--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We are minor in everything but our…" description: "\"We are minor in everything but our passions.\" — Elizabeth Bowen" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/89b/elizabeth-bowen-1197_minor_we-are-minor-in-everything-but-our-passi_1442237.png" --- # We are minor in everything but our passions. ![“We are minor in everything but our passions.” quote by Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/89b/elizabeth-bowen-1197_minor_we-are-minor-in-everything-but-our-passi_1442237.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/89b/elizabeth-bowen-1197_minor_we-are-minor-in-everything-but-our-passi_1442237.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/89b/elizabeth-bowen-1197_minor_we-are-minor-in-everything-but-our-passi_1442237.png) > “We are minor in everything but our passions.” [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. Our passions give us significance despite our overall smallness. **In simple terms:** Passions make us feel important in a vast world. Key Takeaway Cultivate meaningful passions. Themes purpose humility passion Mood thoughtful inspirational Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - career choice - artistic creation - volunteering Key Concepts existential significance personal fulfillment Questions to Reflect On - What passion gives you purpose? - How can you align passion with contribution? A Different Perspective Passions may not always lead to impact. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Minor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/minor/) [Minor Passions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/minor-passions-5163836/) [Passion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passion/) [Passions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passions/) ## Related quotes > [Christianity was never meant to be defined by its disciplines, but by its passions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-johnson/christianity-was-never-meant-to-be-defined-by-its-disciplines-but-by/) [Bill Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-johnson/) > [“The sword wears out its sheath, as it is sometimes said. That is my story. My passions have made me live, and my passions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/the-sword-wears-out-its-sheath-as-it-is-sometimes-said-that-is-my/) [Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/) > [Man is truly great when he can act from his passions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/man-is-truly-great-when-he-can-act-from-his-passions/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [Who then is free? The wise who can command his passions, who fears not want, nor death, nor chains, firmly resisting his appetites and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/who-then-is-free-the-wise-who-can-command-his-passions-who-fears-not/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [None can be free who is a slave to, and ruled by, his passions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pythagoras/none-can-be-free-who-is-a-slave-to-and-ruled-by-his-passions/) [Pythagoras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pythagoras/) > [“…finally I see that it’s never been me, just a blanket that keeps you warm. Easily tossed along when something flashier or someone prettier…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/finally-i-see-that-it-s-never-been-me-just-a-blanket-that-keeps-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [My passions are the grapes that I tread out for mankind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-adle/my-passions-are-the-grapes-that-i-tread-out-for-mankind/) [Alfred Adle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-adle/) > [Working with other artists and sharing your passions is great.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leona-lewis/working-with-other-artists-and-sharing-your-passions-is-great/) [Leona Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leona-lewis/) > [Sam loved to listen to music and make his own songs, to wear soft velvets, to play in the castle kitchen beside the cooks,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/sam-loved-to-listen-to-music-and-make-his-own-songs-to-wear-soft/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“You know, people start things for different reasons. But ultimately it turns into pure passion and one becomes insatiate. There is no end once…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhaidev/you-know-people-start-things-for-different-reasons-but-ultimately-it/) [Abhaidev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhaidev/) > [“When we are passionate about God, we can trust our passions.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erwin-raphael-mcmanus/when-we-are-passionate-about-god-we-can-trust-our-passions/) [Erwin Raphael McManus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erwin-raphael-mcmanus/) > [In tragic life, God wot, No villain need be! Passions spin the plot: We are betrayed by what is false within.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-meredith/in-tragic-life-god-wot-no-villain-need-be-passions-spin-the-plot-we/) [George Meredith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-meredith/) > [In music the passions enjoy themselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/in-music-the-passions-enjoy-themselves/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [The life of a good man was a continual warfare with his passions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-richardson/the-life-of-a-good-man-was-a-continual-warfare-with-his-passions/) [Samuel Richardson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-richardson/) > [“The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but on the mastery of his passions.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-lord-tennyson/the-happiness-of-a-man-in-this-life-does-not-consist-in-the-absence/) [Alfred Lord Tennyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-lord-tennyson/) ## 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 Minor quotes > [I still carry it with me that I'm a I-AA guy and I had to go down to the minor leagues in college football…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-flacco/i-still-carry-it-with-me-that-i-m-a-i-aa-guy-and-i-had-to-go-down-to/) [Joe Flacco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-flacco/) > [I wanted to be in the big leagues, not stuck in the minor leagues.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aroldis-chapman/i-wanted-to-be-in-the-big-leagues-not-stuck-in-the-minor-leagues/) [Aroldis Chapman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aroldis-chapman/) > [“...one quarter of your life is spent as a minor; you might as well make the best of it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ned-vizzini/one-quarter-of-your-life-is-spent-as-a-minor-you-might-as-well-make/) [Ned Vizzini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ned-vizzini/) > [I had a minor in Russian history, and this was at the time when the big Cold War was going on.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-j-anderson/i-had-a-minor-in-russian-history-and-this-was-at-the-time-when-the/) [Kevin J. Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-j-anderson/) > [Don't major in minor things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/don-t-major-in-minor-things/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Actors usually respond to minor aspects of their own character or things that even feel disparate from themselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-perry/actors-usually-respond-to-minor-aspects-of-their-own-character-or/) [Jeff Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-perry/) > [So I made a request. I said to the writers, I have a minor request that I just want to play a loser.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justin-long/so-i-made-a-request-i-said-to-the-writers-i-have-a-minor-request-that/) [Justin Long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justin-long/) > [I was raised in South Carolina; I wasn't aware of any art in South Carolina. There was a minor museum in Charleston, which had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jasper-johns/i-was-raised-in-south-carolina-i-wasn-t-aware-of-any-art-in-south/) [Jasper Johns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jasper-johns/) > [I'm sure that no matter what I'm involved in, I'll always be doing comics, at least in some minor capacity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-madureira/i-m-sure-that-no-matter-what-i-m-involved-in-i-ll-always-be-doing/) [Joe Madureira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-madureira/) > [Sometimes, counter-intuitively, it's easier to make a major change than a minor change. When a habit is changing very gradually, we may lose interest,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gretchen-rubin/sometimes-counter-intuitively-it-s-easier-to-make-a-major-change-than/) [Gretchen Rubin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gretchen-rubin/) > [To be a very, very minor, eighth-tier celebrity, you realize, 'Hey, celebrities are just like us.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nate-silver/to-be-a-very-very-minor-eighth-tier-celebrity-you-realize-hey/) [Nate Silver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nate-silver/) > [I do have a huge fascination for science, and I love to hear what my dad has to say. He used to take me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniela-ruah/i-do-have-a-huge-fascination-for-science-and-i-love-to-hear-what-my/) [Daniela Ruah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniela-ruah/) > [In minor crises, the preacher can extract himself emotionally and allow others to express grief and fear and doubt while he remains strong.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-forbes/in-minor-crises-the-preacher-can-extract-himself-emotionally-and/) [James A. Forbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-forbes/) > [Will I switch to E-reading? I won't, mainly because I love the look and feel of books - particularly hardbacks. I love them enough…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-roach/will-i-switch-to-e-reading-i-won-t-mainly-because-i-love-the-look-and/) [Mary Roach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-roach/) > [“Life is too short to major the MINOR and MINOR the major. Make the main thing the main thing and the world will make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sesan-kareem/life-is-too-short-to-major-the-minor-and-minor-the-major-make-the/) [Sesan Kareem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sesan-kareem/) [Browse all 138 Minor quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/minor/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We are minor in everything but our passions.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Elizabeth Bowen" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/we-are-minor-in-everything-but-our-passions/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Minor" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/we-are-minor-in-everything-but-our-passions/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/89b/elizabeth-bowen-1197_minor_we-are-minor-in-everything-but-our-passi_1442237.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/89b/elizabeth-bowen-1197_minor_we-are-minor-in-everything-but-our-passi_1442237.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/89b/elizabeth-bowen-1197_minor_we-are-minor-in-everything-but-our-passi_1442237.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We are minor in everything but our passions.” — 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": "We are minor in everything but...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/we-are-minor-in-everything-but-our-passions/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/we-are-minor-in-everything-but-our-passions/#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 } } ] } ```