--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The happy passive nature, locked up with…" description: "\"“The happy passive nature, locked up with itself like a mirror in an airy room, reflects what goes on but demands not to be approached.”\" — Elizabeth B..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a3d/elizabeth-bowen-1197_nature_the-happy-passive-nature-locked-up-with_175715.png" --- # The happy passive nature, locked up with itself like a… ![“The happy passive nature, locked up with itself like a mirror in an airy room, reflects what goes on but demands not to be approached.” quote by Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a3d/elizabeth-bowen-1197_nature_the-happy-passive-nature-locked-up-with_175715.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a3d/elizabeth-bowen-1197_nature_the-happy-passive-nature-locked-up-with_175715.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a3d/elizabeth-bowen-1197_nature_the-happy-passive-nature-locked-up-with_175715.png) > ““The happy passive nature, locked up with itself like a mirror in an airy room, reflects what goes on but demands not to be approached.”” [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. A passive disposition observes without engaging, mirroring surroundings but avoiding interaction. **In simple terms:** Passive observers reflect but stay distant. Key Takeaway Engage rather than just reflect. Themes observation passivity reflection Mood contemplative detached Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - personal relationships - art criticism - self‑awareness Key Concepts mirror metaphor self‑containment Questions to Reflect On - How does passivity affect your connections? - What does the mirror symbolize for you? A Different Perspective May miss opportunities for growth through non‑engagement. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) ## Related quotes > [I thought as I rode in the cold pleasant light of Sunday morning how silent & passive nature offers, every morn, her wealth to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/i-thought-as-i-rode-in-the-cold-pleasant-light-of-sunday-morning-how/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“When Ngozi opened her eyes, she had a split second of disorientation. Where was this dazzling, airy room? Heaven? No, East Legon in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kwei-quartey/when-ngozi-opened-her-eyes-she-had-a-split-second-of-disorientation/) [Kwei Quartey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kwei-quartey/) > [“It is a big, airy room, the whole floor nearly, with windows that look all ways, and air and sunshine galore. It was nursery…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-perkins-gilman/it-is-a-big-airy-room-the-whole-floor-nearly-with-windows-that-look/) [Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-perkins-gilman/) > [“The next time you are heading out the door, pause at the mirror and make sure that what you see reflects your purpose and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-e-spiegel/the-next-time-you-are-heading-out-the-door-pause-at-the-mirror-and/) [Amy E. Spiegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-e-spiegel/) > [Your look reflects whats happening in your mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nas/your-look-reflects-whats-happening-in-your-mind/) [Nas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nas/) > [The sun shines down, and its image reflects in a thousand different pots filled with water. The reflections are many, but they are each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mata-amritanandamayi/the-sun-shines-down-and-its-image-reflects-in-a-thousand-different/) [Mata Amritanandamayi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mata-amritanandamayi/) > [“We are like the moon. The moon shines anyway, but it does not produce its own light. It reflects the light illuminated onto its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/israelmore-ayivor/we-are-like-the-moon-the-moon-shines-anyway-but-it-does-not-produce/) [Israelmore Ayivor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/israelmore-ayivor/) > [When you are comfortable with your co-star, it reflects on screen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bhumi-pednekar/when-you-are-comfortable-with-your-co-star-it-reflects-on-screen/) [Bhumi Pednekar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bhumi-pednekar/) > [Developing a good, healthy culture is extremely important at a startup. Culture reflects the essence of a startup's operation because it directly affects the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-weiss/developing-a-good-healthy-culture-is-extremely-important-at-a-startup/) [Scott Weiss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-weiss/) > [To every soul you encounter, be a mirror, which reflects only their beauty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/to-every-soul-you-encounter-be-a-mirror-which-reflects-only-their/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Obviously, a bass sounds like a bass and a guitar sounds like a guitar, but the way you play the guitar reflects your personality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-simonon/obviously-a-bass-sounds-like-a-bass-and-a-guitar-sounds-like-a-guitar/) [Paul Simonon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-simonon/) > [“Judge a person not by how he treats you, but how he treats others. The former reflects what he wants you to think of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betty-jamie-chung/judge-a-person-not-by-how-he-treats-you-but-how-he-treats-others-the/) [Betty Jamie Chung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betty-jamie-chung/) > [The final cover for 'Heroes Are My Weakness' feels exactly right. It reflects the cold, wintry setting of an isolated island off the coast…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-elizabeth-phillips/the-final-cover-for-heroes-are-my-weakness-feels-exactly-right-it/) [Susan Elizabeth Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-elizabeth-phillips/) > [A home is more than just where you live; it reflects who you are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ty-pennington/a-home-is-more-than-just-where-you-live-it-reflects-who-you-are/) [Ty Pennington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ty-pennington/) > [“Two ways to be a light for all, is to be a flaming candle or the mirror that reflects it”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/two-ways-to-be-a-light-for-all-is-to-be-a-flaming-candle-or-the/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) ## 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/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“Are you really an orphan? Yes, I am, said Portia a shade shortly. Are you? No, not at present, but I suppose it's a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/are-you-really-an-orphan-yes-i-am-said-portia-a-shade-shortly-are-you/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [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/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [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/) > [One's sentiments -- call them that -- one's fidelities are so instinctive that one hardly knows they exist: only when they are betrayed or,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/one-s-sentiments-call-them-that-one-s-fidelities-are-so-instinctive/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [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/) > [The wish to lead out one's lover must be a tribal feeling; the wish to be seen as loved is part of one's self-respect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/the-wish-to-lead-out-one-s-lover-must-be-a-tribal-feeling-the-wish-to/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Convention was our safeguard: could one have stronger?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/convention-was-our-safeguard-could-one-have-stronger/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“First love, with its frantic haughty imagination, swings its object clear of the everyday, over the rut of living, making him all looks, silences,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/first-love-with-its-frantic-haughty-imagination-swings-its-object/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [to leap is not only to leap, it is to hit the ground somewhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/to-leap-is-not-only-to-leap-it-is-to-hit-the-ground-somewhere/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [That is partly why women marry - to keep up the fiction of being in the hub of things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/that-is-partly-why-women-marry-to-keep-up-the-fiction-of-being-in-the/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“But Miss Pym gave an impression, somehow, of having been attacked from within .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/but-miss-pym-gave-an-impression-somehow-of-having-been-attacked-from/) [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 Nature quotes > [It is indeed a surprising and fortunate fact that nature can be expressed by relatively low-order mathematical functions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudolf-carnap/it-is-indeed-a-surprising-and-fortunate-fact-that-nature-can-be/) [Rudolf Carnap](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudolf-carnap/) > [Remember that your natural state is joy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-dyer/remember-that-your-natural-state-is-joy/) [Wayne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wayne-dyer/) > [“THIS tale of my sore-troubled life I write,    To thank the God of nature, who conveyed    My soul to me, and with such care…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/this-tale-of-my-sore-troubled-life-i-write-to-thank-the-god-of-nature/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Put on my J's and dance the whole night away Im naughty by nature like Im hip-hop hooray With my hands in the sky,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/put-on-my-j-s-and-dance-the-whole-night-away-im-naughty-by-nature/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Borrow trouble for yourself, if that's your nature, but don't lend it to your neighbours.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudyard-kipling/borrow-trouble-for-yourself-if-that-s-your-nature-but-don-t-lend-it/) [Rudyard Kipling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudyard-kipling/) > [There is no human nature, since there is no god to conceive it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/there-is-no-human-nature-since-there-is-no-god-to-conceive-it/) [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/) > [“Men mistook measurement for understanding. And they always had to put themselves at the center of everything. That was their greatest conceit. The earth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-harris/men-mistook-measurement-for-understanding-and-they-always-had-to-put/) [Robert Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-harris/) > [“She was, he knew- and had known very early, he supposed- one of those rare and always lovely humans whose moral nature was so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-williams/she-was-he-knew-and-had-known-very-early-he-supposed-one-of-those/) [John Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-williams/) > [“When the water covers the earth the sun will vanish the darkess and the cold will come.When the last dragon and the last Elf…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/silvana-de-mari/when-the-water-covers-the-earth-the-sun-will-vanish-the-darkess-and/) [Silvana de Mari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/silvana-de-mari/) > [Well, The Day the Earth Caught Fire was a story... I don't if anybody knows what it is but it was about... in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/val-guest/well-the-day-the-earth-caught-fire-was-a-story-i-don-t-if-anybody/) [Val Guest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/val-guest/) > [“It is not the force of the wind, but the depth of the roots.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-d-lounsbrough/it-is-not-the-force-of-the-wind-but-the-depth-of-the-roots/) [Craig D. Lounsbrough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-d-lounsbrough/) > [The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-history-of-mankind-interests-us-only-as-it-exhibits-a-steady-gain/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Nothing is so powerful as an insight into human nature... what compulsions drive a man, what instincts dominate his action. If you know these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-bernbach/nothing-is-so-powerful-as-an-insight-into-human-nature-what/) [William Bernbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-bernbach/) > [Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching, and live like its heaven on earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/sing-like-no-one-s-listening-love-like-you-ve-never-been-hurt-dance/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [When you're scared - and I mean really scared, not just hearing a noise in the night, or standing toe to toe with someone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-gordon-smith/when-you-re-scared-and-i-mean-really-scared-not-just-hearing-a-noise/) [Alexander Gordon Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-gordon-smith/) [Browse all 47,383 Nature quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The happy passive nature, locked up with itself like a mirror in an airy room, reflects what goes on but demands not to be approached.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Elizabeth Bowen" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/the-happy-passive-nature-locked-up-with-itself-like-a-mirror-in-an/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Nature" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/the-happy-passive-nature-locked-up-with-itself-like-a-mirror-in-an/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a3d/elizabeth-bowen-1197_nature_the-happy-passive-nature-locked-up-with_175715.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a3d/elizabeth-bowen-1197_nature_the-happy-passive-nature-locked-up-with_175715.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a3d/elizabeth-bowen-1197_nature_the-happy-passive-nature-locked-up-with_175715.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The happy passive nature, locked up with itself like a mirror in an airy room, reflects what goes on but…” — Elizabeth Bowen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Elizabeth Bowen", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“The happy passive nature, locked up...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/the-happy-passive-nature-locked-up-with-itself-like-a-mirror-in-an/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/the-happy-passive-nature-locked-up-with-itself-like-a-mirror-in-an/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```