that entire complacency and satisfaction which beam in the countenances of a new married couple; in that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/nothing-to-me-is-more-distasteful-than-that-entire-complacency-and/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [My theory is to enjoy life, but the practice is against it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/my-theory-is-to-enjoy-life-but-the-practice-is-against-it/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/all-all-are-gone-the-old-familiar-faces/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [Those evening bells! those evening bells! How many a tale their music tells Of youth and home, and that sweet time When last I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/those-evening-bells-those-evening-bells-how-many-a-tale-their-music/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [Beholding heaven, and feeling hell.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/beholding-heaven-and-feeling-hell/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) [Explore all 283 Charles Lamb quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) ## More Anguish quotes > [“He put his forehead against hers. “Alannah, my heart is yours.” He said softly. “And yet, I must hand it over to someone else…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-c-morin/he-put-his-forehead-against-hers-alannah-my-heart-is-yours-he-said/) [B.C. Morin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-c-morin/) > [Knowledge gives a wider choice and more anguish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-florman/knowledge-gives-a-wider-choice-and-more-anguish/) [Samuel Florman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-florman/) > [pg.9 "In my heart there's a peaceful anguish, and my calm is made of resignation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/pg-9-in-my-heart-there-s-a-peaceful-anguish-and-my-calm-is-made-of/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [Memory, with its fugitive adjustments, is the merciful veil to the grim enactments of the first law. It hides the anguish in the human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stacy-aumonier/memory-with-its-fugitive-adjustments-is-the-merciful-veil-to-the-grim/) [Stacy Aumonier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stacy-aumonier/) > [Our religion is itself profoundly sad - a religion of universal anguish, and one which, because of its very catholicity, grants full liberty to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/our-religion-is-itself-profoundly-sad-a-religion-of-universal-anguish/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Being human, we would expel from our lives physical pain and mental anguish and assure ourselves of continual ease and comfort, but if we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-w-kimball/being-human-we-would-expel-from-our-lives-physical-pain-and-mental/) [Spencer W. Kimball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-w-kimball/) > [The intellectuals' chief cause of anguish are one another's works. Jacques Barzun, 1959 all ignorance toboggans into know and trudges up to ignorance again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/the-intellectuals-chief-cause-of-anguish-are-one-another-s-works/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [I saw my parents as gods whose every wish must be obeyed or I would suffer the penalty of anguish and guilt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie-wood/i-saw-my-parents-as-gods-whose-every-wish-must-be-obeyed-or-i-would/) [Natalie Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie-wood/) > [Every last cast is actually a first cast. The first cast and first chance to catch the next fish. The next time you anguish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-bishop/every-last-cast-is-actually-a-first-cast-the-first-cast-and-first/) [Tony Bishop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-bishop/) > [Journalism is an extraordinary and terrible privilege. Not by chance, if you are aware of it, does it consume you with a hundred feelings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oriana-fallaci/journalism-is-an-extraordinary-and-terrible-privilege-not-by-chance/) [Oriana Fallaci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oriana-fallaci/) > [I have discovered in my long life that there are many words and phrases which have more power than any spell of magick. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-gemmell/i-have-discovered-in-my-long-life-that-there-are-many-words-and/) [David Gemmell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-gemmell/) > [One realizes that human relationships are the tragic necessity of human life; that they can never be wholly satisfactory, that every ego is half…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/one-realizes-that-human-relationships-are-the-tragic-necessity-of/) [Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/) > [I have designed my style pantomimes as white ink drawings on black backgrounds, so that man's destiny appears as a thread lost in an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-marceau/i-have-designed-my-style-pantomimes-as-white-ink-drawings-on-black/) [Marcel Marceau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-marceau/) > [So silently, peacefully, without hurry, without any tension, without any anguish, move into yourself instantly. It is urgent. Unless meditation becomes urgent to you,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/so-silently-peacefully-without-hurry-without-any-tension-without-any/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [It breaks my heart to think about a family weeping over the loss of a loved one. I understand the anguish that some feel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-p-bush/it-breaks-my-heart-to-think-about-a-family-weeping-over-the-loss-of-a/) [George P. Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-p-bush/) [Browse all 570 Anguish quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anguish/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I have sat through an Italian opera, til, for sheer pain, and inexplicable anguish, I have rushed out into the noisiest places of the crowded street, to solace myself with sounds which I was not obliged to follow and get rid of the distracting torment of endless, fruitless, barren attention!", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Charles Lamb" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/i-have-sat-through-an-italian-opera-til-for-sheer-pain-and/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Anguish" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/i-have-sat-through-an-italian-opera-til-for-sheer-pain-and/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e45/charles-lamb-1144_anguish_i-have-sat-through-an-italian-opera-til_1009029.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e45/charles-lamb-1144_anguish_i-have-sat-through-an-italian-opera-til_1009029.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e45/charles-lamb-1144_anguish_i-have-sat-through-an-italian-opera-til_1009029.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I have sat through an Italian opera, til, for sheer pain, and inexplicable anguish, I have rushed out into…” — Charles Lamb", "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": "Charles Lamb", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I have sat through an Italian...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/i-have-sat-through-an-italian-opera-til-for-sheer-pain-and/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/i-have-sat-through-an-italian-opera-til-for-sheer-pain-and/#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 } } ] } ```