--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I did write a number of reports on my…" description: "\"I did write a number of reports on my political experiences, but there were many omissions, and I feel bad about that because it was work that was inte..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c36/grace-paley-3243_could-have-been_i-did-write-a-number-of-reports-on-my-po_639095.png" --- # I did write a number of reports on my political… ![“I did write a number of reports on my political experiences, but there were many omissions, and I feel bad about that because it was work that was interesting and had I written more about it, it could have been useful.” quote by Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c36/grace-paley-3243_could-have-been_i-did-write-a-number-of-reports-on-my-po_639095.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c36/grace-paley-3243_could-have-been_i-did-write-a-number-of-reports-on-my-po_639095.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c36/grace-paley-3243_could-have-been_i-did-write-a-number-of-reports-on-my-po_639095.png) > “I did write a number of reports on my political experiences, but there were many omissions, and I feel bad about that because it was work that was interesting and had I written more about it, it could have been useful.” [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author regrets omitting parts of her political experiences from reports, feeling that fuller accounts could have been more valuable. **In simple terms:** She wishes she had been more thorough in documenting her political work. Key Takeaway Document experiences fully to preserve their value. Themes regret politics documentation Mood reflective thoughtful Type personal historical When to use this quote - memoir writing - political analysis - archival work Key Concepts historical record personal narrative Questions to Reflect On - What stories are you leaving unfinished? - How can you balance depth with practicality? A Different Perspective Time constraints often limit thoroughness. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Could have been](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/could-have-been/) [Experiences Omissions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/experiences-omissions-5134211/) [Feels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feels/) [Has beens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/has-beens/) [Interesting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interesting/) [Numbers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/numbers/) [Omission](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/omission/) [Omissions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/omissions/) [Omissions Feel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/omissions-feel-5134210/) [Political](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/political/) [Political Experiences](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/political-experiences-689849/) [Politics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politics/) [Reports](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reports/) [Reports Political](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reports-political-5134212/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) [Written](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/written/) ## Related quotes > [Not only our actions, but also our omissions, become our destiny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-verghese/not-only-our-actions-but-also-our-omissions-become-our-destiny/) [Abraham Verghese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-verghese/) > [“Analyze and correct your past mistakes before they paralyze your future! An undiscovered error will always crave for repetition. Kick out errors; enjoy a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/israelmore-ayivor/analyze-and-correct-your-past-mistakes-before-they-paralyze-your/) [Israelmore Ayivor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/israelmore-ayivor/) > [Omissions are not accidents.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/omissions-are-not-accidents/) [Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/) > [“My China Diary and Walking With Lions, were memoirs of his diplomatic and political experiences. The”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shashi-tharoor/my-china-diary-and-walking-with-lions-were-memoirs-of-his-diplomatic/) [Shashi Tharoor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shashi-tharoor/) > [“We plaster our news reports with political pundits not offering independent opinions but serving their masters.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharyl-attkisson/we-plaster-our-news-reports-with-political-pundits-not-offering/) [Sharyl Attkisson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharyl-attkisson/) > [“What shapes us is not always our achievements but our omissions. Not lies; simply the truths we don’t tell.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-j-tudor/what-shapes-us-is-not-always-our-achievements-but-our-omissions-not/) [C.J. Tudor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-j-tudor/) > [“He manages a sad smile. “An omission is not the same thing as a lie, Miss Bishop. It’s a manipulation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victoria-schwab/he-manages-a-sad-smile-an-omission-is-not-the-same-thing-as-a-lie/) [Victoria Schwab](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victoria-schwab/) > [“But isn’t that the way it is with memory? Give it enough time and it will become worn down and covered in a patina…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jason-mott/but-isn-t-that-the-way-it-is-with-memory-give-it-enough-time-and-it/) [Jason Mott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jason-mott/) > [“Nothing strong can be built on a foundation of lies and omissions.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-allende/nothing-strong-can-be-built-on-a-foundation-of-lies-and-omissions/) [Isabel Allende](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-allende/) > [“Not only our actions, but also our omissions, become our destiny. From "Cutting for Stone”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-verghese/not-only-our-actions-but-also-our-omissions-become-our-destiny-from/) [Abraham Verghese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-verghese/) > [History is imperfect and biased, and it always, always has omissions. The most common omissions are the bits that the writer of that history…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tansy-rayner-roberts/history-is-imperfect-and-biased-and-it-always-always-has-omissions/) [Tansy Rayner Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tansy-rayner-roberts/) > [“Space and Time! Two minor omissions that no one is likely to notice," grumbled Newton.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neal-stephenson/space-and-time-two-minor-omissions-that-no-one-is-likely-to-notice/) [Neal Stephenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neal-stephenson/) > [“Omissions are sins, and must come into judgment, and particularly the contempt and neglect of the seals of the covenant;”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-henry/omissions-are-sins-and-must-come-into-judgment-and-particularly-the/) [Matthew Henry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-henry/) > [I am well aware that the path of the biographer is beset with pitfalls, and that, for him, suppressio veri is almost necessarily suggestio…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stuart-dodgson-collingwood/i-am-well-aware-that-the-path-of-the-biographer-is-beset-with/) [Stuart Dodgson Collingwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stuart-dodgson-collingwood/) > [Some voluntary castaways there will always be, whom no fostering kindness and no parental care can preserve from self-destruction; but if any are lost…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-southey/some-voluntary-castaways-there-will-always-be-whom-no-fostering/) [Robert Southey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-southey/) ## More by Grace Paley > [The only recognizable feature of hope is action.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/the-only-recognizable-feature-of-hope-is-action/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [“Near home I ran through our park, where I had aired my children on weekends and late-summer afternoons. I stopped at the northeast playground,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/near-home-i-ran-through-our-park-where-i-had-aired-my-children-on/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [Old age is not a good thing. It can be really hard, and those of us who have it a little easier should keep…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/old-age-is-not-a-good-thing-it-can-be-really-hard-and-those-of-us-who/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [Well, by now you must know yourself, honey, whatever you do, life don't stop. It only sits a minute and dreams a dream.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/well-by-now-you-must-know-yourself-honey-whatever-you-do-life-don-t/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [“Who cares?' said Judy, who didn't care.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/who-cares-said-judy-who-didn-t-care/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [The women's movement was coming, but I didn't know it in 1956-1957, when I began to write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/the-women-s-movement-was-coming-but-i-didn-t-know-it-in-1956-1957/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [A joke is necessary at this time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/a-joke-is-necessary-at-this-time/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [Sometimes, walking with a friend, I forget the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/sometimes-walking-with-a-friend-i-forget-the-world/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [It wasn't until I lived in the countryside that I began to understand the life of the countryside and the people in it and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/it-wasn-t-until-i-lived-in-the-countryside-that-i-began-to-understand/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [I've started many novels, and they all ended on page seven.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/i-ve-started-many-novels-and-they-all-ended-on-page-seven/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > […I go through a story for lies. I might discover the lie of trying to show off. Sometimes they’re lies of character. Sometimes they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/i-go-through-a-story-for-lies-i-might-discover-the-lie-of-trying-to/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [I didn't intend. The word "intend" is the wrong word for what I do. It's just that it's something you do, and you can't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/i-didn-t-intend-the-word-intend-is-the-wrong-word-for-what-i-do-it-s/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [“... plot, the absolute line between two points which I've always despised. Not for literary reasons, but because it takes all hope away. Everyone,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/plot-the-absolute-line-between-two-points-which-i-ve-always-despised/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [You come to doing what you do by not being able to do something.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/you-come-to-doing-what-you-do-by-not-being-able-to-do-something/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [When I was about twenty-one, I published a few poems. Maybe I wrote a couple of stories before, but I really began to write…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/when-i-was-about-twenty-one-i-published-a-few-poems-maybe-i-wrote-a/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) [Explore all 135 Grace Paley quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) ## More Could have been quotes > [My folks tried to make a preacher of me and missed by a narrow margin… I would have made a good one if I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/my-folks-tried-to-make-a-preacher-of-me-and-missed-by-a-narrow-margin/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [I'm happy with my career but I could have been happier if I could have been treated like a champion should have been treated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-holmes/i-m-happy-with-my-career-but-i-could-have-been-happier-if-i-could/) [Larry Holmes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-holmes/) > [Funerals and weddings were commonplace, and nothing could have been so interesting to them as the coming of the end of the world ...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-eggleston/funerals-and-weddings-were-commonplace-and-nothing-could-have-been-so/) [Edward Eggleston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-eggleston/) > [Had I been brighter, the ladies been gentler, the Scotch been weaker, had the gods been kinder, had the dice been hotter, this could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mickey-rooney/had-i-been-brighter-the-ladies-been-gentler-the-scotch-been-weaker/) [Mickey Rooney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mickey-rooney/) > [From '86 until the summer of last year, wherever I went, people would say, You would have made a great James Bond! Weren't you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierce-brosnan/from-86-until-the-summer-of-last-year-wherever-i-went-people-would/) [Pierce Brosnan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierce-brosnan/) > [There's always male roles I want to play. I'm so annoyed when I watch movies and go, "That could have been played by a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-lawrence/there-s-always-male-roles-i-want-to-play-i-m-so-annoyed-when-i-watch/) [Jennifer Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-lawrence/) > [It has been suggested that Tiptree is female, a theory that I find absurd, for there is to me something ineluctably masculine about Tiptree’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-silverberg/it-has-been-suggested-that-tiptree-is-female-a-theory-that-i-find/) [Robert Silverberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-silverberg/) > [Thousands of years of ideological, philosophical and practical decisions were made. They altered the surface of the earth, the coordinates of our souls. For…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/thousands-of-years-of-ideological-philosophical-and-practical/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [You obviously don't know what an Old Man of the Sea great wealth is. It is not a fat purse and time to spend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/you-obviously-don-t-know-what-an-old-man-of-the-sea-great-wealth-is/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [At the beginning of my TV and movie stuff, I would be really critical of myself, but I've gotten better and better. There's always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mireille-enos/at-the-beginning-of-my-tv-and-movie-stuff-i-would-be-really-critical/) [Mireille Enos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mireille-enos/) > [The Providence that watches over the affairs of men works out of their mistakes, at times, a healthier issue than could have been accomplished…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-anthony-froude/the-providence-that-watches-over-the-affairs-of-men-works-out-of/) [James Anthony Froude](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-anthony-froude/) > [To suppose that the eye could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/to-suppose-that-the-eye-could-have-been-formed-by-natural-selection/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [Sometimes you have to look into a mirror and look at the worst you could have been if you're ever going to know the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-plummer/sometimes-you-have-to-look-into-a-mirror-and-look-at-the-worst-you/) [Christopher Plummer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-plummer/) > [When the landscape buckles and jerks around, when a dust column of debris rises from the collapse of a block of buildings on bodies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/when-the-landscape-buckles-and-jerks-around-when-a-dust-column-of/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [Watercolour could have been used more by the modernists. It is so direct, and when the white paper convention is accepted, so powerful, even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-milne/watercolour-could-have-been-used-more-by-the-modernists-it-is-so/) [David Milne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-milne/) [Browse all 271 Could have been quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/could-have-been/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I did write a number of reports on my political experiences, but there were many omissions, and I feel bad about that because it was work that was interesting and had I written more about it, it could have been useful.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Grace Paley" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/i-did-write-a-number-of-reports-on-my-political-experiences-but-there/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Could have been" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/i-did-write-a-number-of-reports-on-my-political-experiences-but-there/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c36/grace-paley-3243_could-have-been_i-did-write-a-number-of-reports-on-my-po_639095.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c36/grace-paley-3243_could-have-been_i-did-write-a-number-of-reports-on-my-po_639095.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c36/grace-paley-3243_could-have-been_i-did-write-a-number-of-reports-on-my-po_639095.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I did write a number of reports on my political experiences, but there were many omissions, and I feel bad…” — Grace Paley", "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": "Grace Paley", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I did write a number of...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/i-did-write-a-number-of-reports-on-my-political-experiences-but-there/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/i-did-write-a-number-of-reports-on-my-political-experiences-but-there/#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 } } ] } ```