--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Her feelings were her own, and could not…" description: "\"“Her feelings were her own, and could not be altered from outside. It would not have occurred to her that an action which is ineffectual thereby become..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ff/george-orwell-57_hopelessness_her-feelings-were-her-own-and-could-not_1741487.jpg" --- # Her feelings were her own, and could not be altered from… ![“Her feelings were her own, and could not be altered from outside. It would not have occurred to her that an action which is ineffectual thereby becomes meaningless. If you loved someone, you loved him, and when you had nothing else to give, you still gave him love…. What mattered were individual…” quote by George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ff/george-orwell-57_hopelessness_her-feelings-were-her-own-and-could-not_1741487.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ff/george-orwell-57_hopelessness_her-feelings-were-her-own-and-could-not_1741487.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ff/george-orwell-57_hopelessness_her-feelings-were-her-own-and-could-not_1741487.jpg) > ““Her feelings were her own, and could not be altered from outside. It would not have occurred to her that an action which is ineffectual thereby becomes meaningless. If you loved someone, you loved him, and when you had nothing else to give, you still gave him love…. What mattered were individual relationships, and a completely helpless gesture, an embrace, a tear, a word spoken to a dying man, could have value in itself.”” [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Individual relationships hold intrinsic value, even when actions seem powerless; love persists beyond material exchange. **In simple terms:** Love and gestures matter even if they seem ineffective. Key Takeaway Value personal connections. Themes love meaning humanity relationships Mood reflective somber Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - caregiving - end‑of‑life moments - personal loss Key Concepts Existentialism ethical philosophy Questions to Reflect On - What small act can convey deep care? - Can meaning arise without external impact? A Different Perspective May overlook systemic change needed. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Hopelessness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hopelessness/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Meaning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meaning/) ## Related quotes > [“He did not suppose, from what he could remember of her, that she had been an unusual women, still less an intelligent one; and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/he-did-not-suppose-from-what-he-could-remember-of-her-that-she-had/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [Her feelings were her own, and could not be altered from outside. It would not have occurred to her that an action which is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/her-feelings-were-her-own-and-could-not-be-altered-from-outside-it-2/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“It would not have occurred to her that an action which is ineffectual thereby becomes meaningless. If you loved someone you loved him and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/it-would-not-have-occurred-to-her-that-an-action-which-is-ineffectual-2/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“It would not have occurred to her that an action which is ineffectual thereby becomes meaningless. If you loved someone, you loved him, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/it-would-not-have-occurred-to-her-that-an-action-which-is-ineffectual/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [They were governed by private loyalties which they did not question. What mattered were individual relationships, and a completely helpless gesture, an embrace, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/they-were-governed-by-private-loyalties-which-they-did-not-question/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [Yes, I am passionate about my work but my success is meaningless without my loved ones, my family and my husband. They are my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-haydon/yes-i-am-passionate-about-my-work-but-my-success-is-meaningless/) [Lisa Haydon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-haydon/) > [If you loved someone, you loved him, and when you had nothing else to give, you still gave him love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/if-you-loved-someone-you-loved-him-and-when-you-had-nothing-else-to/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [My biggest mistake was that I fell in love and that was ALL that mattered. I made that person the be all and end…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/my-biggest-mistake-was-that-i-fell-in-love-and-that-was-all-that/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [At this point in my life Id like to live as if only love mattered.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracy-chapman/at-this-point-in-my-life-id-like-to-live-as-if-only-love-mattered/) [Tracy Chapman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracy-chapman/) > [“Maybe I didn't know her as well as I might have wanted. But I can tell you this: love mattered a great deal to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vincent-zandri/maybe-i-didn-t-know-her-as-well-as-i-might-have-wanted-but-i-can-tell/) [Vincent Zandri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vincent-zandri/) > [“...courage wasn’t something you were bequeathed at birth, and it wasn’t a lack of fright. It was overcoming your fear, because the ones you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-picoult/courage-wasn-t-something-you-were-bequeathed-at-birth-and-it-wasn-t-a/) [Jodi Picoult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-picoult/) > [“Zara White, since when has love ever not mattered?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carrie-jones/zara-white-since-when-has-love-ever-not-mattered/) [Carrie Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carrie-jones/) > [Love mattered, in the end. A house without love would always fall, maybe not today or tomorrow, but in the end without love nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurell-k-hamilton/love-mattered-in-the-end-a-house-without-love-would-always-fall-maybe/) [Laurell K. Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurell-k-hamilton/) > [“I also knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that I could never walk away. I needed him. I love him. More than I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-leighton/i-also-knew-beyond-the-shadow-of-a-doubt-that-i-could-never-walk-away/) [M. Leighton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-leighton/) > [At this point in my life I'd like to live as if only love mattered.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracy-chapman/at-this-point-in-my-life-i-d-like-to-live-as-if-only-love-mattered/) [Tracy Chapman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracy-chapman/) ## More by George Orwell > [In the nineteenth century some parts of the world were unexplored, but there was almost no restriction on travel.:; Up to 1914 you did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/in-the-nineteenth-century-some-parts-of-the-world-were-unexplored-but/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [It was given out that the animals there practised cannibalism, tortured one another with red-hot horseshoes, and had their females in common. This was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/it-was-given-out-that-the-animals-there-practised-cannibalism/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“The actual writing would be easy. All he had to do was to transfer to paper the interminable restless monologue that had been running…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/the-actual-writing-would-be-easy-all-he-had-to-do-was-to-transfer-to/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [He felt as though he were wandering in the forests of the sea bottom, lost in a monstrous world where he himself was the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/he-felt-as-though-he-were-wandering-in-the-forests-of-the-sea-bottom/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“if you took 1 Corinthians, chapter thirteen, and in every verse wrote 'money' instead of 'charity', the chapter had ten times as much meaning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/if-you-took-1-corinthians-chapter-thirteen-and-in-every-verse-wrote/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [Happiness can exist only in acceptance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/happiness-can-exist-only-in-acceptance/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/and-if-all-others-accepted-the-lie-which-the-party-imposed-if-all/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“Whitman himself "accepted" a great deal that his contemporaries found unmentionable. For he is not only writing of the prairie, he also wanders through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/whitman-himself-accepted-a-great-deal-that-his-contemporaries-found/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“But I tell you, Winston, that reality is not external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Whatever the Party holds to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/but-i-tell-you-winston-that-reality-is-not-external-reality-exists-in/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“And the people under the sky were also very much the same...everywhere, all over the world, hundreds or thousands of millions of people just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/and-the-people-under-the-sky-were-also-very-much-the-same-everywhere/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/don-t-you-see-that-the-whole-aim-of-newspeak-is-to-narrow-the-range/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [Windmill or no windmill, he said, life would go on as it had always gone on--that is, badly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/windmill-or-no-windmill-he-said-life-would-go-on-as-it-had-always/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/man-is-the-only-creature-that-consumes-without-producing-he-does-not/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [And the bigger the fall, the bigger the joke. It would be better fun to throw a custard pie at a bishop than at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/and-the-bigger-the-fall-the-bigger-the-joke-it-would-be-better-fun-to/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“Any writer or journalist who wants to retain his integrity finds himself thwarted by the general drift of society rather than by active persecution.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/any-writer-or-journalist-who-wants-to-retain-his-integrity-finds/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) [Explore all 1,657 George Orwell quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) ## More Hopelessness quotes > [When people are suicidal, their thinking is paralyzed, their options appear spare or nonexistent, their mood is despairing, and hopelessness permeates their entire mental…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kay-redfield-jamison/when-people-are-suicidal-their-thinking-is-paralyzed-their-options/) [Kay Redfield Jamison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kay-redfield-jamison/) > [My dad was a bartender. My mom was a cashier, a maid and a stock clerk at K-Mart. They never made it big. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marco-rubio/my-dad-was-a-bartender-my-mom-was-a-cashier-a-maid-and-a-stock-clerk/) [Marco Rubio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marco-rubio/) > [“Ümitsizlik özfarkındalık uğruna ödenen bedeldir.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irvin-d-yalom/mitsizlik-zfark-ndal-k-u-runa-denen-bedeldir/) [Irvin D. Yalom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irvin-d-yalom/) > [“An atheist is someone who is disappointed in his search of god. He is a man who strongly needed god but couldn't find him.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bangambiki-habyarimana/an-atheist-is-someone-who-is-disappointed-in-his-search-of-god-he-is/) [Bangambiki Habyarimana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bangambiki-habyarimana/) > [“If you become so frightened of realities that are not your own, if you take upon yourselves tragedies that do not exist in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth/if-you-become-so-frightened-of-realities-that-are-not-your-own-if-you/) [Seth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth/) > [A good movie can take you out of your dull funk and the hopelessness that so often goes with slipping into a theatre; a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-kael/a-good-movie-can-take-you-out-of-your-dull-funk-and-the-hopelessness/) [Pauline Kael](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-kael/) > [In a last violent protest against the hopelessness of imminent death, I sensed my spirit piercing through the enveloping gloom. I felt it transcend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/viktor-e-frankl/in-a-last-violent-protest-against-the-hopelessness-of-imminent-death/) [Viktor E. Frankl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/viktor-e-frankl/) > [What I learned at home was despair and hopelessness. What I learned at the pictures was don't give up the ship, we have only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-bean/what-i-learned-at-home-was-despair-and-hopelessness-what-i-learned-at/) [Orson Bean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-bean/) > [“Who’s gonna bring the wild animals some hope? If we don’t love them the way they are..”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/munia-khan/who-s-gonna-bring-the-wild-animals-some-hope-if-we-don-t-love-them/) [Munia Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/munia-khan/) > [There is the extreme of hopelessness and the inevitability of doom, a deep despair that comes from the sense that our industrial, consuming society…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-keen/there-is-the-extreme-of-hopelessness-and-the-inevitability-of-doom-a/) [Sam Keen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-keen/) > [“Trees lose their leaves in blizzards like these.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashly-lorenzana/trees-lose-their-leaves-in-blizzards-like-these/) [Ashly Lorenzana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashly-lorenzana/) > [So it can be for us as we allow the stirrings of hope to motivate us to action; and then as we act so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-s-baxter/so-it-can-be-for-us-as-we-allow-the-stirrings-of-hope-to-motivate-us/) [David S. Baxter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-s-baxter/) > [All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: The United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-w-bush/all-who-live-in-tyranny-and-hopelessness-can-know-the-united-states/) [George W. Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-w-bush/) > [“I smoke cigarettes, sit for hours without food or sleep, and torment myself in every possible way—yet I still call myself a great lover.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/devashish-kaushik/i-smoke-cigarettes-sit-for-hours-without-food-or-sleep-and-torment/) Devashish kaushik > [“You’ve had many ordeals in the past. During these ordeals, life seemed unbearable. You may have collapsed from the exhaustion of hopelessness and curled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-talmage-mathis/you-ve-had-many-ordeals-in-the-past-during-these-ordeals-life-seemed/) [John-Talmage Mathis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-talmage-mathis/) [Browse all 513 Hopelessness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hopelessness/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Her feelings were her own, and could not be altered from outside. It would not have occurred to her that an action which is ineffectual thereby becomes meaningless. If you loved someone, you loved him, and when you had nothing else to give, you still gave him love…. What mattered were individual relationships, and a completely helpless gesture, an embrace, a tear, a word spoken to a dying man, could have value in itself.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Orwell" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/her-feelings-were-her-own-and-could-not-be-altered-from-outside-it/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Hopelessness" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/her-feelings-were-her-own-and-could-not-be-altered-from-outside-it/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ff/george-orwell-57_hopelessness_her-feelings-were-her-own-and-could-not_1741487.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ff/george-orwell-57_hopelessness_her-feelings-were-her-own-and-could-not_1741487.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ff/george-orwell-57_hopelessness_her-feelings-were-her-own-and-could-not_1741487.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Her feelings were her own, and could not be altered from outside. It would not have occurred to her that an…” — George Orwell", "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": "George Orwell", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Her feelings were her own, and...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/her-feelings-were-her-own-and-could-not-be-altered-from-outside-it/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/her-feelings-were-her-own-and-could-not-be-altered-from-outside-it/#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 } } ] } ```