--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I like a look of agony, because I know…" description: "\"“I like a look of agony, because I know it's true”\" — Emily Dickinson" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05b/emily-dickinson-310_human-nature_i-like-a-look-of-agony-because-i-know-it_2042461.jpg" --- # I like a look of agony, because I know it's true ![“I like a look of agony, because I know it's true” quote by Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05b/emily-dickinson-310_human-nature_i-like-a-look-of-agony-because-i-know-it_2042461.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05b/emily-dickinson-310_human-nature_i-like-a-look-of-agony-because-i-know-it_2042461.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05b/emily-dickinson-310_human-nature_i-like-a-look-of-agony-because-i-know-it_2042461.jpg) > ““I like a look of agony, because I know it's true”” [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. She finds authenticity in visible suffering, valuing raw truth over comfort. **In simple terms:** Pain reveals truth. Key Takeaway Embrace discomfort to see reality. Themes truth pain authenticity Mood introspective somber Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - personal reflection - art critique - psychology - literary analysis Key Concepts existentialism aesthetic honesty Questions to Reflect On - What truths have you missed by avoiding discomfort? - Can pain be misleading? A Different Perspective May overlook hidden joys; pain isn’t always truthful. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Agony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/agony/) [Agony Know](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/agony-know-3808356/) [Human nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-nature/) [Know True](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/know-true/) [Like Look](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/like-look/) [Look Agony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/look-agony-2184142/) [Posthumous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/posthumous/) [Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering/) ## Related quotes > [I like a look of Agony, because I know it's true - men do not sham Convulsion, nor simulate, a Throe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/i-like-a-look-of-agony-because-i-know-it-s-true-men-do-not-sham/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [Safe Despair it is that raves- Agony is frugal. Puts itself severe away For its own perusal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/safe-despair-it-is-that-raves-agony-is-frugal-puts-itself-severe-away/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [I'm only really alive when I'm writing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tennessee-williams/i-m-only-really-alive-when-i-m-writing/) [Tennessee Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tennessee-williams/) > [Posthumous fame is a plant of tardy growth, for our body must be the seed of it; or we may liken it to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/posthumous-fame-is-a-plant-of-tardy-growth-for-our-body-must-be-the/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [“Walsh was too full of his own—how shall I put it?—posthumous importance; too convinced that he should be seen almost as much a victim…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-w-buffa/walsh-was-too-full-of-his-own-how-shall-i-put-it-posthumous/) [D.W. Buffa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-w-buffa/) > [“How long is this posthumous life of mine to last?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keats/how-long-is-this-posthumous-life-of-mine-to-last/) [John Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keats/) > [And yet, after all, what is posthumous fame? Altogether vanity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/and-yet-after-all-what-is-posthumous-fame-altogether-vanity/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [Proust has been dead since 1922, yet the annual appearance of his posthumous works has left him, to the reader, alive. Now there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-flanner/proust-has-been-dead-since-1922-yet-the-annual-appearance-of-his/) [Janet Flanner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-flanner/) > [“Dismemberment, even posthumous, is obscene.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-kimberling/dismemberment-even-posthumous-is-obscene/) [Brian Kimberling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-kimberling/) > [“If you try to write posthumously, however, fashion doesn’t apply. You step off the catwalk, ignoring this season’s trends and resigning yourself to being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-eugenides/if-you-try-to-write-posthumously-however-fashion-doesn-t-apply-you/) [Jeffrey Eugenides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-eugenides/) > [You should die now if you was born so far within posthumous name](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tivea/you-should-die-now-if-you-was-born-so-far-within-posthumous-name/) [Tivea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tivea/) > [Posthumous reputations have little to do with real lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felix-dennis/posthumous-reputations-have-little-to-do-with-real-lives/) [Felix Dennis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/felix-dennis/) > [Posthumous charities are the very essence of selfishness when bequeathed by those who, even alive, would part with nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/posthumous-charities-are-the-very-essence-of-selfishness-when/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [Reputation being essentially contemporaneous, is always at the mercy of the Envious and the Ignorant. But Fame, whose very birth is posthumous, and which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-brownell-jameson/reputation-being-essentially-contemporaneous-is-always-at-the-mercy/) [Anna Brownell Jameson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-brownell-jameson/) > [“He pinched the remaining chapters’ pages delicately between his fingers and sighed. He always hated reaching the end of a good book.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-s-e-zapanta/he-pinched-the-remaining-chapters-pages-delicately-between-his/) [David S.E. Zapanta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-s-e-zapanta/) ## More by Emily Dickinson > [A Light exists in Spring Not present on the Year At any other period - When March is scarcely here A Color stands abroad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/a-light-exists-in-spring-not-present-on-the-year-at-any-other-period/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [I could not prove the Years had feet-/Yet confident they run.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/i-could-not-prove-the-years-had-feet-yet-confident-they-run/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [How softly summer shuts, without the creaking of a door.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/how-softly-summer-shuts-without-the-creaking-of-a-door/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [“Could you tell me how to grow--or is it unconveyed--like Melody--or Witchcraft?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/could-you-tell-me-how-to-grow-or-is-it-unconveyed-like-melody-or/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [It might be lonelier Without the Loneliness - I’m so accustomed to my Fate - Perhaps the Other - Peace - Would interrupt the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/it-might-be-lonelier-without-the-loneliness-i-m-so-accustomed-to-my/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [“Inebriate of Air — am I — And Debauchee of Dew — Reeling — thro endless summer days — From Inns of Molten Blue —”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/inebriate-of-air-am-i-and-debauchee-of-dew-reeling-thro-endless/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [Luck is not chance, it's toil; fortune's expensive smile is earned.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/luck-is-not-chance-it-s-toil-fortune-s-expensive-smile-is-earned/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [The abdication of Belief Makes the Behavior small- Better an ignis fatuus Than no illume at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/the-abdication-of-belief-makes-the-behavior-small-better-an-ignis/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [Longing is like a seed that wrestles in the ground](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/longing-is-like-a-seed-that-wrestles-in-the-ground/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [“He ate and drank the precious words, His spirit grew robust; He knew no more that he was poor, Nor that his frame was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/he-ate-and-drank-the-precious-words-his-spirit-grew-robust-he-knew-no/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [I SEE thee better in the dark, I do not need a light. The love of thee a prism be Excelling violet. I see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/i-see-thee-better-in-the-dark-i-do-not-need-a-light-the-love-of-thee/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [One step at a time is all it takes to get you there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/one-step-at-a-time-is-all-it-takes-to-get-you-there/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [“Whose fingers string the stalactite- Who counts the Wampum of the night”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/whose-fingers-string-the-stalactite-who-counts-the-wampum-of-the-night/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [My life closed twice before its close](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/my-life-closed-twice-before-its-close/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [Until you have loved, you cannot become yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/until-you-have-loved-you-cannot-become-yourself/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) [Explore all 692 Emily Dickinson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) ## More Agony quotes > [Many Republicans have always reminded me of professional WWF wrestlers. They come into the ring all pumped up and acting like they're invincible and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-feig/many-republicans-have-always-reminded-me-of-professional-wwf/) [Paul Feig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-feig/) > [“aaron would not come out aaron entered into agony.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-goldman/aaron-would-not-come-out-aaron-entered-into-agony/) [William Goldman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-goldman/) > [ “\[W\]e must learn to accommodate ourselves to the discovery that some of those cunningly-fashioned instruments called human souls have only a very limited range… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/w-e-must-learn-to-accommodate-ourselves-to-the-discovery-that-some-of/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [As we look upon that agony and those tearful prayers, let us not only look with thankfulness; but let that kneeling Saviour teach us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-maclaren/as-we-look-upon-that-agony-and-those-tearful-prayers-let-us-not-only/) [Alexander MacLaren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-maclaren/) > [Love masters agony; the soul that seemed Forsaken feels her present God again And in her Father's arms Contented dies away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keble/love-masters-agony-the-soul-that-seemed-forsaken-feels-her-present/) [John Keble](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keble/) > [I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded. I have seen men…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franklin-d-roosevelt/i-have-seen-war-i-have-seen-war-on-land-and-sea-i-have-seen-blood/) [Franklin D. Roosevelt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franklin-d-roosevelt/) > [“Anger was a reliable defense, but one that allowed no chance of final victory. Anger was a medicine but never a cure, briefly numbing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-koontz/anger-was-a-reliable-defense-but-one-that-allowed-no-chance-of-final/) [Dean Koontz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-koontz/) > [The cure is in the house, not brought by other hands from distant places, but by its own, in agony and blood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/the-cure-is-in-the-house-not-brought-by-other-hands-from-distant/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [Sometimes, a lie is told in kindness. I don't believe it ever works kindly. The quick pain of truth can pass away, but the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/sometimes-a-lie-is-told-in-kindness-i-don-t-believe-it-ever-works/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [The young man shivered. He rolled the stock themes of fantasy over in his mind: cars and stockbrokers and commuters, housewives and police, agony…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/the-young-man-shivered-he-rolled-the-stock-themes-of-fantasy-over-in/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [Being ill like this combines shock - this time I will die - with a pain and agony that are unfamiliar, that wrench me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-brodkey/being-ill-like-this-combines-shock-this-time-i-will-die-with-a-pain/) [Harold Brodkey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-brodkey/) > [One often learns more from ten days of agony than ten years of contentment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/merle-shain/one-often-learns-more-from-ten-days-of-agony-than-ten-years-of/) [Merle Shain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/merle-shain/) > [There’s been a problem, a problem eating away at me from the inside out. I’ve become weak, I’ve shown human compassion, and it has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kane/there-s-been-a-problem-a-problem-eating-away-at-me-from-the-inside/) [Kane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kane/) > [Pay special attention to their agony so I might take some pleasure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/euripides/pay-special-attention-to-their-agony-so-i-might-take-some-pleasure/) [Euripides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/euripides/) > [Die, enemies of Ra!" Sekhemet yelled. "Perish in agony!" "She's almost as annoying as you," I told Horus. "Impossible," Horus said. "No one bests…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-riordan/die-enemies-of-ra-sekhemet-yelled-perish-in-agony-she-s-almost-as/) [Rick Riordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-riordan/) [Browse all 813 Agony quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/agony/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I like a look of agony, because I know it's true”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Emily Dickinson" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/i-like-a-look-of-agony-because-i-know-it-s-true/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Agony" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/i-like-a-look-of-agony-because-i-know-it-s-true/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05b/emily-dickinson-310_human-nature_i-like-a-look-of-agony-because-i-know-it_2042461.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05b/emily-dickinson-310_human-nature_i-like-a-look-of-agony-because-i-know-it_2042461.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/05b/emily-dickinson-310_human-nature_i-like-a-look-of-agony-because-i-know-it_2042461.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I like a look of agony, because I know it's true” — Emily Dickinson", "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": "Emily Dickinson", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“I like a look of agony,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/i-like-a-look-of-agony-because-i-know-it-s-true/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/i-like-a-look-of-agony-because-i-know-it-s-true/#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 } } ] } ```