--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If we wanted home truths, we should have…" description: "\"If we wanted home truths, we should have stayed at home.\" — Clifford Geertz" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c0/clifford-geertz-11500_home_if-we-wanted-home-truths-we-should-have_961912.png" --- # If we wanted home truths, we should have stayed at home. ![“If we wanted home truths, we should have stayed at home.” quote by Clifford Geertz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c0/clifford-geertz-11500_home_if-we-wanted-home-truths-we-should-have_961912.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c0/clifford-geertz-11500_home_if-we-wanted-home-truths-we-should-have_961912.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c0/clifford-geertz-11500_home_if-we-wanted-home-truths-we-should-have_961912.png) > “If we wanted home truths, we should have stayed at home.” [Clifford Geertz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifford-geertz/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Home truths are elusive; staying home limits exposure to broader realities **In simple terms:** Staying home hides deeper truths Key Takeaway Seek diverse experiences for truth Themes culture truth observation Mood curious critical Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - travel - field research - cultural immersion - media consumption Key Concepts ethnography relativism social context Questions to Reflect On - What truths might you miss by staying home? - How can you broaden your perspective? A Different Perspective Comfort zones can reinforce bias ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Home](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/home/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [We stayed at home to write, to consolidate our outstretched selves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/we-stayed-at-home-to-write-to-consolidate-our-outstretched-selves/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [History is not a long series of centuries in which men did all the interesting/important things and women stayed home and twiddled their thumbs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tansy-rayner-roberts/history-is-not-a-long-series-of-centuries-in-which-men-did-all-the/) [Tansy Rayner Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tansy-rayner-roberts/) > [“If you stayed at home, you might not get the opportunity to go to that place again. But if you went, you could always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-schwalbe/if-you-stayed-at-home-you-might-not-get-the-opportunity-to-go-to-that/) [Will Schwalbe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-schwalbe/) > [“I would not be dying if it were not for her. I would have stayed home, as I have always stayed home, and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/i-would-not-be-dying-if-it-were-not-for-her-i-would-have-stayed-home/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hillary-clinton/i-suppose-i-could-have-stayed-home-and-baked-cookies-and-had-teas/) [Hillary Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hillary-clinton/) > [“During the last week of her father's life, Blanca stayed home with him. 'I didn't bathe. I didn't sleep. I sat in the bed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-renner/during-the-last-week-of-her-father-s-life-blanca-stayed-home-with-him/) Kevin Renner > [“Should we have stayed home and thought of here?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bishop/should-we-have-stayed-home-and-thought-of-here/) [Elizabeth Bishop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bishop/) > [I had a baby and stayed home for a couple of years, and I was really casting about, thinking, 'What am I going to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-warren/i-had-a-baby-and-stayed-home-for-a-couple-of-years-and-i-was-really/) [Elizabeth Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-warren/) > [We were so bad last year, the cheerleaders stayed home and phoned in the cheers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-williams/we-were-so-bad-last-year-the-cheerleaders-stayed-home-and-phoned-in/) [Pat Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-williams/) > [I could have stayed home and been kept by my wife.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/desi-arnaz/i-could-have-stayed-home-and-been-kept-by-my-wife/) [Desi Arnaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/desi-arnaz/) > [I have often asked myself if I would have worked as hard if I was as ill as Steve Jobs. My answer is that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-gou/i-have-often-asked-myself-if-i-would-have-worked-as-hard-if-i-was-as/) [Terry Gou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-gou/) > [“Most people managed to evade home truths with astonishing ease.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-hawkins/most-people-managed-to-evade-home-truths-with-astonishing-ease/) [Karen Hawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-hawkins/) > [Perhaps the one comforting thought I got out of this whole disgusting affair was that over the years when the government was tapping my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-suzman/perhaps-the-one-comforting-thought-i-got-out-of-this-whole-disgusting/) [Helen Suzman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-suzman/) > [It is high time that the American people should remember a few home truths, and that we should refuse to become partners with a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elisabeth-marbury/it-is-high-time-that-the-american-people-should-remember-a-few-home/) [Elisabeth Marbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elisabeth-marbury/) > [Every now and again, it doesn't hurt to utter some home truths as long as it is not personal, just purely professional.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-lallana/every-now-and-again-it-doesn-t-hurt-to-utter-some-home-truths-as-long/) [Adam Lallana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-lallana/) ## More by Clifford Geertz > [My instincts are always against people who want to fasten some sort of hegemony onto things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-geertz/my-instincts-are-always-against-people-who-want-to-fasten-some-sort/) [Clifford Geertz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifford-geertz/) > [One of the most significant facts about humanity may finally be that we all begin with the natural equipment to a live a thousand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-geertz/one-of-the-most-significant-facts-about-humanity-may-finally-be-that/) [Clifford Geertz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifford-geertz/) > [“One of the most significant facts about us may finally be that we all begin with the natural equipment to live a thousand kinds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-geertz/one-of-the-most-significant-facts-about-us-may-finally-be-that-we-all/) [Clifford Geertz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifford-geertz/) > [Understanding a people's culture exposes their normalness without reducing their particularity...It renders them accessible: setting them in the frame of their own banalities, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-geertz/understanding-a-people-s-culture-exposes-their-normalness-without/) [Clifford Geertz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifford-geertz/) > [I think what's known about neurology is still scattered and uncertain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-geertz/i-think-what-s-known-about-neurology-is-still-scattered-and-uncertain/) [Clifford Geertz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifford-geertz/) > [The way in which mathematicians and physicists and historians talk is quite different, and what a physicist means by physical intuition and what a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-geertz/the-way-in-which-mathematicians-and-physicists-and-historians-talk-is/) [Clifford Geertz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifford-geertz/) > [It's always amusing to look at how something early in the 20th century was written in anthropology and how it's written now. There's been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-geertz/it-s-always-amusing-to-look-at-how-something-early-in-the-20th/) [Clifford Geertz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifford-geertz/) > [Cultural analysis is intrinsically incomplete. And, worse than that, the more deeply it goes the less complete it is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-geertz/cultural-analysis-is-intrinsically-incomplete-and-worse-than-that-the/) [Clifford Geertz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifford-geertz/) > [What we call our data are really our own constructions of other people’s constructions of what they and their compatriots are up to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-geertz/what-we-call-our-data-are-really-our-own-constructions-of-other/) [Clifford Geertz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifford-geertz/) > [It may be in the cultural particularities of people — in their oddities — that some of the most instructive revelations of what it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-geertz/it-may-be-in-the-cultural-particularities-of-people-in-their-oddities/) [Clifford Geertz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifford-geertz/) > [The point of literary criticism in anthropology is not to replace research, but to find out how it is that we are persuasive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-geertz/the-point-of-literary-criticism-in-anthropology-is-not-to-replace/) [Clifford Geertz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifford-geertz/) > [“What the ethnographer is in fact faced with—except when (as, of course, he must do) he is pursuing the more automatized routines of data…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-geertz/what-the-ethnographer-is-in-fact-faced-with-except-when-as-of-course/) [Clifford Geertz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifford-geertz/) > [ \[Culture\] denotes an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms, by means of which… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-geertz/culture-denotes-an-historically-transmitted-pattern-of-meanings/) [Clifford Geertz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifford-geertz/) > [Most anthropologists are doing straightforward ethnography, and should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-geertz/most-anthropologists-are-doing-straightforward-ethnography-and-should/) [Clifford Geertz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifford-geertz/) > [Learning to exist in a world quite different from that which formed you is the condition, these days, of pursuing research you can on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-geertz/learning-to-exist-in-a-world-quite-different-from-that-which-formed/) [Clifford Geertz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifford-geertz/) [Explore all 58 Clifford Geertz quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifford-geertz/) ## More Home quotes > [Sentiment is the mightiest force in civilization; not sentimentality, but sentiment. Women will bring this into politics. Home, sweet home, is as powerful on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-ellen-foster/sentiment-is-the-mightiest-force-in-civilization-not-sentimentality/) [Judith Ellen Foster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judith-ellen-foster/) > [I don't like being away from home. That's one reason why I don't work as much as I used to \[when I started my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-powell/i-don-t-like-being-away-from-home-that-s-one-reason-why-i-don-t-work/) [Jane Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-powell/) > [“It is not the force of the wind, but the depth of the roots.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-d-lounsbrough/it-is-not-the-force-of-the-wind-but-the-depth-of-the-roots/) [Craig D. Lounsbrough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-d-lounsbrough/) > [If your life's at a juncture and you need to think about things, there's nowhere better than home. However old you are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophie-kinsella/if-your-life-s-at-a-juncture-and-you-need-to-think-about-things-there/) [Sophie Kinsella](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophie-kinsella/) > [Most days, I go home and I feel rejuvenated. I feel ebullient.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siddhartha-mukherjee/most-days-i-go-home-and-i-feel-rejuvenated-i-feel-ebullient/) [Siddhartha Mukherjee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siddhartha-mukherjee/) > [If my campaign is not in the debate, we will not be talking about how we really fix this problem of endless and expanding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jill-stein/if-my-campaign-is-not-in-the-debate-we-will-not-be-talking-about-how/) [Jill Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jill-stein/) > [Houses are like the human beings that inhabit them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/houses-are-like-the-human-beings-that-inhabit-them/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/) [Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/) > [I don't crave applause. I'm not one of those guys who comes alive on stage. I'm much more alive at home, I think.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-bowie/i-don-t-crave-applause-i-m-not-one-of-those-guys-who-comes-alive-on/) [David Bowie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-bowie/) > [A home is not a museum. It doesn't have to be furnished with Picasso paintings, or Sheraton suites, or Oriental rugs, or Chinese pottery.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-m-cain/a-home-is-not-a-museum-it-doesn-t-have-to-be-furnished-with-picasso/) [James M. Cain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-m-cain/) > [As a child, I had a lot of older gay men taking care of me. There's a trust there. I feel like little girls…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-cho/as-a-child-i-had-a-lot-of-older-gay-men-taking-care-of-me-there-s-a/) [Margaret Cho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-cho/) > [Everything comes home, my mother used to say; every word spoken, every shadow cast, every footprint in the sand. It can't be helped; it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanne-harris/everything-comes-home-my-mother-used-to-say-every-word-spoken-every/) [Joanne Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanne-harris/) > [When you're in the middle of a pennant race, you can't go up there thinking about home runs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sammy-sosa/when-you-re-in-the-middle-of-a-pennant-race-you-can-t-go-up-there/) [Sammy Sosa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sammy-sosa/) > [I write about presidents. That means I write about guys - so far. I'm interested in the people closest to them, the people they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-kearns-goodwin/i-write-about-presidents-that-means-i-write-about-guys-so-far-i-m/) [Doris Kearns Goodwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-kearns-goodwin/) > [You play a part, and as soon as a movie is over and the camera stops, you go home and you're not really responsible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nastassja-kinski/you-play-a-part-and-as-soon-as-a-movie-is-over-and-the-camera-stops/) [Nastassja Kinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nastassja-kinski/) [Browse all 25,855 Home quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/home/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If we wanted home truths, we should have stayed at home.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Clifford Geertz" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-geertz/if-we-wanted-home-truths-we-should-have-stayed-at-home/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Home" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-geertz/if-we-wanted-home-truths-we-should-have-stayed-at-home/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c0/clifford-geertz-11500_home_if-we-wanted-home-truths-we-should-have_961912.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c0/clifford-geertz-11500_home_if-we-wanted-home-truths-we-should-have_961912.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c0/clifford-geertz-11500_home_if-we-wanted-home-truths-we-should-have_961912.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If we wanted home truths, we should have stayed at home.” — Clifford Geertz", "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": "Clifford Geertz", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifford-geertz/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "If we wanted home truths, we...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-geertz/if-we-wanted-home-truths-we-should-have-stayed-at-home/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-geertz/if-we-wanted-home-truths-we-should-have-stayed-at-home/#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 } } ] } ```