--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It interrupts any doing, any ordinary…" description: "\"It interrupts any doing, any ordinary activities, no matter what they happen to be. All thinking demands a stop-and-think.\" — Hannah Arendt" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7d/hannah-arendt-610_activity_it-interrupts-any-doing-any-ordinary-act_563579.jpg" --- # It interrupts any doing, any ordinary activities, no… ![“It interrupts any doing, any ordinary activities, no matter what they happen to be. All thinking demands a stop-and-think.” quote by Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7d/hannah-arendt-610_activity_it-interrupts-any-doing-any-ordinary-act_563579.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7d/hannah-arendt-610_activity_it-interrupts-any-doing-any-ordinary-act_563579.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c7d/hannah-arendt-610_activity_it-interrupts-any-doing-any-ordinary-act_563579.jpg) > “It interrupts any doing, any ordinary activities, no matter what they happen to be. All thinking demands a stop-and-think.” [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Thinking requires pausing ordinary actions to reflect, interrupting routine activities. **In simple terms:** Thinking stops routine. Key Takeaway Pause to think before acting. Themes reflection mindfulness decisionmaking Mood contemplative serious Type philosophical advice When to use this quote - daily work - creative projects - problem solving - stress management Key Concepts philosophy cognitive pause Questions to Reflect On - When do you need to pause for deeper thought? - How does interruption affect productivity? A Different Perspective May be impractical in emergencies or fast-paced environments. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Activity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/activity/) [Demand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/demand/) [Happens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happens/) [Interrupts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interrupts-2024998/) [Interrupts Doing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interrupts-doing-4666329/) [Matter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/matter/) [No matter what](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/no-matter-what/) [Ordinary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ordinary/) [Stop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stop/) [Stop Think](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stop-think-297115/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Thinking Demands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking-demands-4666330/) ## Related quotes > [“Consider Rutherford playing his thoroughly unlikely hunch about alpha backscattering, Heisenberg remembering an obscure remark of Einstein’s and concluding that nature only performed in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rhodes/consider-rutherford-playing-his-thoroughly-unlikely-hunch-about-alpha/) [Richard Rhodes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rhodes/) > [The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-thing-i-hate-about-an-argument-is-that-it-always-interrupts-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Will interrupts him. “What do you know about people on the autism spectrum?” Owen”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leta-blake/will-interrupts-him-what-do-you-know-about-people-on-the-autism/) [Leta Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leta-blake/) > [That moment when someone interrupts you while you are telling a story. 'Bitch, I'm talking, shut the fuck up.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/that-moment-when-someone-interrupts-you-while-you-are-telling-a-story/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Life is that which - pressingly, persistently, unfailingly, imperially - interrupts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-ozick/life-is-that-which-pressingly-persistently-unfailingly-imperially/) [Cynthia Ozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-ozick/) > [That annoying moment when someone interrupts you and thenyou can't remember what you were talking about.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/that-annoying-moment-when-someone-interrupts-you-and-thenyou-can-t/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [When a man interrupts a woman in mid-sentence, it reveals much about him. First, it shows he hasn't been listening to what she is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madeleine-m-kunin/when-a-man-interrupts-a-woman-in-mid-sentence-it-reveals-much-about/) [Madeleine M. Kunin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madeleine-m-kunin/) > [“Don’t talk while you’re talking. It interrupts me.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarod-kintz/don-t-talk-while-you-re-talking-it-interrupts-me/) [Jarod Kintz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarod-kintz/) > [Reality is what interrupts our dreams.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-a-babb/reality-is-what-interrupts-our-dreams/) [Frederick A Babb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-a-babb/) > [“I remember everything Campbell," she interrupts. "If I didn't, this wouldn't be so hard.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-picoult/i-remember-everything-campbell-she-interrupts-if-i-didn-t-this-wouldn/) [Jodi Picoult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-picoult/) > [“And what is your story? someone interrupts. What did you do to end up in this endless community of minds?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-mcelroy/and-what-is-your-story-someone-interrupts-what-did-you-do-to-end-up/) [Joseph McElroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-mcelroy/) > [Power interrupts. Uninterruptible power interrupts absolutely.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-reucassel/power-interrupts-uninterruptible-power-interrupts-absolutely/) [Craig Reucassel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-reucassel/) > [Action eradicates fear. No matter what you fear,--- positive, self-affirming action can diminish or completely cancel that which you are fearful of.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-victor-hansen/action-eradicates-fear-no-matter-what-you-fear-positive-self/) [Mark Victor Hansen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-victor-hansen/) > [Iron and coal dominated everywhere, from grey to black: the black boots, the black stove-pipe hat, the black coach or carriage, the black iron…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/iron-and-coal-dominated-everywhere-from-grey-to-black-the-black-boots/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [You don't think. It's all instinct. If you stop to think, you're gone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sugar-ray-robinson/you-don-t-think-it-s-all-instinct-if-you-stop-to-think-you-re-gone/) [Sugar Ray Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sugar-ray-robinson/) ## More by Hannah Arendt > [“It means, first, that everything that appears in public can be seen and heard by everybody and has the widest possible publicity. For us,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/it-means-first-that-everything-that-appears-in-public-can-be-seen-and/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Without being forgiven, released from the consequences of what we have done, our capacity to act would, as it were, be confined to one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/without-being-forgiven-released-from-the-consequences-of-what-we-have/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [What really distinguishes this generation in all countries from earlier generations ... is its determination to act, its joy in action, the assurance of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/what-really-distinguishes-this-generation-in-all-countries-from/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [The practice of violence, like all action, changes the world, but the most probable change is a more violent world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-practice-of-violence-like-all-action-changes-the-world-but-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“Nationalism always preserved this initial intimate loyalty to the government and never quite lost its function of preserving a precarious balance between nation and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/nationalism-always-preserved-this-initial-intimate-loyalty-to-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [There is all the difference in the world between the criminal's avoiding the public eye and the civil disobedience's taking the law into his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/there-is-all-the-difference-in-the-world-between-the-criminal-s/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“What imperialists actually wanted was expansion of political power without the foundation of the body politic. 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But when I got to school and tried to share learning with other students that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/where-i-grew-up-learning-was-a-collective-activity-but-when-i-got-to/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [It must be assumed and established as a principle, that the right of private property must be regarded as sacred. Wherefore, the law ought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-leo-xiii/it-must-be-assumed-and-established-as-a-principle-that-the-right-of/) [Pope Leo XIII](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-leo-xiii/) > [Each man is capable of doing one thing well. If he attempts several, he will fail to achieve distinction in any.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/each-man-is-capable-of-doing-one-thing-well-if-he-attempts-several-he/) [Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/) > [And also I think the rise of other, you could say, destinations for international jihadis mean that Pakistan isn't necessarily the place where people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohsin-hamid/and-also-i-think-the-rise-of-other-you-could-say-destinations-for/) [Mohsin Hamid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohsin-hamid/) > [To evoke in oneself a feeling one has once experienced, and having evoked it in oneself, then by means of movements, lines, colors, sounds,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/to-evoke-in-oneself-a-feeling-one-has-once-experienced-and-having/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [Fighting's fun, man. It's a great activity, it's a great sport.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-mitrione/fighting-s-fun-man-it-s-a-great-activity-it-s-a-great-sport/) [Matt Mitrione](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-mitrione/) > [There were books everywhere in my house. Books were very present. I just loved books. I never understood reading as anything but a pleasurable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-lucas/there-were-books-everywhere-in-my-house-books-were-very-present-i/) [Lisa Lucas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-lucas/) > [For war to man, like childbirth to women, is simplifying in its emotions and activities. All the real problems of life can be put…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/for-war-to-man-like-childbirth-to-women-is-simplifying-in-its/) [Pearl S. Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-s-buck/) > [The only activity a cynic will find contagious is yawning, that is, with other people, at other people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/criss-jami/the-only-activity-a-cynic-will-find-contagious-is-yawning-that-is/) [Criss Jami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/criss-jami/) > [For the longest time, neuroscientists were forced to be passive observers of brain activity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gero-miesenbock/for-the-longest-time-neuroscientists-were-forced-to-be-passive/) [Gero Miesenbock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gero-miesenbock/) > [Enjoyment is not a goal, it is a feeling that accompanies important ongoing activity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-goodman/enjoyment-is-not-a-goal-it-is-a-feeling-that-accompanies-important/) [Paul Goodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-goodman/) > [Once an activity has been socialized, it is impossible to point out, by concrete example, how men in a free market could better conduct…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-read/once-an-activity-has-been-socialized-it-is-impossible-to-point-out-by/) [Leonard Read](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-read/) > [“Fun is not an activity, it is a state of mind.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryant-mcgill/fun-is-not-an-activity-it-is-a-state-of-mind/) [Bryant McGill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryant-mcgill/) > [I have to consider everything I eat; I consider every activity I do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-kimball/i-have-to-consider-everything-i-eat-i-consider-every-activity-i-do/) [Charlie Kimball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-kimball/) > [Almost all good businesses engage in 'pain today, gain tomorrow' activities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/almost-all-good-businesses-engage-in-pain-today-gain-tomorrow/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) [Browse all 3,263 Activity quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/activity/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It interrupts any doing, any ordinary activities, no matter what they happen to be. 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