--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: For nearly sixty years I have…" description: "\"“For nearly sixty years I have eavesdropped with impunity on the lives of people who do not exist.”\" — Diane Setterfield" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eed/diane-setterfield-1008_impunity_for-nearly-sixty-years-i-have-eavesdropp_1982324.png" --- # For nearly sixty years I have eavesdropped with impunity… ![“For nearly sixty years I have eavesdropped with impunity on the lives of people who do not exist.” quote by Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eed/diane-setterfield-1008_impunity_for-nearly-sixty-years-i-have-eavesdropp_1982324.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eed/diane-setterfield-1008_impunity_for-nearly-sixty-years-i-have-eavesdropp_1982324.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eed/diane-setterfield-1008_impunity_for-nearly-sixty-years-i-have-eavesdropp_1982324.png) > ““For nearly sixty years I have eavesdropped with impunity on the lives of people who do not exist.”” [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The narrator habitually eavesdrops on fictional lives, blurring lines between reality and imagination. **In simple terms:** The narrator listens to stories of non‑existent people. Key Takeaway Explore how imagination can feel as vivid as real experience. Themes fiction imagination storytelling identity Mood reflective melancholic Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - writing workshops - creative therapy - literary analysis Key Concepts meta‑narrative creativity psychology Questions to Reflect On - Why do we become attached to fictional characters? - Can imagined lives influence our real choices? A Different Perspective It may indicate an escape from personal reality or an unhealthy obsession. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Impunity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/impunity/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [“I have eavesdropped with impunity on the lives of people who do not exist. I have peeped shamelessly into hearts and bathroom closets. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/i-have-eavesdropped-with-impunity-on-the-lives-of-people-who-do-not/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [“I have closed my study door on the world and shut myself away with people of my imagination. For nearly sixty years I have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/i-have-closed-my-study-door-on-the-world-and-shut-myself-away-with/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [We've become the most eavesdropped, monitored, spied on, photographed population in human history, dwarfing anything that was done by the Stasi state and East…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-hedges/we-ve-become-the-most-eavesdropped-monitored-spied-on-photographed/) [Chris Hedges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-hedges/) > [Why did we not know that heads of state were being eavesdropped on, spied on? We are the intelligence committee and we didn't know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-schakowsky/why-did-we-not-know-that-heads-of-state-were-being-eavesdropped-on/) [Jan Schakowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-schakowsky/) > [I grew up in a society where everything you did was eavesdropped on, recorded, snitched on. I had friends when we were kids getting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-koum/i-grew-up-in-a-society-where-everything-you-did-was-eavesdropped-on/) [Jan Koum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-koum/) > [I shouldn't have eavesdropped, but sometimes, that's the only way to find out the truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-picoult/i-shouldn-t-have-eavesdropped-but-sometimes-that-s-the-only-way-to/) [Jodi Picoult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-picoult/) > [If we had known that one of those terrorist attacks was coming, could our government have electronically eavesdropped on the attackers without a warrant?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-du-pont/if-we-had-known-that-one-of-those-terrorist-attacks-was-coming-could/) [Pete du Pont](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-du-pont/) > [“The doctor tapped my ribs and eavesdropped on my heart.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/the-doctor-tapped-my-ribs-and-eavesdropped-on-my-heart/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“Alyosha,” she murmured again, “look out the door, see if mama is eavesdropping.” “Very well, Lise, I will look, only wouldn’t it be better…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoyevsky/alyosha-she-murmured-again-look-out-the-door-see-if-mama-is/) [Fyodor Dostoyevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoyevsky/) > [We have been the most prodigal of people with land, and for years we wasted it with impunity. 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What”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/then-something-rang-a-bell-in-his-mind-what/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [What better way to get to know someone than through her choice and treatment of books?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/what-better-way-to-get-to-know-someone-than-through-her-choice-and/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [“I have always been a reader; I have read at every stage of my life, and there has never been a time when reading…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/i-have-always-been-a-reader-i-have-read-at-every-stage-of-my-life-and/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [“Yesterday or the day before, while I had been going about my business, quietly and in private, some unknown person—some stranger—had gone to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/yesterday-or-the-day-before-while-i-had-been-going-about-my-business/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [“the Missus stood like a ghost.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/the-missus-stood-like-a-ghost/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [“But perhaps the answer is to stop writing altogether, for when I do write, even now as I write this very sentence, this very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/but-perhaps-the-answer-is-to-stop-writing-altogether-for-when-i-do/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [Our clients' faces, with the customary outward paleness and inner glow of the book lover.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/our-clients-faces-with-the-customary-outward-paleness-and-inner-glow/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [“He felt something move in his chest, as though an organ had been removed and something unfamiliar left in its place. A sentiment he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/he-felt-something-move-in-his-chest-as-though-an-organ-had-been/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [Still in my coat and hat, I sank onto the stair to read the letter. (I never read without making sure I am in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/still-in-my-coat-and-hat-i-sank-onto-the-stair-to-read-the-letter-i/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [I still believe in stories. I still forget myself when I am in the middle of a good book. Books are for me, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/i-still-believe-in-stories-i-still-forget-myself-when-i-am-in-the/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [Of course I loved books more than people. Of course I valued "Jane Eyre" over the anonymous stranger...Of course all of Shakespeare was worth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/of-course-i-loved-books-more-than-people-of-course-i-valued-jane-eyre/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) [Explore all 292 Diane Setterfield quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) ## More Impunity quotes > [“Don't let cycles of violent crimes, uncontrollable, rising cases of bloody impunity, evil puppets in a crippled judiciary, marionettes in a corrupted legislative system…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angelica-hopes/don-t-let-cycles-of-violent-crimes-uncontrollable-rising-cases-of/) [Angelica Hopes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angelica-hopes/) > [The north of the Central African Republic is now a war zone, with rival armed bands burning villages, kidnapping children, robbing travelers and killing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-d-kristof/the-north-of-the-central-african-republic-is-now-a-war-zone-with/) [Nicholas D. 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