--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: How is it that you should feel so vastly…" description: "\"“How is it that you should feel so vastly superior whenever you do not happen to enter into or understand your neighbour's thoughts when, as a matter o..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/499/elizabeth-von-arnim-2484_incompleteness_how-is-it-that-you-should-feel-so-vastly_2148902.png" --- # How is it that you should feel so vastly superior whenever… ![“How is it that you should feel so vastly superior whenever you do not happen to enter into or understand your neighbour's thoughts when, as a matter of fact, your not being able to do so is less a sign of folly in your neighbour than of incompleteness in yourself?” quote by Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/499/elizabeth-von-arnim-2484_incompleteness_how-is-it-that-you-should-feel-so-vastly_2148902.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/499/elizabeth-von-arnim-2484_incompleteness_how-is-it-that-you-should-feel-so-vastly_2148902.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/499/elizabeth-von-arnim-2484_incompleteness_how-is-it-that-you-should-feel-so-vastly_2148902.png) > ““How is it that you should feel so vastly superior whenever you do not happen to enter into or understand your neighbour's thoughts when, as a matter of fact, your not being able to do so is less a sign of folly in your neighbour than of incompleteness in yourself?”” [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Recognizing that misunderstanding others reveals our own intellectual limits, not theirs, urging humility and self‑growth. **In simple terms:** Not understanding others shows our own gaps. Key Takeaway Embrace humility and seek self‑improvement. Themes humility self‑awareness empathy Mood reflective thoughtful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - personal relationships - teamwork - conflict resolution - cross‑cultural communication Key Concepts psychology philosophy self‑development Questions to Reflect On - How can you acknowledge your own gaps without feeling inadequate? - What steps can you take to better understand others' perspectives? A Different Perspective Assuming superiority can hinder learning and cooperation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Incompleteness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/incompleteness/) [Neighbour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/neighbour/) [Philosophy of Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy-of-mind/) ## Related quotes > [Culture makes people understand each other better. And if they understand each other better in their soul, it is easier to overcome the economic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/culture-makes-people-understand-each-other-better-and-if-they/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [If your lot makes you cry and be wretched, get rid of it and take another; strike out for yourself; don't listen to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/if-your-lot-makes-you-cry-and-be-wretched-get-rid-of-it-and-take/) [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) > [“Not the least of my many blessings is that we have only one neighbour. If you have to have neighbours at all, it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/not-the-least-of-my-many-blessings-is-that-we-have-only-one-neighbour/) [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) > [“But while admiring my neighbour, I don't think I shall ever try to follow in her steps, my talents not being of the energetic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/but-while-admiring-my-neighbour-i-don-t-think-i-shall-ever-try-to/) [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) > [This superficial blurring has something to do with the incapacity I have just mentioned. I can make no statement about reality clearer than my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/this-superficial-blurring-has-something-to-do-with-the-incapacity-i/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) > [The biography of a writer - or even the autobiography - will always have this incompleteness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/v-s-naipaul/the-biography-of-a-writer-or-even-the-autobiography-will-always-have/) [V. S. Naipaul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/v-s-naipaul/) > [“Egoism is itself incompleteness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dada-bhagwan/egoism-is-itself-incompleteness/) [Dada Bhagwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dada-bhagwan/) > [For me, there's the certain focus points that come out, which could reference a song or a pop disco, or something really abstract. It's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sue-tompkins/for-me-there-s-the-certain-focus-points-that-come-out-which-could/) [Sue Tompkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sue-tompkins/) > [ “Interesting-sounding, supposed applications of the incompleteness theorem \[here earlier taken explicitly to refer to the incompleteness theorems as a whole\] outside mathematics, therefore, often… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/torkel-franz/interesting-sounding-supposed-applications-of-the-incompleteness/) Torkel Franz > [How wrong it is to use God as a stop-gap for the incompleteness of our knowledge. . . . We are to find God…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/how-wrong-it-is-to-use-god-as-a-stop-gap-for-the-incompleteness-of/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) > [Every part is disposed to unite with the whole, that it may thereby escape from its own incompleteness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-da-vinci/every-part-is-disposed-to-unite-with-the-whole-that-it-may-thereby/) [Leonardo da Vinci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-da-vinci/) > [In whatever you do, if you leave a sense of incompleteness, then Creation cannot resent you, ghosts and spirits cannot harm you. If you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zicheng-hong/in-whatever-you-do-if-you-leave-a-sense-of-incompleteness-then/) [Zicheng Hong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zicheng-hong/) > [Our emotional life maps our incompleteness: A creature without any needs would never have reasons for fear, or grief, or hope, or anger.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-c-nussbaum/our-emotional-life-maps-our-incompleteness-a-creature-without-any/) [Martha C. Nussbaum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-c-nussbaum/) > [Today I begin to understand what love must be, if it exists. . . . When we are parted, we each feel the lack…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aroha-janet/today-i-begin-to-understand-what-love-must-be-if-it-exists-when-we/) [Aroha Janet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aroha-janet/) > [“I am afraid I am going to drift into fiction, truthful but incomplete, for lack of some details which I cannot conjure up today…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-carrington/i-am-afraid-i-am-going-to-drift-into-fiction-truthful-but-incomplete/) [Leonora Carrington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-carrington/) ## More by Elizabeth von Arnim > [“I would have all couples neatly paired in years, the forties with the forties, and the twenties with the twenties. Should the forties, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/i-would-have-all-couples-neatly-paired-in-years-the-forties-with-the/) [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) > [“When I drive to the lupins and see them all spread out as far as eye can reach in perfect beauty of colour and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/when-i-drive-to-the-lupins-and-see-them-all-spread-out-as-far-as-eye/) [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) > [She had been dragged in the most humiliating of all dusts, the dust reserved for older women who let themselves be approached, on amorous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/she-had-been-dragged-in-the-most-humiliating-of-all-dusts-the-dust/) [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) > [What a blessing it is to love books.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/what-a-blessing-it-is-to-love-books/) [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) > [It is beautiful, beautiful to give; one of the very most beautiful things in life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/it-is-beautiful-beautiful-to-give-one-of-the-very-most-beautiful/) [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) > [“I asked nothing better of life. I still ask nothing better of life. Strange to say—for surely it is strange not to have increased…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/i-asked-nothing-better-of-life-i-still-ask-nothing-better-of-life/) [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) > [“No one ever said aloud any of the kinds of things he was so constantly thinking, because no one in the parish, not Alice,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/no-one-ever-said-aloud-any-of-the-kinds-of-things-he-was-so/) [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) > [“The only thing to do with one's old sorrows is to tuck them up neatly in their shroud and turn one's face away from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/the-only-thing-to-do-with-one-s-old-sorrows-is-to-tuck-them-up-neatly/) [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) > [“She belongs to the winter that is past, to the darkness that is over, and has no part or lot in the life I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/she-belongs-to-the-winter-that-is-past-to-the-darkness-that-is-over/) [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) > [“This radiant weather, when mere living is a joy, and sitting still over the fire out of the question, has been going on for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/this-radiant-weather-when-mere-living-is-a-joy-and-sitting-still-over/) [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) > [“And when I'm with you," she said, "I feel as if I were stuffed with—oh, with stars.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/and-when-i-m-with-you-she-said-i-feel-as-if-i-were-stuffed-with-oh/) [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) > [“Here was the world wide-awake and yet only for me, all the fresh pure air only for me, all the fragrance breathed only by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/here-was-the-world-wide-awake-and-yet-only-for-me-all-the-fresh-pure/) [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) > [“... and everybody will have what they never yet have had, a certain amount of that priceless boon, leisure-- leisure to sit down and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/and-everybody-will-have-what-they-never-yet-have-had-a-certain-amount/) [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) > [Beauty made you love, and love made you beautiful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/beauty-made-you-love-and-love-made-you-beautiful/) [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) > [“Surely the colour of London was an exquisite thing. It was like a pearl that late afternoon, something very gentle and pale, with faint…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/surely-the-colour-of-london-was-an-exquisite-thing-it-was-like-a/) [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) [Explore all 155 Elizabeth von Arnim quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) ## More Incompleteness quotes > [“I am afraid I am going to drift into fiction, truthful but incomplete, for lack of some details which I cannot conjure up today…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-carrington/i-am-afraid-i-am-going-to-drift-into-fiction-truthful-but-incomplete/) [Leonora Carrington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-carrington/) > [Today I begin to understand what love must be, if it exists. . . . When we are parted, we each feel the lack…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aroha-janet/today-i-begin-to-understand-what-love-must-be-if-it-exists-when-we/) [Aroha Janet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aroha-janet/) > [Our emotional life maps our incompleteness: A creature without any needs would never have reasons for fear, or grief, or hope, or anger.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-c-nussbaum/our-emotional-life-maps-our-incompleteness-a-creature-without-any/) [Martha C. Nussbaum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-c-nussbaum/) > [In whatever you do, if you leave a sense of incompleteness, then Creation cannot resent you, ghosts and spirits cannot harm you. If you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zicheng-hong/in-whatever-you-do-if-you-leave-a-sense-of-incompleteness-then/) [Zicheng Hong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zicheng-hong/) > [Every part is disposed to unite with the whole, that it may thereby escape from its own incompleteness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-da-vinci/every-part-is-disposed-to-unite-with-the-whole-that-it-may-thereby/) [Leonardo da Vinci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-da-vinci/) > [How wrong it is to use God as a stop-gap for the incompleteness of our knowledge. . . . We are to find God…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/how-wrong-it-is-to-use-god-as-a-stop-gap-for-the-incompleteness-of/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) > [ “Interesting-sounding, supposed applications of the incompleteness theorem \[here earlier taken explicitly to refer to the incompleteness theorems as a whole\] outside mathematics, therefore, often… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/torkel-franz/interesting-sounding-supposed-applications-of-the-incompleteness/) Torkel Franz > [For me, there's the certain focus points that come out, which could reference a song or a pop disco, or something really abstract. It's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sue-tompkins/for-me-there-s-the-certain-focus-points-that-come-out-which-could/) [Sue Tompkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sue-tompkins/) > [“Egoism is itself incompleteness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dada-bhagwan/egoism-is-itself-incompleteness/) [Dada Bhagwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dada-bhagwan/) > [The biography of a writer - or even the autobiography - will always have this incompleteness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/v-s-naipaul/the-biography-of-a-writer-or-even-the-autobiography-will-always-have/) [V. S. Naipaul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/v-s-naipaul/) > [This superficial blurring has something to do with the incapacity I have just mentioned. I can make no statement about reality clearer than my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/this-superficial-blurring-has-something-to-do-with-the-incapacity-i/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) > [ ...Bliss is not something to be got. On the other hand you are always Bliss. This desire \[for Bliss\] is born of the sense… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/bliss-is-not-something-to-be-got-on-the-other-hand-you-are-always/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [“The true genius shudders at incompleteness — imperfection — and usually prefers silence to saying the something which is not everything that should be said.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/the-true-genius-shudders-at-incompleteness-imperfection-and-usually/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [Dark Souls is in some ways an incomplete game, and I like to think that it has been completed by players, by their discoveries,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hidetaka-miyazaki/dark-souls-is-in-some-ways-an-incomplete-game-and-i-like-to-think/) [Hidetaka Miyazaki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hidetaka-miyazaki/) > [But, as we have before been led to remark, most of Mr. Darwin's statements elude, by their vagueness and incompleteness, the test of Natural…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-owen/but-as-we-have-before-been-led-to-remark-most-of-mr-darwin-s/) [Richard Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-owen/) [Browse all 62 Incompleteness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/incompleteness/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“How is it that you should feel so vastly superior whenever you do not happen to enter into or understand your neighbour's thoughts when, as a matter of fact, your not being able to do so is less a sign of folly in your neighbour than of incompleteness in yourself?”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Elizabeth von Arnim" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/how-is-it-that-you-should-feel-so-vastly-superior-whenever-you-do-not/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Incompleteness" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/how-is-it-that-you-should-feel-so-vastly-superior-whenever-you-do-not/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/499/elizabeth-von-arnim-2484_incompleteness_how-is-it-that-you-should-feel-so-vastly_2148902.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/499/elizabeth-von-arnim-2484_incompleteness_how-is-it-that-you-should-feel-so-vastly_2148902.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/499/elizabeth-von-arnim-2484_incompleteness_how-is-it-that-you-should-feel-so-vastly_2148902.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“How is it that you should feel so vastly superior whenever you do not happen to enter into or understand…” — Elizabeth von Arnim", "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 von Arnim", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“How is it that you should...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/how-is-it-that-you-should-feel-so-vastly-superior-whenever-you-do-not/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/how-is-it-that-you-should-feel-so-vastly-superior-whenever-you-do-not/#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 } } ] } ```