--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Your emotional life is not written in…" description: "\"Your emotional life is not written in cement during childhood. You write each chapter as you go along.\" — Harry Stack Sullivan" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd9/harry-stack-sullivan-27472_cement_your-emotional-life-is-not-written-in-ce_881471.png" --- # Your emotional life is not written in cement during… ![“Your emotional life is not written in cement during childhood. You write each chapter as you go along.” quote by Harry Stack Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd9/harry-stack-sullivan-27472_cement_your-emotional-life-is-not-written-in-ce_881471.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd9/harry-stack-sullivan-27472_cement_your-emotional-life-is-not-written-in-ce_881471.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd9/harry-stack-sullivan-27472_cement_your-emotional-life-is-not-written-in-ce_881471.png) > “Your emotional life is not written in cement during childhood. You write each chapter as you go along.” [Harry Stack Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-stack-sullivan/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Emotional growth is ongoing; childhood does not fix destiny. **In simple terms:** Life is not set in stone. Key Takeaway Rewrite your emotional narrative. Themes growth self agency Mood reflective optimistic Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - therapy - self‑reflection - career change Key Concepts developmental psychology personal narrative Questions to Reflect On - What chapter are you writing now? - How can you reshape limiting beliefs? A Different Perspective Changing past narratives can be painful. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Childhood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/childhood/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Emotional](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/emotional/) [Emotional life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/emotional-life/) [Fatherhood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fatherhood/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [What's in a name? That is what we ask ourselves in childhood when we write the name that we are told is ours.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-joyce/what-s-in-a-name-that-is-what-we-ask-ourselves-in-childhood-when-we/) [James Joyce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-joyce/) > [“I sometimes wish my childhood had been less obsessed with the question of why we are here. But that must be the question of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-lockwood/i-sometimes-wish-my-childhood-had-been-less-obsessed-with-the/) [Patricia Lockwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-lockwood/) > [Write every day. Don't kill yourself. I think a lot of people think, 'I have to write a chapter a day' and they can't.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/write-every-day-don-t-kill-yourself-i-think-a-lot-of-people-think-i/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [If you were to write our next chapter, I wonder how you would begin it, because no matter how many pages I turn I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-were-to-write-our-next-chapter-i-wonder-how-you-would-begin-it/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [My rule has always been, write the next part of the book that you seem to know well. So I won't necessarily write chapter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justin-cronin/my-rule-has-always-been-write-the-next-part-of-the-book-that-you-seem/) [Justin Cronin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justin-cronin/) > [For all my longer works (i.e. the novels) I write chapter outlines so I can have the pleasure of departing from them later on.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-nix/for-all-my-longer-works-i-e-the-novels-i-write-chapter-outlines-so-i/) [Garth Nix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-nix/) > [Today you may write a chapter on the advantages of traveling, and tomorrow you may write another chapter on the advantages of not traveling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/today-you-may-write-a-chapter-on-the-advantages-of-traveling-and/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [“when paying more than $1,000 a day to write the chapter in a suite of an old hotel down the street from a Hogwarts-style…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cal-newport/when-paying-more-than-1-000-a-day-to-write-the-chapter-in-a-suite-of/) [Cal Newport](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cal-newport/) > [I begin early in the morning and edit everything I wrote the previous day. I write until mid-afternoon. My goal is to write a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-henley/i-begin-early-in-the-morning-and-edit-everything-i-wrote-the-previous/) [Virginia Henley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-henley/) > [“I have tried so to write the first chapter that those who can't bear such a story will see at once what they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/i-have-tried-so-to-write-the-first-chapter-that-those-who-can-t-bear/) [C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/) > [I'm a great planner, so before I ever write chapter 1, I work out what happens in every chapter and who the characters are.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-follett/i-m-a-great-planner-so-before-i-ever-write-chapter-1-i-work-out-what/) [Ken Follett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-follett/) > [ When it's going well \[writing\] goes terribly fast. It isn't at all surprising to write a chapter in a day, which for me is… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-le-carre/when-it-s-going-well-writing-goes-terribly-fast-it-isn-t-at-all/) [John le Carre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-le-carre/) > [“If you can't write a book, write a chapter. If you can't do that, write a page, a sentence or a word. For it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tarun-betala/if-you-can-t-write-a-book-write-a-chapter-if-you-can-t-do-that-write/) [Tarun Betala](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tarun-betala/) > [We have talked long enough in this country about equal rights. It is time now to write the next chapter - and to write…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyndon-b-johnson/we-have-talked-long-enough-in-this-country-about-equal-rights-it-is/) [Lyndon B. Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyndon-b-johnson/) > [Writing doesn't mean necessarily putting words on a sheet of paper. You can write a chapter while walking or eating.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umberto-eco/writing-doesn-t-mean-necessarily-putting-words-on-a-sheet-of-paper/) [Umberto Eco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umberto-eco/) ## More by Harry Stack Sullivan > [There is no fun in psychiatry. If you try to get fun out of it, you pay a considerable price for your unjustifiable optimism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-stack-sullivan/there-is-no-fun-in-psychiatry-if-you-try-to-get-fun-out-of-it-you-pay/) [Harry Stack Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-stack-sullivan/) > [The psychiatric interviewer is supposed to be doing three things: considering what the patient could mean by what he says; considering how he himself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-stack-sullivan/the-psychiatric-interviewer-is-supposed-to-be-doing-three-things/) [Harry Stack Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-stack-sullivan/) > [When the satisfaction or the security of another person becomes as significant to one as one's own satisfaction or security, then the state of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-stack-sullivan/when-the-satisfaction-or-the-security-of-another-person-becomes-as/) [Harry Stack Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-stack-sullivan/) > [As you love yourself, so shall you love others. Strange but true, with no exceptions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-stack-sullivan/as-you-love-yourself-so-shall-you-love-others-strange-but-true-with/) [Harry Stack Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-stack-sullivan/) > [What I am, at any given moment in the process of my becoming a person, will be determined by my relationships with those who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-stack-sullivan/what-i-am-at-any-given-moment-in-the-process-of-my-becoming-a-person/) [Harry Stack Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-stack-sullivan/) > [All of us are much more human than otherwise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-stack-sullivan/all-of-us-are-much-more-human-than-otherwise/) [Harry Stack Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-stack-sullivan/) > [It is easier to act yourself into a new way of feeling than to feel yourself into a new way of acting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-stack-sullivan/it-is-easier-to-act-yourself-into-a-new-way-of-feeling-than-to-feel/) [Harry Stack Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-stack-sullivan/) > [The supply of interpretations, like that of advice, greatly exceeds the need for them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-stack-sullivan/the-supply-of-interpretations-like-that-of-advice-greatly-exceeds-the/) [Harry Stack Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-stack-sullivan/) > [Everybody has a great deal of experience in living. But no one lives in anything like the highest style of the art; and it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-stack-sullivan/everybody-has-a-great-deal-of-experience-in-living-but-no-one-lives/) [Harry Stack Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-stack-sullivan/) > [We are all much more simply human than otherwise, be we happy and successful, contented and detached, miserable and mentally disordered, or whatever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-stack-sullivan/we-are-all-much-more-simply-human-than-otherwise-be-we-happy-and/) [Harry Stack Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-stack-sullivan/) > [If you do jot feel equal to the headaches that psychiatry induces, you are in the wrong business. It is work - work the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-stack-sullivan/if-you-do-jot-feel-equal-to-the-headaches-that-psychiatry-induces-you/) [Harry Stack Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-stack-sullivan/) > [ \[O\]ne of the greatest difficulties encountered in bringing about favorable change is this almost inescapable illusion that there is a perduring, unique, simple existent… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-stack-sullivan/o-ne-of-the-greatest-difficulties-encountered-in-bringing-about/) [Harry Stack Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-stack-sullivan/) > [What you know about the people whom you know at all well is truly amazing, even though you have never formulated it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-stack-sullivan/what-you-know-about-the-people-whom-you-know-at-all-well-is-truly/) [Harry Stack Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-stack-sullivan/) > [If you have to maintain self-esteem by pulling down the standing of others, you are extraordinarily unfortunate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-stack-sullivan/if-you-have-to-maintain-self-esteem-by-pulling-down-the-standing-of-2/) [Harry Stack Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-stack-sullivan/) > [When the satisfaction or security of another person becomes as important to one as one's own, then a state of love exists.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-stack-sullivan/when-the-satisfaction-or-security-of-another-person-becomes-as/) [Harry Stack Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-stack-sullivan/) [Explore all 20 Harry Stack Sullivan quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-stack-sullivan/) ## More Cement quotes > [The discussing the characters and foibles of common friends is a great sweetness and cement of friendship.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hazlitt/the-discussing-the-characters-and-foibles-of-common-friends-is-a/) [William Hazlitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hazlitt/) > [Obedience is the psychological mechanism that links individual action to political purpose. It is the dispositional cement that binds men to systems of authority.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-milgram/obedience-is-the-psychological-mechanism-that-links-individual-action/) [Stanley Milgram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-milgram/) > [A man who builds his own pedestal had better use strong cement.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/a-man-who-builds-his-own-pedestal-had-better-use-strong-cement/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [You have those walls up all around you...Come a day you gonna want to tear them down brick by brick and gonna find that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacqueline-woodson/you-have-those-walls-up-all-around-you-come-a-day-you-gonna-want-to/) [Jacqueline Woodson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacqueline-woodson/) > [Effective communication is built on the cement of trust. And trust is based on trustworthiness, not politics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-covey/effective-communication-is-built-on-the-cement-of-trust-and-trust-is/) [Stephen Covey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-covey/) > [“Love is the only cement that can hold this world together.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/osunsakin-adewale/love-is-the-only-cement-that-can-hold-this-world-together/) [Osunsakin Adewale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/osunsakin-adewale/) > [The first year of marriage is like wet cement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-wolgemuth/the-first-year-of-marriage-is-like-wet-cement/) Robert Wolgemuth > [I still haven't found the humor in getting hit by a cement truck. My knees still hurt when I think about it, so no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-devine/i-still-haven-t-found-the-humor-in-getting-hit-by-a-cement-truck-my/) [Adam DeVine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-devine/) > [With Parkinson's, it's like you're in the middle of the street and you're stuck there in cement shoes and you know a bus is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-fox/with-parkinson-s-it-s-like-you-re-in-the-middle-of-the-street-and-you/) [Michael J. Fox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-j-fox/) > [Data isn't information, any more than fifty tons of cement is a skyscraper.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-stoll/data-isn-t-information-any-more-than-fifty-tons-of-cement-is-a/) [Clifford Stoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifford-stoll/) > [Emotional abuse is like being continuously kicked in the shins. It can be worse than getting one punch in the face, and it cements…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashley-banjo/emotional-abuse-is-like-being-continuously-kicked-in-the-shins-it-can/) Ashley Banjo > [The problem with guilt is that it cements you to the past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-leman/the-problem-with-guilt-is-that-it-cements-you-to-the-past/) [Kevin Leman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-leman/) > [When I walk down the street in New York, I swear to God, the building constructor, the guy pounding cement and what not, will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-rickles/when-i-walk-down-the-street-in-new-york-i-swear-to-god-the-building/) [Don Rickles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-rickles/) > [A cement mixer collided with a prison van on the Kingston Pass. Motorists are asked to be on the lookout for 16 hardened criminals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronnie-corbett/a-cement-mixer-collided-with-a-prison-van-on-the-kingston-pass/) [Ronnie Corbett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronnie-corbett/) > [Friendship! Mysterious cement of the soul, Sweet'ner of life, and solder of society.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-blair/friendship-mysterious-cement-of-the-soul-sweet-ner-of-life-and-solder/) [Robert Blair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-blair/) Browse all 194 Cement quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Your emotional life is not written in cement during childhood. 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