--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Where you come from is gone, where you…" description: "\"“Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to never was there, and where you are is no good unless you can get away from it. —Flann..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b55/chris-offutt-49938_gone_where-you-come-from-is-gone-where-you-th_3072812.png" --- # Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were… ![“Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to never was there, and where you are is no good unless you can get away from it. —Flannery O’Connor,” quote by Chris Offutt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b55/chris-offutt-49938_gone_where-you-come-from-is-gone-where-you-th_3072812.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b55/chris-offutt-49938_gone_where-you-come-from-is-gone-where-you-th_3072812.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b55/chris-offutt-49938_gone_where-you-come-from-is-gone-where-you-th_3072812.png) > ““Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to never was there, and where you are is no good unless you can get away from it. —Flannery O’Connor,”” [Chris Offutt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-offutt/) ## 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 reflects on the disconnection between origins, expectations, and present reality, urging escape from unsatisfying circumstances to find fulfillment. **In simple terms:** Origins, expectations, and present may misalign; escape needed. Key Takeaway Seek change when current life feels unsatisfying. Themes identity displacement fulfillment Mood reflective somber Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - career transition - relationship shifts - personal crises - relocation Key Concepts existentialism self‑discovery resilience Questions to Reflect On - What aspects of your current life feel misaligned? - What steps can you take to create a more satisfying reality? A Different Perspective Escaping may not resolve underlying issues; sometimes confronting them is necessary. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Away Flannery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/away-flannery-5206739/) [Come Gone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/come-gone-240896/) [Gone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gone/) [Gone Thought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gone-thought-240897/) [Unless Away](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unless-away-1471215/) ## Related quotes > [Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to never was there, and where you are is no good unless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/where-you-come-from-is-gone-where-you-thought-you-were-going-to-never-2/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [“Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going was never there”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-mchugh/where-you-come-from-is-gone-where-you-thought-you-were-going-was/) [Laura McHugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-mchugh/) > [“Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to was never there, and where you are is no good unless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/where-you-come-from-is-gone-where-you-thought-you-were-going-to-was/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [Nobody can miss you unless you go away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-westerberg/nobody-can-miss-you-unless-you-go-away/) [Paul Westerberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-westerberg/) > [Cheaters never prosper, unless they get away with it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-tosh/cheaters-never-prosper-unless-they-get-away-with-it/) [Daniel Tosh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-tosh/) > [“It's strange. 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But it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/massie-moxley/my-time-has-come-and-so-i-m-gone-to-a-better-place-far-beyond-i-love/) [Massie Moxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/massie-moxley/) > [Yet to come is all that's gone, learn to live this moment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eiffel-65/yet-to-come-is-all-that-s-gone-learn-to-live-this-moment/) [Eiffel 65](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eiffel-65/) > [A lot of airlines have come and gone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-neeleman/a-lot-of-airlines-have-come-and-gone/) [David Neeleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-neeleman/) > [“As we talked I thought about him being gone. I thought about washing my sheets. I thought about the likelihood of him wanting to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kendra-grant-malone/as-we-talked-i-thought-about-him-being-gone-i-thought-about-washing/) [Kendra Grant Malone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kendra-grant-malone/) > [You never knew the last time you were seeing someone. 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Indeed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoyevsky/and-it-all-flew-away-like-a-dream-even-my-passion-and-yet-it-really/) [Fyodor Dostoyevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoyevsky/) > [I was pretty far gone, but not so far gone that I thought anyone with half a toehold in reality would think what we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meg-rosoff/i-was-pretty-far-gone-but-not-so-far-gone-that-i-thought-anyone-with/) [Meg Rosoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meg-rosoff/) > [“and with these gone from his thought, he lived a long”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-bach/and-with-these-gone-from-his-thought-he-lived-a-long/) [Richard Bach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-bach/) > [A lot of people have gone further than they thought they could because someone else thought they could](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zig-ziglar/a-lot-of-people-have-gone-further-than-they-thought-they-could/) [Zig Ziglar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zig-ziglar/) ## More by Chris Offutt > [“Reading wasn't an attempt to educate myself. It was my chief escape from a world that, although gorgeous in landscape and rich with mountain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-offutt/reading-wasn-t-an-attempt-to-educate-myself-it-was-my-chief-escape/) [Chris Offutt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-offutt/) > [“The state called it recidivism, but as the old cons said, Baker was doing life on the installment plan.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-offutt/the-state-called-it-recidivism-but-as-the-old-cons-said-baker-was/) [Chris Offutt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-offutt/) > [I'd never really found a place in the outside world, but had stayed away too long to fit in at home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-offutt/i-d-never-really-found-a-place-in-the-outside-world-but-had-stayed/) [Chris Offutt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-offutt/) > [“Vaughn nodded. Lije steaded himself and looked into the woods. "Never could abide no roof." "Ours ain't the best," Vaughn said. 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Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-r-ward/) > [Would she understand that time had stopped while she was gone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miranda-july/would-she-understand-that-time-had-stopped-while-she-was-gone/) [Miranda July](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miranda-july/) > [From the bitter cold winter at Valley Forge, to the mountains of Afghanistan and the deserts of Iraq, our soldiers have courageously answered when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/solomon-ortiz/from-the-bitter-cold-winter-at-valley-forge-to-the-mountains-of/) [Solomon Ortiz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/solomon-ortiz/) > [They paved paradise and put up a parkin lot With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swingin' hot spot Don't it always seem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joni-mitchell/they-paved-paradise-and-put-up-a-parkin-lot-with-a-pink-hotel-a/) [Joni Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joni-mitchell/) > [The amazing thing is that we live our lives with the hope that things will go right, that things will happen. 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All the normal noises of life were gone, leaving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/n-d-wilson/after-a-few-mouthfuls-of-moon-flavored-air-even-the-stubbornly-drowsy/) [N.D. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/n-d-wilson/) > [You don't think. It's all instinct. If you stop to think, you're gone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sugar-ray-robinson/you-don-t-think-it-s-all-instinct-if-you-stop-to-think-you-re-gone/) [Sugar Ray Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sugar-ray-robinson/) > [...Gratitude transforms the torment of memory of good things now gone into silent joy. One bears what was lovely in the past not as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/gratitude-transforms-the-torment-of-memory-of-good-things-now-gone/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) > [The weird thing was that Soft Cell was supposed to have come and gone before I started the album.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marc-almond/the-weird-thing-was-that-soft-cell-was-supposed-to-have-come-and-gone/) [Marc Almond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marc-almond/) [Browse all 7,934 Gone quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gone/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to never was there, and where you are is no good unless you can get away from it. —Flannery O’Connor,”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Chris Offutt" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-offutt/where-you-come-from-is-gone-where-you-thought-you-were-going-to-never-3/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Gone" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-offutt/where-you-come-from-is-gone-where-you-thought-you-were-going-to-never-3/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b55/chris-offutt-49938_gone_where-you-come-from-is-gone-where-you-th_3072812.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b55/chris-offutt-49938_gone_where-you-come-from-is-gone-where-you-th_3072812.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b55/chris-offutt-49938_gone_where-you-come-from-is-gone-where-you-th_3072812.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to never was there, and where you are is no…” — Chris Offutt", "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": "Chris Offutt", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-offutt/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Where you come from is gone,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-offutt/where-you-come-from-is-gone-where-you-thought-you-were-going-to-never-3/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-offutt/where-you-come-from-is-gone-where-you-thought-you-were-going-to-never-3/#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 } } ] } ```