--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Life itself is an exile. The way home is…" description: "\"Life itself is an exile. The way home is not the way back.\" — Colin Wilson" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/99e/colin-wilson-8331_exile_life-itself-is-an-exile-the-way-home-is_1774740.jpg" --- # Life itself is an exile. The way home is not the way back. ![“Life itself is an exile. The way home is not the way back.” quote by Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/99e/colin-wilson-8331_exile_life-itself-is-an-exile-the-way-home-is_1774740.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/99e/colin-wilson-8331_exile_life-itself-is-an-exile-the-way-home-is_1774740.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/99e/colin-wilson-8331_exile_life-itself-is-an-exile-the-way-home-is_1774740.jpg) > “Life itself is an exile. The way home is not the way back.” [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Life feels like exile; returning home is not simply retracing steps but finding a new path. **In simple terms:** Life is exile; home is a new direction, not the past. Key Takeaway Seek new meaning beyond familiar places. Themes existence exile homecoming identity Mood melancholic contemplative inspirational Type philosophical existential When to use this quote - personal crisis - spiritual journey - migration - career change Key Concepts existential search self discovery Questions to Reflect On - What does “home” mean to you? - How can you create a sense of belonging elsewhere? A Different Perspective Returning home may not resolve inner exile. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Exile](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exile/) [Exile Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exile-way-1810442/) [Home](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/home/) [Home Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/home-way-335950/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Life Exile](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-exile-1810441/) [Life itself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-itself/) [Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/) [Way home](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way-home/) ## Related quotes > [“For the first time it strikes me that it must be hard to spend your life in exile and finally win your kingdom by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philippa-gregory/for-the-first-time-it-strikes-me-that-it-must-be-hard-to-spend-your/) [Philippa Gregory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philippa-gregory/) > [Finding a way to extend forgiveness to ourselves is one of our most essential tasks. Just as others have been caught in suffering, so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-kornfield/finding-a-way-to-extend-forgiveness-to-ourselves-is-one-of-our-most/) [Jack Kornfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-kornfield/) > [“Sometimes he felt like he'd been gone his whole life--in exile, away from the place he was supposed to be, and that, soldier-like, he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gillian-flynn/sometimes-he-felt-like-he-d-been-gone-his-whole-life-in-exile-away/) [Gillian Flynn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gillian-flynn/) > [Everyone must come out of his Exile in his own way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-buber/everyone-must-come-out-of-his-exile-in-his-own-way/) [Martin Buber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-buber/) > [So now I'm finally goin down can I find my way back home now there's no one else around can I find my way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saliva/so-now-i-m-finally-goin-down-can-i-find-my-way-back-home-now-there-s/) [Saliva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saliva/) > [“The paramount terror that plagues humankind is to live a meaningless life of an exile, an incomplete person whom fails to experience the rapture…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kilroy-j-oldster/the-paramount-terror-that-plagues-humankind-is-to-live-a-meaningless/) [Kilroy J. Oldster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kilroy-j-oldster/) > [“My mother showed her gratitude for her life in exile by alluding to India’s modernity: the expansive railway network; the Bollywood movies she came…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tsering-wangmo-dhompa/my-mother-showed-her-gratitude-for-her-life-in-exile-by-alluding-to/) [Tsering Wangmo Dhompa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tsering-wangmo-dhompa/) > [The world knows already, they just don't have a picture up there or I'll spend the rest of my life in exile. It's hard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marc-wallice/the-world-knows-already-they-just-don-t-have-a-picture-up-there-or-i/) [Marc Wallice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marc-wallice/) > [How can the mind take hold of such a country? Generations of invaders have tried, but they remain in exile. The important towns they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/how-can-the-mind-take-hold-of-such-a-country-generations-of-invaders/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Home is wherever I am. People make too big a deal about where you live. I try to be grounded in myself. Home is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arj-barker/home-is-wherever-i-am-people-make-too-big-a-deal-about-where-you-live/) [Arj Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arj-barker/) > [Be intentional with your space. Don't be afraid to step on a limb and design your home the way you love it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-gaines/be-intentional-with-your-space-don-t-be-afraid-to-step-on-a-limb-and/) [Joanna Gaines](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-gaines/) > [“For home had a way of shifting, of changing shape and temperature. Home was homeless. It could exist anywhere, because its only substance was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-evans/for-home-had-a-way-of-shifting-of-changing-shape-and-temperature-home/) [Diana Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-evans/) > [If nature offers no home, then we must make a home one way or another. The only question is how.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burnside/if-nature-offers-no-home-then-we-must-make-a-home-one-way-or-another/) [John Burnside](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burnside/) > [Chicago is my home. And the way Chicago sounds will always be a part of who I am.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-elling/chicago-is-my-home-and-the-way-chicago-sounds-will-always-be-a-part/) [Kurt Elling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-elling/) > [If you work at home, you're always on call in a way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-connolly/if-you-work-at-home-you-re-always-on-call-in-a-way/) [John Connolly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-connolly/) ## More by Colin Wilson > [“Man is not a 'fixed and limited animal whose nature is absolutely constant'. He changed drastically when he developed 'divided consciousness' to cope with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/man-is-not-a-fixed-and-limited-animal-whose-nature-is-absolutely/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [“As to Gurdjieff's power to renew his own energies, its essence had been understood by psychologists of the nineteenth century, decades before the age…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/as-to-gurdjieff-s-power-to-renew-his-own-energies-its-essence-had/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [The mystical impulse in men is somehow a desire to possess the universe. In women, it's a desire to be possessed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/the-mystical-impulse-in-men-is-somehow-a-desire-to-possess-the/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [The exploration of oneself is usually also an exploration of the world at large, of other writers, a process of comparison with oneself with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/the-exploration-of-oneself-is-usually-also-an-exploration-of-the/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [“There is in Shaw, as in Gurdjieff and Nietzsche, a recognition of the immense effort of Will that is necessary to express even a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/there-is-in-shaw-as-in-gurdjieff-and-nietzsche-a-recognition-of-the/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [I was aggressively nonpolitical. 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It is this recognition…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/man-is-brilliant-at-solving-problems-but-solving-them-only-makes-him/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [It was Rousseau who was largely responsible for the problem by giving currency to the idea that freedom can exist without responsibility and discipline.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/it-was-rousseau-who-was-largely-responsible-for-the-problem-by-giving/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [If I'd stayed on in London and carried on going to literary parties, it would have wrecked me as a writer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/if-i-d-stayed-on-in-london-and-carried-on-going-to-literary-parties/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [Imagination should be used, not to escape reality but to create it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/imagination-should-be-used-not-to-escape-reality-but-to-create-it/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [If you asked me what is the basis of all my work, it's the feeling there's something basically wrong with human beings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/if-you-asked-me-what-is-the-basis-of-all-my-work-it-s-the-feeling/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [The sheer volume of evidence for survival after death is so immense that to ignore it is like standing at the foot of Mount…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/the-sheer-volume-of-evidence-for-survival-after-death-is-so-immense/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) [Explore all 81 Colin Wilson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) ## More Exile quotes > [Were you indeed not blinded by the Curse Of Self-exile, that still grows worse and worse, Yourselves would know that, though you see him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/farid-al-din-attar/were-you-indeed-not-blinded-by-the-curse-of-self-exile-that-still/) [Farid al-Din Attar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/farid-al-din-attar/) > [What can my enemies do to me? My paradise is in my heart, it is with me wherever I go. To imprison me is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibn-taymiyyah/what-can-my-enemies-do-to-me-my-paradise-is-in-my-heart-it-is-with-me/) [Ibn Taymiyyah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibn-taymiyyah/) > [To live is to hurt others, and through others, to hurt oneself. Cruel earth! How can we manage not to touch anything? To find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/to-live-is-to-hurt-others-and-through-others-to-hurt-oneself-cruel/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [I had severed relations with the Romanian exiles who had become politically conservative and even extremely right wing; I was giving chess lessons to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dumitru-tepeneag/i-had-severed-relations-with-the-romanian-exiles-who-had-become/) [Dumitru Tepeneag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dumitru-tepeneag/) > [They came to know the incorrigible sorrow of all prisoners and exiles, which is to live in company with a memory that serves no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/they-came-to-know-the-incorrigible-sorrow-of-all-prisoners-and-exiles/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [Independence didn't have to be exile.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julia-alvarez/independence-didn-t-have-to-be-exile/) [Julia Alvarez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julia-alvarez/) > [In our culture of constant access and nonstop media, nothing feels more like a curse from God than time in the wilderness. To be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-martin/in-our-culture-of-constant-access-and-nonstop-media-nothing-feels/) [Jonathan Martin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-martin/) > [“The growth of his power and fame was matched, in my imagination, by the degree of the punishment I would have liked to inflict…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nabokov-i-tyrants-destroyed-i/the-growth-of-his-power-and-fame-was-matched-in-my-imagination-by-the/) [Nabokov i Tyrants Destroyed i](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nabokov-i-tyrants-destroyed-i/) > [I turned what was a wonderful case of self-reliance into a case of self-exile. Which is not uncommon, I think, in people who grow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-newman/i-turned-what-was-a-wonderful-case-of-self-reliance-into-a-case-of/) [Leigh Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-newman/) > [Humor is widely used by Indians to deal with life. Indian gatherings are marked by laughter and jokes, many directed at the horrors of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paula-gunn-allen/humor-is-widely-used-by-indians-to-deal-with-life-indian-gatherings/) [Paula Gunn Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paula-gunn-allen/) > [The Gnostics believed that exile was the essential condition of man. Do you agree? I do. The artist and the addict both wrestle with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pressfield/the-gnostics-believed-that-exile-was-the-essential-condition-of-man/) [Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) > [The perpetuation of slavery, the exile and extermination of American Indians, and the passage of Jim Crow laws weren't carried out at the bidding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-j-o-rourke/the-perpetuation-of-slavery-the-exile-and-extermination-of-american/) [P. J. 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We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-allende/we-live-in-an-era-where-masses-of-people-come-and-go-across-a-hostile/) [Isabel Allende](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-allende/) [Browse all 512 Exile quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exile/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Life itself is an exile. 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