--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Familiarity is the thing-the sense of…" description: "\"Familiarity is the thing-the sense of belonging. It grants exemption from all evil, all shabbiness.\" — E. B. White" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47f/e-b-white-1448_belonging_familiarity-is-the-thing-the-sense-of-be_1360796.png" --- # Familiarity is the thing-the sense of belonging. It grants… ![“Familiarity is the thing-the sense of belonging. It grants exemption from all evil, all shabbiness.” quote by E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47f/e-b-white-1448_belonging_familiarity-is-the-thing-the-sense-of-be_1360796.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47f/e-b-white-1448_belonging_familiarity-is-the-thing-the-sense-of-be_1360796.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47f/e-b-white-1448_belonging_familiarity-is-the-thing-the-sense-of-be_1360796.png) > “Familiarity is the thing-the sense of belonging. It grants exemption from all evil, all shabbiness.” [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Familiarity creates a sense of belonging that shields us from negativity and moral decay. **In simple terms:** Belonging protects us from evil. Key Takeaway Cultivate genuine connections. Themes belonging trust psychological safety Mood warm reflective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - family gatherings - work teams - online communities - new friendships Key Concepts social identity protective mechanisms Questions to Reflect On - How does familiarity influence your moral choices? - When might it be harmful to seek belonging? A Different Perspective Belonging can also breed complacency and resistance to change. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Belonging](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/belonging/) [Belonging Grants](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/belonging-grants-4656847/) [Evil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evil/) [Exemption](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exemption/) [Exemption Evil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exemption-evil-4656848/) [Familiarity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/familiarity/) [Familiarity Thing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/familiarity-thing-4656846/) [Grants](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grants/) [Sense Belonging](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sense-belonging/) [Sense Of Belonging](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sense-of-belonging/) ## Related quotes > [I've also never written about home in this way before. I guess a lot of it is subconscious and I am intuitively making these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesmyn-ward/i-ve-also-never-written-about-home-in-this-way-before-i-guess-a-lot/) [Jesmyn Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesmyn-ward/) > [“It wasn't exactly love at first sight, but it was deeper than that. 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I always felt I was an outsider.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chirlane-mccray/i-had-never-had-a-deep-sense-of-belonging-anywhere-i-always-felt-i/) [Chirlane McCray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chirlane-mccray/) > [THE POWER OF THE GROUP We all want to feel a sense of belonging. This isn’t a character flaw. 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Michener](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-michener/) > [The best of community does give one a deep sense of belonging and well-being; and in that sense community takes away loneliness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-nouwen/the-best-of-community-does-give-one-a-deep-sense-of-belonging-and/) [Henri Nouwen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-nouwen/) > [I'm trying to make a case for those people who don't have a sense of belonging that they should have, that there is something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-bragg/i-m-trying-to-make-a-case-for-those-people-who-don-t-have-a-sense-of/) [Billy Bragg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-bragg/) > [The dynamism of any diverse community depends not only on the diversity itself but on promoting a sense of belonging among those who formerly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-dynamism-of-any-diverse-community-depends-not-only-on-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [When you're guest-starring, it's very nice, but you're there very briefly, and it's right there in the name: You're a guest. It's very hard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zeljko-ivanek/when-you-re-guest-starring-it-s-very-nice-but-you-re-there-very/) [Zeljko Ivanek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zeljko-ivanek/) > [Faith is a quality of being: of being in touch with oneself, with life, and with the universe. It is a sense of belonging…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-lowen/faith-is-a-quality-of-being-of-being-in-touch-with-oneself-with-life/) [Alexander Lowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-lowen/) > [“You are my home; it is in your loving gaze that I find the comfort, acceptance, and the sense of belonging.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-maraboli/you-are-my-home-it-is-in-your-loving-gaze-that-i-find-the-comfort/) [Steve Maraboli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-maraboli/) ## More by E. B. White > [Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/writing-is-an-act-of-faith-not-a-trick-of-grammar/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [“To hear, in the short space of one week, a Scottish terrier booed by an audience and President Roosevelt criticized by Charles Lindbergh was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/to-hear-in-the-short-space-of-one-week-a-scottish-terrier-booed-by-an/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [The sea answers all questions, and always in the same way; for when you read in the papers the interminable discussions and the bickering…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/the-sea-answers-all-questions-and-always-in-the-same-way-for-when-you/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [New York blends the gift of privacy with the excitement of participation; and better than most dense communities it succeeds in insulating the individual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/new-york-blends-the-gift-of-privacy-with-the-excitement-of/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [The terror of the atom age is not the violence of the new power but the speed of man's adjustment to it, the speed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/the-terror-of-the-atom-age-is-not-the-violence-of-the-new-power-but/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [When my wife's Aunt Caroline was in her nineties, she lived with us, and she once remarked: 'Remembrance is sufficient of the beauty we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/when-my-wife-s-aunt-caroline-was-in-her-nineties-she-lived-with-us/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say the weather is a great bluffer. I guess the same is true of our human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/sailors-have-an-expression-about-the-weather-they-say-the-weather-is/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [Anyone who writes down to children is simply wasting his time. You have to write up, not down.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/anyone-who-writes-down-to-children-is-simply-wasting-his-time-you/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [A writer should concern himself with whatever absorbs his fancy, stirs his heart, and unlimbers his typewriter. ... A writer has the duty to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/a-writer-should-concern-himself-with-whatever-absorbs-his-fancy-stirs/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [Every morning I awake torn between a desire to save the world and an inclination to savor it. This makes it hard to plan…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/every-morning-i-awake-torn-between-a-desire-to-save-the-world-and-an/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [I seldom went to bed before two or three o'clock in the morning, on the theory that if anything of interest were to happen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/i-seldom-went-to-bed-before-two-or-three-o-clock-in-the-morning-on/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [Necessity first mothered invention. Now invention has little ones of her own, and they look just like grandma.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/necessity-first-mothered-invention-now-invention-has-little-ones-of/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [The bonus is really one of the great give-aways in business enterprise. It is the annual salve applied to the conscience of the rich…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/the-bonus-is-really-one-of-the-great-give-aways-in-business/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [There's no limit to how complicated things can get, on account of one thing always leading to another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/there-s-no-limit-to-how-complicated-things-can-get-on-account-of-one/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [The critic leaves at curtain fall To find, in starting to review it, He scarcely saw the play at all For starting to review…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/the-critic-leaves-at-curtain-fall-to-find-in-starting-to-review-it-he/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) [Explore all 240 E. B. White quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) ## More Belonging quotes > [She might be without country, without nation, but inside her there was still a being that could exist and be free, that could simply…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-maas/she-might-be-without-country-without-nation-but-inside-her-there-was/) [Sharon Maas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-maas/) > [I always think the best way of motivating yourself is to put yourself in a situation where you feel like you're belonging to something.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-jackson/i-always-think-the-best-way-of-motivating-yourself-is-to-put-yourself/) [Colin Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-jackson/) > [It is a well-settled principle of the international code that where one nation owes another a liquidated debt which it refuses or neglects to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-jackson/it-is-a-well-settled-principle-of-the-international-code-that-where/) [Andrew Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-jackson/) > [The region belonging to the pure intellect is straitened: the imagination labours to extend its territories, to give it room. She sweeps across the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-macdonald/the-region-belonging-to-the-pure-intellect-is-straitened-the/) [George MacDonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-macdonald/) > [I am convinced that human nature is basically affectionate and good. If our behavior follows our kind and loving nature, immense benefits will result,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dalai-lama/i-am-convinced-that-human-nature-is-basically-affectionate-and-good/) [Dalai Lama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dalai-lama/) > [“The reason “belonging” was so potent, so attractive, so much a part of the human yearning, was that it also meant safety, and loyalty.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-penny/the-reason-belonging-was-so-potent-so-attractive-so-much-a-part-of/) [Louise Penny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-penny/) > [If some student belonging to weaker section of society suffers distress, humanity says it must be addressed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arun-jaitley/if-some-student-belonging-to-weaker-section-of-society-suffers/) [Arun Jaitley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arun-jaitley/) > [Connection gives purpose and meaning to our lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bren-brown/connection-gives-purpose-and-meaning-to-our-lives/) [Brené Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bren-brown/) > [My father was a man of great charity towards the poor, and compassion for the sick, and also for servants; so much so, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/my-father-was-a-man-of-great-charity-towards-the-poor-and-compassion/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Maybe the problem with the world is, that people are too quick to judge. And out of desperation, the loneliness creeps in like a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-limn/maybe-the-problem-with-the-world-is-that-people-are-too-quick-to/) [Jeremy Limn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-limn/) > [“It turns out to be the place of true belonging, and it's the bravest and most sacred place you'll stand.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bren-brown/it-turns-out-to-be-the-place-of-true-belonging-and-it-s-the-bravest/) [Brené Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bren-brown/) > [The hardest thing about being at Sony was not the travel; it was being divorced from the public and private life I had in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-stringer/the-hardest-thing-about-being-at-sony-was-not-the-travel-it-was-being/) [Howard Stringer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-stringer/) > [Whenever you are examining someone else's belongings, you are bound to learn many interesting things about the person of which you were not previously…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/whenever-you-are-examining-someone-else-s-belongings-you-are-bound-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“She isn't anybody's,' Rook said darkly. 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