--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Exile is strangely compelling to think…" description: "\"“Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, be..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/22f/edward-said-6412_exile_exile-is-strangely-compelling-to-think-a_2488239.jpg" --- # Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible… ![“Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home: its essential sadness can never be surmounted. And while it is true that literature and history contain heroic…” quote by Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/22f/edward-said-6412_exile_exile-is-strangely-compelling-to-think-a_2488239.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/22f/edward-said-6412_exile_exile-is-strangely-compelling-to-think-a_2488239.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/22f/edward-said-6412_exile_exile-is-strangely-compelling-to-think-a_2488239.jpg) > ““Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home: its essential sadness can never be surmounted. And while it is true that literature and history contain heroic, romantic, glorious, even triumphant episodes in an exile’s life, these are no more than efforts meant to overcome the crippling sorrow of estrangement. The achievements of exile are permanently undermined by the loss of something left behind forever.”” [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Exile creates an unhealable rift between person and place, causing profound sadness that literature cannot fully resolve. **In simple terms:** Exile separates people from home, causing lasting sorrow. Key Takeaway Acknowledge exile’s pain. Themes displacement loneliness identity history Mood melancholic reflective Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - refugee experience - immigration - diaspora literature Key Concepts psychological trauma cultural loss Questions to Reflect On - What does “home” mean to you? - How can communities support exiles? A Different Perspective Exile can also foster resilience. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Exile](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exile/) [Left behind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/left-behind/) [Native place](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/native-place/) [Sadness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sadness/) ## Related quotes > [exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/exile-is-strangely-compelling-to-think-about-but-terrible-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [We all make mistakes, don't we? But if you can't forgive yourself, you'll always be an exile in your own life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/curtis-sittenfeld/we-all-make-mistakes-don-t-we-but-if-you-can-t-forgive-yourself-you/) [Curtis Sittenfeld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/curtis-sittenfeld/) > [Perhaps even more than constituted authority, it is social uniformity and sameness that harass the individual most. His very "uniqueness," "separateness" and "differentiation" make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emma-goldman/perhaps-even-more-than-constituted-authority-it-is-social-uniformity/) [Emma Goldman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emma-goldman/) > [It naturally elevates the soul to feel this intimate relationship to it's primal ground...A man then feels himself truly at home, and whenever he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudolf-steiner/it-naturally-elevates-the-soul-to-feel-this-intimate-relationship-to/) [Rudolf Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudolf-steiner/) > [“But first, on earth as vampire sent, Thy corse shall from its tomb be rent: Then ghastly haunt thy native place, And suck the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-gordon-byron/but-first-on-earth-as-vampire-sent-thy-corse-shall-from-its-tomb-be/) [George Gordon Byron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-gordon-byron/) > [ \[T\]he individual in whom the will for the light is strong and clear finds his heart inextricably bound up with the struggle of the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olaf-stapledon/t-he-individual-in-whom-the-will-for-the-light-is-strong-and-clear/) [Olaf Stapledon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olaf-stapledon/) > [“And don't you just love the heterogenity of bookstores? toko buku itu bukti nyata bahwa keragaman selera bisa kumpul di bawah satu atap tanpa…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ika-natassa/and-don-t-you-just-love-the-heterogenity-of-bookstores-toko-buku-itu/) [Ika Natassa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ika-natassa/) > [ “The \[commercial\] strip is marketed with the come-on of comfort (the Comfort Inn) and with the promise of a home on the road, a… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-mansfield/the-commercial-strip-is-marketed-with-the-come-on-of-comfort-the/) [Howard Mansfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-mansfield/) > [My native place is Belgaum and I understand Kannada and have a flavor for acting in South Indian languages.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atul-kulkarni/my-native-place-is-belgaum-and-i-understand-kannada-and-have-a-flavor/) [Atul Kulkarni](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atul-kulkarni/) > [“How vast is my London! How strange my native place!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emma-richler/how-vast-is-my-london-how-strange-my-native-place/) [Emma Richler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emma-richler/) > [“She loves him so much. He is her native place.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emma-richler/she-loves-him-so-much-he-is-her-native-place/) [Emma Richler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emma-richler/) > [I left my native place to come to Mumbai, got routinely cheated, was given bad words, had phones and doors slammed on me. All…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ankit-tiwari/i-left-my-native-place-to-come-to-mumbai-got-routinely-cheated-was/) [Ankit Tiwari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ankit-tiwari/) > [“And such was the return to which he had looked through the weary perspective of many years, and for which he had undergone so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/and-such-was-the-return-to-which-he-had-looked-through-the-weary/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [Every man has a lurking wish to appear considerable in his native place.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/every-man-has-a-lurking-wish-to-appear-considerable-in-his-native/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [ Our agreements on creating the conditions for preparing a peace treaty \[with Japan\] should be rooted in this trust. This may be achieved, for… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-putin/our-agreements-on-creating-the-conditions-for-preparing-a-peace/) [Vladimir Putin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-putin/) ## More by Edward Said > [Beginning is not only a kind of action. It is also a frame of mind, a kind of work, an attitude, a consciousness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/beginning-is-not-only-a-kind-of-action-it-is-also-a-frame-of-mind-a/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [It's very hard, for example, to justify the thirty-four-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. It's very hard to justify 140 Israeli settlements…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/it-s-very-hard-for-example-to-justify-the-thirty-four-year-occupation/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [ \[9/11\] was bloody-minded destruction for no other reason than to do it. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/9-11-was-bloody-minded-destruction-for-no-other-reason-than-to-do-it/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [Look at situations as contingent, not as inevitable, look at them as the result of a series of historical choices made by men and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/look-at-situations-as-contingent-not-as-inevitable-look-at-them-as/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [I was one of the first people in the Palestinian world, in the late 1970s, to say that there is no military option, either…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/i-was-one-of-the-first-people-in-the-palestinian-world-in-the-late/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [Take a young man from Gaza living in the most horrendous conditions - most of it imposed by Israel - who straps dynamite around…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/take-a-young-man-from-gaza-living-in-the-most-horrendous-conditions/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [ \[One task of intellectuals is\] to break down the stereotypes and reductive categories that are . . . limiting to human thought and communication. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/one-task-of-intellectuals-is-to-break-down-the-stereotypes-and/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [I have never known what is Arabic or English, or which one was really mine beyond any doubt. What I do know, however, is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/i-have-never-known-what-is-arabic-or-english-or-which-one-was-really/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [Every single empire in its official discourse has said that it is not like all the others, that its circumstances are special, that it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/every-single-empire-in-its-official-discourse-has-said-that-it-is-not/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [ The just response to this terrible event \[9/11\] should be to go immediately to the world community, the United Nations. The rule of international… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/the-just-response-to-this-terrible-event-9-11-should-be-to-go/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [Since when does a militarily occupied people have the responsibility for a peace movement?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/since-when-does-a-militarily-occupied-people-have-the-responsibility/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [Refuse to allow yourself to become a vegetable that simply absorbs information, pre-packaged, pre-ideologized , because no message.. is anything but an ideological package…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/refuse-to-allow-yourself-to-become-a-vegetable-that-simply-absorbs/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [No cause, no God, no abstract idea can justify the mass slaughter of innocents.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/no-cause-no-god-no-abstract-idea-can-justify-the-mass-slaughter-of/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [What we must eliminate are systems of representation that carry with them the authority which has become repressive because it doesn't permit or make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/what-we-must-eliminate-are-systems-of-representation-that-carry-with/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) > [Part of the main plan of imperialism... is that we will give you your history, we will write it for you, we will re-order…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-said/part-of-the-main-plan-of-imperialism-is-that-we-will-give-you-your/) [Edward Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) [Explore all 97 Edward Said quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-said/) ## 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 > [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. O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/p-j-o-rourke/) > [In New York City, everyone is an exile, none more so than the Americans.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-perkins-gilman/in-new-york-city-everyone-is-an-exile-none-more-so-than-the-americans/) [Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-perkins-gilman/) > [I have always seen the Clinton Foundation - yes, they do a lot of charitable good works. But by my lights, the charitable good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonah-goldberg/i-have-always-seen-the-clinton-foundation-yes-they-do-a-lot-of/) [Jonah Goldberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonah-goldberg/) > [We live in an era where masses of people come and go across a hostile planet, desolate and violent. Refugees, emigrants, exiles, deportees. 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": "“Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home: its essential sadness can never be surmounted. And while it is true that literature and history contain heroic, romantic, glorious, even triumphant episodes in an exile’s life, these are no more than efforts meant to overcome the crippling sorrow of estrangement. 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