--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: ...Alex found herself reading of emotions…" description: "\"“...Alex found herself reading of emotions and experiences of which her own seemed so feeble a mockery, that she was conscious of a physical pang of si..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0ac/e-m-delafield-2-53371_fiction_alex-found-herself-reading-of-emotions-a_454544.jpg" --- # ...Alex found herself reading of emotions and experiences… ![“...Alex found herself reading of emotions and experiences of which her own seemed so feeble a mockery, that she was conscious of a physical pang of sick disappointment. Was all fiction utterly untrue to life? Or was hers the counterfeit, which the printed pages but reproduced something of a…” quote by E.M. Delafield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0ac/e-m-delafield-2-53371_fiction_alex-found-herself-reading-of-emotions-a_454544.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0ac/e-m-delafield-2-53371_fiction_alex-found-herself-reading-of-emotions-a_454544.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0ac/e-m-delafield-2-53371_fiction_alex-found-herself-reading-of-emotions-a_454544.jpg) > ““...Alex found herself reading of emotions and experiences of which her own seemed so feeble a mockery, that she was conscious of a physical pang of sick disappointment. Was all fiction utterly untrue to life? Or was hers the counterfeit, which the printed pages but reproduced something of a reality which was denied to her?”” [E.M. Delafield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-m-delafield-2/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Fiction can make personal experience feel inadequate, prompting doubt about authenticity. **In simple terms:** Reading fiction may make your life feel lacking. Key Takeaway Balance fiction with self‑acceptance. Themes literature self‑doubt authenticity identity Mood contemplative melancholic Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - creative writing classes - book clubs - personal journaling - self‑esteem workshops Key Concepts existentialism comparative literature Questions to Reflect On - Do you compare your life to stories? - What truths do you find in fiction? A Different Perspective Fiction is a mirror, not a judge, of your life. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [“Since we’re hard-wired to experience emotions before we can respond to them, it’s the one-two punch of reading emotions effectively and then reacting to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/travis-bradberry/since-we-re-hard-wired-to-experience-emotions-before-we-can-respond/) [Travis Bradberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/travis-bradberry/) > [“made his words something of a Rorschach test, and I might be reading too many of my own emotions into it. ”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bobby-adair/made-his-words-something-of-a-rorschach-test-and-i-might-be-reading/) [Bobby Adair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bobby-adair/) > [Fiction is a place where people can meet, where they take the time to very seriously examine and think about the experiences of other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-klay/fiction-is-a-place-where-people-can-meet-where-they-take-the-time-to/) [Phil Klay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-klay/) > [By his very profession, a serious fiction writer is a vendor of the sensuous particulars of life, a perceiver and handler of things. His…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/by-his-very-profession-a-serious-fiction-writer-is-a-vendor-of-the/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“For the fiction writer himself the whole story is the meaning, because it is an experience, not an abstraction.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/for-the-fiction-writer-himself-the-whole-story-is-the-meaning-because/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [“Grayson: Fiction is just a lie anyway. Brianna: But it's not - it's a different kind of truth - it would be your truth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nora-roberts/grayson-fiction-is-just-a-lie-anyway-brianna-but-it-s-not-it-s-a/) [Nora Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nora-roberts/) > [My only obligation as a fiction writer is to the story, to make it good, so good the busy reader doesn't feel that flipping…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-pietrzyk/my-only-obligation-as-a-fiction-writer-is-to-the-story-to-make-it/) [Leslie Pietrzyk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-pietrzyk/) > [Fiction and non-fiction are only different techniques of story telling. For reasons I do not fully understand, fiction dances out of me. Non-fiction is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/fiction-and-non-fiction-are-only-different-techniques-of-story/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [Life is a means of extracting fiction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-stone/life-is-a-means-of-extracting-fiction/) [Robert Stone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-stone/) > [All fiction is about people, unless it's about rabbits pretending to be people. It's all essentially characters in action, which means characters moving through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/all-fiction-is-about-people-unless-it-s-about-rabbits-pretending-to/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [Metafiction says something. It has to do with taking a large fiction itself and writing within it; that kind of self-reflecting writing that emerges…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/metafiction-says-something-it-has-to-do-with-taking-a-large-fiction/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [In early drafts, one of the trickiest things for me to do was to realize that the techniques and devices that make readable and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-rooney/in-early-drafts-one-of-the-trickiest-things-for-me-to-do-was-to/) [Kathleen Rooney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-rooney/) > [The danger that may really threaten (crime fiction) is that soon there will be more writers than readers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-barzun/the-danger-that-may-really-threaten-crime-fiction-is-that-soon-there/) [Jacques Barzun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-barzun/) > [“The fiction will seek the real.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/coheed-and-cambria/the-fiction-will-seek-the-real/) Coheed and Cambria > [Fiction is a way of exploring possibilities present but undreamt of in the living of a single life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nadine-gordimer/fiction-is-a-way-of-exploring-possibilities-present-but-undreamt-of/) [Nadine Gordimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nadine-gordimer/) ## More by E.M. Delafield > [“(Note: Extreme sensibility of the French sometimes makes them difficult to deal with.)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-m-delafield-2/note-extreme-sensibility-of-the-french-sometimes-makes-them-difficult/) [E.M. Delafield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-m-delafield-2/) > [“This suggests Query: Does Robert, perhaps, take in what I say even when he makes no reply?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-m-delafield-2/this-suggests-query-does-robert-perhaps-take-in-what-i-say-even-when/) [E.M. Delafield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-m-delafield-2/) > [“Am struck by paradoxical thought that youth is by no means the happiest time of life, but that most of the rest of life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-m-delafield-2/am-struck-by-paradoxical-thought-that-youth-is-by-no-means-the/) [E.M. Delafield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-m-delafield-2/) > [“(Query: Is it possible to cultivate the art of conversation when living in the country all the year round?)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-m-delafield-2/query-is-it-possible-to-cultivate-the-art-of-conversation-when-living/) [E.M. Delafield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-m-delafield-2/) [Explore all 5 E.M. Delafield quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-m-delafield-2/) ## More Fiction quotes > [“…progress isn't necessarily about change but about things turning out as we want them to”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-hogan/progress-isn-t-necessarily-about-change-but-about-things-turning-out/) Phil Hogan > [The thing about science fiction is that it's totally wide open. But it's wide open in a conditional way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavia-butler/the-thing-about-science-fiction-is-that-it-s-totally-wide-open-but-it/) [Octavia Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavia-butler/) > [I do think that theater is a great venue for science fiction, and not just adaptations but also original work. I also think some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-einhorn/i-do-think-that-theater-is-a-great-venue-for-science-fiction-and-not/) Edward Einhorn > [Fiction is a way of exploring possibilities present but undreamt of in the living of a single life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nadine-gordimer/fiction-is-a-way-of-exploring-possibilities-present-but-undreamt-of/) [Nadine Gordimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nadine-gordimer/) > [I love writing fiction and can do it anywhere - I once even missed a flight because I was so engrossed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/prue-leith/i-love-writing-fiction-and-can-do-it-anywhere-i-once-even-missed-a/) [Prue Leith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/prue-leith/) > [“The fiction will seek the real.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/coheed-and-cambria/the-fiction-will-seek-the-real/) Coheed and Cambria > [I think that most of us, anyway, read these stories that we know are not "true" because we're hungry for another kind of truth:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/i-think-that-most-of-us-anyway-read-these-stories-that-we-know-are/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [The danger that may really threaten (crime fiction) is that soon there will be more writers than readers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-barzun/the-danger-that-may-really-threaten-crime-fiction-is-that-soon-there/) [Jacques Barzun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-barzun/) > [There's always that discussion about fiction about how do you market it - these are books for boys, these are books for girls, these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-a-weatherly/there-s-always-that-discussion-about-fiction-about-how-do-you-market/) [L.A. Weatherly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-a-weatherly/) > [Inspiration comes from so many sources. Music, other fiction, the non-fiction I read, TV shows, films, news reports, people I know, stories I hear,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trudi-canavan/inspiration-comes-from-so-many-sources-music-other-fiction-the-non/) [Trudi Canavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trudi-canavan/) > [I'm not interested in making a diagnostic novel or a concern. I'm 100 percent committed in fiction to the pleasure principle - that's what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-amis/i-m-not-interested-in-making-a-diagnostic-novel-or-a-concern-i-m-100/) [Martin Amis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-amis/) > [“His hands on my waist he gently pulled me n embrace. I could feel his breath on my face our lips were about to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-eglinger/his-hands-on-my-waist-he-gently-pulled-me-n-embrace-i-could-feel-his/) [Nicole Eglinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-eglinger/) > [In early drafts, one of the trickiest things for me to do was to realize that the techniques and devices that make readable and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-rooney/in-early-drafts-one-of-the-trickiest-things-for-me-to-do-was-to/) [Kathleen Rooney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-rooney/) > [I don't think it's always a sign of respect for persons (inside or outside of fiction) to pretend to be able to represent, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-lerner/i-don-t-think-it-s-always-a-sign-of-respect-for-persons-inside-or/) [Ben Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-lerner/) > [Metafiction says something. It has to do with taking a large fiction itself and writing within it; that kind of self-reflecting writing that emerges…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/metafiction-says-something-it-has-to-do-with-taking-a-large-fiction/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) [Browse all 7,410 Fiction quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“...Alex found herself reading of emotions and experiences of which her own seemed so feeble a mockery, that she was conscious of a physical pang of sick disappointment. Was all fiction utterly untrue to life? Or was hers the counterfeit, which the printed pages but reproduced something of a reality which was denied to her?”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "E.M. 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