--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: My main disappointment was always that a…" description: "\"My main disappointment was always that a book had to end. And then what? But I don't think I was ever disappointed by the books. I must have been what ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4df/eudora-welty-1564_book_my-main-disappointment-was-always-that-a_2122119.jpg" --- # My main disappointment was always that a book had to end… ![“My main disappointment was always that a book had to end. And then what? But I don't think I was ever disappointed by the books. I must have been what any author would consider an ideal reader. I felt every pain and pleasure suffered or enjoyed by all the characters. Oh, but I identified!” quote by Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4df/eudora-welty-1564_book_my-main-disappointment-was-always-that-a_2122119.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4df/eudora-welty-1564_book_my-main-disappointment-was-always-that-a_2122119.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4df/eudora-welty-1564_book_my-main-disappointment-was-always-that-a_2122119.jpg) > “My main disappointment was always that a book had to end. And then what? But I don't think I was ever disappointed by the books. I must have been what any author would consider an ideal reader. I felt every pain and pleasure suffered or enjoyed by all the characters. Oh, but I identified!” [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The reader feels deep empathy, experiencing characters' emotions as their own, blurring line between audience and story. **In simple terms:** Reader deeply feels characters' emotions. Key Takeaway Embrace stories that move you emotionally. Themes empathy reading character immersion Mood reflective introspective Type literary psychological When to use this quote - book clubs - creative writing - therapy - teaching literature Key Concepts psychology narrative empathy Questions to Reflect On - How does deep empathy affect your perception of reality? - Can you maintain objectivity while feeling characters' pain? A Different Perspective Not all readers connect so intensely; some may remain detached. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) [Disappointed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disappointed/) [Disappointment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disappointment/) [Pain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pain/) [Pain and pleasure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pain-and-pleasure/) [Pleasure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pleasure/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [I wanted it to be as multi-windowed as possible, so that the reader felt like they were seeing all the different ways in to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-percy/i-wanted-it-to-be-as-multi-windowed-as-possible-so-that-the-reader/) [Benjamin Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-percy/) > [“We star crossed lovers of District 12, who suffered so much and enjoyed so little the rewards of our victory. We are unforgiving.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-collins/we-star-crossed-lovers-of-district-12-who-suffered-so-much-and/) [Suzanne Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-collins/) > [We star-crossed lovers of District 12, who suffered so much and enjoyed so little the rewards of our victory, do not seek our fans'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-collins/we-star-crossed-lovers-of-district-12-who-suffered-so-much-and-2/) [Suzanne Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-collins/) > [My ideal reader is me. And yes, my ideal reader comes with me and is forgiving.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/my-ideal-reader-is-me-and-yes-my-ideal-reader-comes-with-me-and-is/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [The ideal reader cannot sleep when holding the writer he was meant to be with.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zadie-smith/the-ideal-reader-cannot-sleep-when-holding-the-writer-he-was-meant-to/) [Zadie Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zadie-smith/) > [“Are you imperfect, romantically irrational, ridiculously fearless, and utterly illogical? You're my ideal reader, friend, partner. I'm your fan.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brook-tesla/are-you-imperfect-romantically-irrational-ridiculously-fearless-and/) Brook Tesla > [Who is the ideal reader? God only knows.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/who-is-the-ideal-reader-god-only-knows/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The ideal reader's the same, and I suppose this person has never had a face or a gender or an age. It's just some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-auster/the-ideal-reader-s-the-same-and-i-suppose-this-person-has-never-had-a/) [Paul Auster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-auster/) > [“With this book I hope what I always hope—that readers will nod their heads (not constantly, you know, but at the odd juncture) and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jincy-willett/with-this-book-i-hope-what-i-always-hope-that-readers-will-nod-their/) [Jincy Willett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jincy-willett/) > [I don't have an ideal reader. I'm trying to reach something simple and, I believe, universal, in every single person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayad-akhtar/i-don-t-have-an-ideal-reader-i-m-trying-to-reach-something-simple-and/) [Ayad Akhtar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayad-akhtar/) > [My ideal reader is somebody who reads my poems out loud.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-arthur/my-ideal-reader-is-somebody-who-reads-my-poems-out-loud/) [James Arthur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-arthur/) > [My ideal reader is somebody who trips over a copy of my book on the sidewalk; then they pick it up and read as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greil-marcus/my-ideal-reader-is-somebody-who-trips-over-a-copy-of-my-book-on-the/) [Greil Marcus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greil-marcus/) > [I'm my own "ideal reader" in the sense that I write novels that I would want to read.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-erickson/i-m-my-own-ideal-reader-in-the-sense-that-i-write-novels-that-i-would/) [Steve Erickson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-erickson/) > [The ideal reader of my novels is a lapsed Catholic and failed musician, short-sighted, colour-blind, auditorily biased, who has read the books that I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-burgess/the-ideal-reader-of-my-novels-is-a-lapsed-catholic-and-failed/) [Anthony Burgess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-burgess/) > [That ideal reader suffering from an ideal insomnia.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-joyce/that-ideal-reader-suffering-from-an-ideal-insomnia/) [James Joyce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-joyce/) ## More by Eudora Welty > [“She (my mother) could still recite them (the poems) in full when she was lying helpless and nearly blind, in her bed, an old…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/she-my-mother-could-still-recite-them-the-poems-in-full-when-she-was/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [Long before I wrote stories, I listened for stories. Listening for them is something more acute than listening to them. I suppose it’s an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/long-before-i-wrote-stories-i-listened-for-stories-listening-for-them/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [Once you're into a story everything seems to apply-what you overhear on a city bus is exactly what your character would say on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/once-you-re-into-a-story-everything-seems-to-apply-what-you-overhear/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [“Two by two, I read library books as fast as I could go, rushing them home in the basket of my bicycle. From the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/two-by-two-i-read-library-books-as-fast-as-i-could-go-rushing-them/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [“When somebody, no matter who, gives everything, it makes people feel ashamed for him.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/when-somebody-no-matter-who-gives-everything-it-makes-people-feel/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [“Daydreaming had started me on the way; but story writing, once I was truly in its grip, took me and shook me awake.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/daydreaming-had-started-me-on-the-way-but-story-writing-once-i-was/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [“All children in those small-town, unhurried days had a vast inner life going on in the movies. Children were allowed to go without chaperone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/all-children-in-those-small-town-unhurried-days-had-a-vast-inner-life/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [“At the sting in her eyes, she remembered for him that there must be no tears in his.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/at-the-sting-in-her-eyes-she-remembered-for-him-that-there-must-be-no/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [“We do need to bring to our writing, over and over again, all the abundance we possess. To be able, to be ready, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/we-do-need-to-bring-to-our-writing-over-and-over-again-all-the/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [“Could she ever be, would she be, where she was going?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/could-she-ever-be-would-she-be-where-she-was-going/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [“When one of us (children) caught measles or whooping cough and we were isolated in bad upstairs, we wrote notes to each other perhaps…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/when-one-of-us-children-caught-measles-or-whooping-cough-and-we-were/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [“She (my mother) stood always prepared in herself to challenge the world in our place. She did indeed tend to make the world look…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/she-my-mother-stood-always-prepared-in-herself-to-challenge-the-world/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [“For there is hate as well as love, she supposed, in the coming together and continuing of our lives.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/for-there-is-hate-as-well-as-love-she-supposed-in-the-coming-together/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [“In children's art class we sat in a ring of kindergarten chairs and drew three daffodils that had just been picked out of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/in-children-s-art-class-we-sat-in-a-ring-of-kindergarten-chairs-and/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [People are mostly layers of violence and tenderness wrapped like bulbs, and it is difficult to say what makes them onions or hyacinths.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/people-are-mostly-layers-of-violence-and-tenderness-wrapped-like/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) [Explore all 227 Eudora Welty quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) ## More Book quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! 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I should have written more books.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-m-schlesinger-jr/i-don-t-think-i-have-made-as-much-of-my-life-as-i-should-have-i/) [Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-m-schlesinger-jr/) > [Some books are not read in the right way because they have skipped a stage of opinion, assume a crystallization of information in society…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/some-books-are-not-read-in-the-right-way-because-they-have-skipped-a/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [“People talk about books that write themselves, and it's a lie. Books don't write themselves. 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