---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: ... into the novel goes such taste as I…"
description: "\"... into the novel goes such taste as I have for rational behaviour and social portraiture. The short story, as I see it to be, allows for what is craz..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e05/elizabeth-bowen-1197_behaviour_into-the-novel-goes-such-taste-as-i-have_1803938.png"
---

#  ... into the novel goes such taste as I have for rational…

![“... into the novel goes such taste as I have for rational behaviour and social portraiture. The short story, as I see it to be, allows for what is crazy about humanity: obstinacies, inordinate heroisms, &quot;immortal longings.” quote by Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e05/elizabeth-bowen-1197_behaviour_into-the-novel-goes-such-taste-as-i-have_1803938.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e05/elizabeth-bowen-1197_behaviour_into-the-novel-goes-such-taste-as-i-have_1803938.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e05/elizabeth-bowen-1197_behaviour_into-the-novel-goes-such-taste-as-i-have_1803938.png)

> “... into the novel goes such taste as I have for rational behaviour and social portraiture. The short story, as I see it to be, allows for what is crazy about humanity: obstinacies, inordinate heroisms, "immortal longings.”

[Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Rationality and social observation reveal humanity’s absurdities: stubbornness, exaggerated heroism, and endless yearning.

**In simple terms:** Human nature is absurd and driven by impossible desires.

Key Takeaway

Recognize and accept irrational human traits.

Themes

human nature absurdity observation

Mood

thoughtful melancholic

Type

literary philosophical

When to use this quote

- social analysis
- creative writing
- personal reflection
- conflict resolution

Key Concepts

psychology literature

Questions to Reflect On

- What irrational drives your decisions?
- How do you balance logic with emotional truth?

A Different Perspective

Rational analysis cannot fully explain emotional chaos.

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[Behaviour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/behaviour/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Crazy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crazy/) [Crazy Humanity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crazy-humanity-2055896/) [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Habits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/habits/) [Heroism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heroism/) [Humanity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanity/) [Immortal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/immortal/) [Immortal Longings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/immortal-longings-1269228/) [Longing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/longing/) [Nature of man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature-of-man/) [Novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novel/) [Obstinacy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/obstinacy/) [Portraiture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/portraiture/) [Rational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rational/) [Short story](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/short-story/) [Social](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social/) [Stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) [Taste](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/taste/) [Taste Rational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/taste-rational-2055897/)

## Related quotes

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[William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/)

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[William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/)

> [I believe in the immortality of the soul because I have within me immortal longings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-keller/i-believe-in-the-immortality-of-the-soul-because-i-have-within-me/)

[Helen Keller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-keller/)

> [Stiff opinion, always in the wrong.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dryden/stiff-opinion-always-in-the-wrong/)

[John Dryden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dryden/)

> [These are the men who, without virtue, labour, or hazard, are growing rich, as their country is impoverished; they rejoice, when obstinacy or ambition…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/these-are-the-men-who-without-virtue-labour-or-hazard-are-growing/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

> [“Stubbornness is a weapon. People tend to draw it out when a sensitive part of their identity is threatened—be it dignity, honor, pride, desires,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richelle-e-goodrich/stubbornness-is-a-weapon-people-tend-to-draw-it-out-when-a-sensitive/)

[Richelle E. Goodrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richelle-e-goodrich/)

> [When a woman falls in love with me, I feel guilty. I am convinced that it's pure obstinacy that keeps me from reciprocating her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-white/when-a-woman-falls-in-love-with-me-i-feel-guilty-i-am-convinced-that/)

[Edmund White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-white/)

> [It is not error which opposes the progress of truth; it is indolence, obstinacy, the spirit of routine, every thing which favors inaction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-robert-jacques-turgot-baron-de-laune/it-is-not-error-which-opposes-the-progress-of-truth-it-is-indolence/)

[Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-robert-jacques-turgot-baron-de-laune/)

> [May God in his mercy enable us without obstinacy to perceive our errors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-servetus/may-god-in-his-mercy-enable-us-without-obstinacy-to-perceive-our/)

[Michael Servetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-servetus/)

> [But I liked you from the moment I first heard your voice,” he said, “when I had no idea what you looked like. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loretta-chase/but-i-liked-you-from-the-moment-i-first-heard-your-voice-he-said-when/)

[Loretta Chase](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loretta-chase/)

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[Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/)

> [If self is a location, so is love: Bearings taken, markings, cardinal points, Options, obstinacies, dug heels, and distance, Here and there and now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/if-self-is-a-location-so-is-love-bearings-taken-markings-cardinal/)

[Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/)

> [Make something, a kind of object, which as it changes or falls apart (dies as it were) or increases in its parts (grows as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jasper-johns/make-something-a-kind-of-object-which-as-it-changes-or-falls-apart/)

[Jasper Johns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jasper-johns/)

> [The Roman world is in collapse but we do not bend our neck.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-jerome/the-roman-world-is-in-collapse-but-we-do-not-bend-our-neck/)

[St. Jerome](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-jerome/)

## More by Elizabeth Bowen

> [Temperamentally, the writer exists on happenings, on contacts, conflicts, action and reaction, speed, pressure, tension. Were he acontemplative purely, he would not write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/temperamentally-the-writer-exists-on-happenings-on-contacts-conflicts/)

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> [It is not our exalted feelings, it is our sentiments that build the necessary home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/it-is-not-our-exalted-feelings-it-is-our-sentiments-that-build-the/)

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> [Every love has a poetic relevance of its own; each love brings to light only what to it is relevant. Outside lies the junk-yard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/every-love-has-a-poetic-relevance-of-its-own-each-love-brings-to/)

[Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/)

> [without fiction, either life would be insufficient or the winds from the north would blow too cold.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/without-fiction-either-life-would-be-insufficient-or-the-winds-from/)

[Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/)

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> [Only in a house where one has learnt to be lonely does one have this solicitude for things. One's relation to them, the daily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/only-in-a-house-where-one-has-learnt-to-be-lonely-does-one-have-this/)

[Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/)

> [To walk into history is to be free at once, to be at large among people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/to-walk-into-history-is-to-be-free-at-once-to-be-at-large-among-people/)

[Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/)

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[Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/)

> [rudeness to Mrs. Dosely was like dropping a pat of butter on to a hot plate - it slid and melted away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/rudeness-to-mrs-dosely-was-like-dropping-a-pat-of-butter-on-to-a-hot/)

[Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/)

[Explore all 275 Elizabeth Bowen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/)

## More Behaviour quotes

> [Nobody has the right to put another under such a difficulty that he must either hurt the person by telling the truth or hurt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/nobody-has-the-right-to-put-another-under-such-a-difficulty-that-he/)

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