--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If only I could so live and so serve the…" description: "\"If only I could so live and so serve the world that after me there should never again be birds in cages.\" — Isak Dinesen" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7f8/isak-dinesen-3174_animal_if-only-i-could-so-live-and-so-serve-the_2089104.jpg" --- # If only I could so live and so serve the world that after… ![“If only I could so live and so serve the world that after me there should never again be birds in cages.” quote by Isak Dinesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7f8/isak-dinesen-3174_animal_if-only-i-could-so-live-and-so-serve-the_2089104.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7f8/isak-dinesen-3174_animal_if-only-i-could-so-live-and-so-serve-the_2089104.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7f8/isak-dinesen-3174_animal_if-only-i-could-so-live-and-so-serve-the_2089104.jpg) > “If only I could so live and so serve the world that after me there should never again be birds in cages.” [Isak Dinesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isak-dinesen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A wish for a world where humanity lives freely, without oppression symbolized by birds in cages. **In simple terms:** Freedom for all beings. Key Takeaway Strive for a world without oppression. Themes freedom compassion environment Mood hopeful inspired Type ethical philosophical When to use this quote - activism - environmental policy - personal lifestyle choices Key Concepts animal rights human rights ethical stewardship Questions to Reflect On - What does freedom mean to you? - How can you contribute to reducing oppression? A Different Perspective Achieving total freedom is complex and may conflict with other values. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Animal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animal/) [Bird](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bird/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [“But to serve the world best, we have to take care of ourselves first.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/debora-geary/but-to-serve-the-world-best-we-have-to-take-care-of-ourselves-first/) [Debora Geary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/debora-geary/) > [Love and serve the world through your work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gautama-buddha/love-and-serve-the-world-through-your-work/) [Gautama Buddha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gautama-buddha/) > [Each of us has a vital role to play in building a world in which the government and technology serve the world's people and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-mackinnon/each-of-us-has-a-vital-role-to-play-in-building-a-world-in-which-the/) [Rebecca MacKinnon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-mackinnon/) > [What’s yours? How will you serve the world? What do they need that your talent can provide? That’s all you have to figure out.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-carrey/what-s-yours-how-will-you-serve-the-world-what-do-they-need-that-your/) [Jim Carrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-carrey/) > [“Hay quienes no pueden imaginar un mundo sin pájaros; hay quienes no pueden imaginar un mundo sin agua; en lo que a mi se…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jorge-luis-borges/hay-quienes-no-pueden-imaginar-un-mundo-sin-p-jaros-hay-quienes-no/) [Jorge Luis Borges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorge-luis-borges/) > [Although birds coexist with us on this eroded planet, they live independently of us with a self-sufficiency that is almost a rebuke. In the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brooks-atkinson/although-birds-coexist-with-us-on-this-eroded-planet-they-live/) [Brooks Atkinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brooks-atkinson/) > [“He went along the corridor to the tiny spare room at the back of the house and looked down into the gardens below. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/he-went-along-the-corridor-to-the-tiny-spare-room-at-the-back-of-the/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [“There are those who cannot imagine a world without birds; there are those who cannot imagine a world without water; but in my case…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jorge-luis-borges/there-are-those-who-cannot-imagine-a-world-without-birds-there-are/) [Jorge Luis Borges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorge-luis-borges/) > [I had bought two male chimps from a primate colony in Holland. They lived next to each other in separate cages for several months…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christiaan-barnard/i-had-bought-two-male-chimps-from-a-primate-colony-in-holland-they/) [Christiaan Barnard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christiaan-barnard/) > [Being kind to animals is not enough. Avoiding cruelty is not enough. Housing animals in more comfortable, larger cages is not enough. Whether we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-regan/being-kind-to-animals-is-not-enough-avoiding-cruelty-is-not-enough/) [Tom Regan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-regan/) > [“Everyone has the power to inspire and serve the world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germany-kent/everyone-has-the-power-to-inspire-and-serve-the-world/) [Germany Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germany-kent/) > [As we serve our jobs we serve the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ford/as-we-serve-our-jobs-we-serve-the-world/) [Henry Ford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ford/) > [Find your domain and serve it to the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/myles-munroe/find-your-domain-and-serve-it-to-the-world/) [Myles Munroe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/myles-munroe/) > [“if it's the best of anything, i have to have one. (when passing a food stand claiming to serve the world's best subways)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wavy-gravy/if-it-s-the-best-of-anything-i-have-to-have-one-when-passing-a-food/) [Wavy Gravy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wavy-gravy/) > [We cannot, of course, save the World because we do not have authority over its parts. We can serve the world though. That is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-l-pez/we-cannot-of-course-save-the-world-because-we-do-not-have-authority/) [Barry Lopez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-l-pez/) ## More by Isak Dinesen > [The divine art is the story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isak-dinesen/the-divine-art-is-the-story/) [Isak Dinesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isak-dinesen/) > [Your own self, your personality and existence are reflected within the mind of each of the people whom you meet, ... into a likeness,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isak-dinesen/your-own-self-your-personality-and-existence-are-reflected-within-the/) [Isak Dinesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isak-dinesen/) > [A great artist is never poor.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isak-dinesen/a-great-artist-is-never-poor/) [Isak Dinesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isak-dinesen/) > [To be a person is to have a story to tell.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isak-dinesen/to-be-a-person-is-to-have-a-story-to-tell/) [Isak Dinesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isak-dinesen/) > [One does not travel by plane. One is merely sent, like a parcel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isak-dinesen/one-does-not-travel-by-plane-one-is-merely-sent-like-a-parcel/) [Isak Dinesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isak-dinesen/) > [When we are young the idea of death or failure is intolerable to us; even the possibility of ridicule we cannot bear. But we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isak-dinesen/when-we-are-young-the-idea-of-death-or-failure-is-intolerable-to-us/) [Isak Dinesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isak-dinesen/) > [Here and there, in some older houses, old faded daguerreotypes still hang on the walls... They seem to us to be very simple... compared…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isak-dinesen/here-and-there-in-some-older-houses-old-faded-daguerreotypes-still/) [Isak Dinesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isak-dinesen/) > [“It is more than their land that you take away from the people, whose Native land you take. It is their past as well,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isak-dinesen/it-is-more-than-their-land-that-you-take-away-from-the-people-whose/) [Isak Dinesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isak-dinesen/) > [There was a place in the Hills, on the first ridge in the Game Reserve, that I myself at the time when I thought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isak-dinesen/there-was-a-place-in-the-hills-on-the-first-ridge-in-the-game-reserve/) [Isak Dinesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isak-dinesen/) > [If I know a song of Africa, of the giraffe and the African new moon lying on her back, of the plows in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isak-dinesen/if-i-know-a-song-of-africa-of-the-giraffe-and-the-african-new-moon/) [Isak Dinesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isak-dinesen/) > [People who dream when they sleep at night know of a special kind of happiness which the world of the day holds not, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isak-dinesen/people-who-dream-when-they-sleep-at-night-know-of-a-special-kind-of/) [Isak Dinesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isak-dinesen/) > [All sorrows can be borne if you can put them into a story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isak-dinesen/all-sorrows-can-be-borne-if-you-can-put-them-into-a-story/) [Isak Dinesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isak-dinesen/) > [the true art of the gods is the comic. The comic is a condescension of the divine to the world of man; it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isak-dinesen/the-true-art-of-the-gods-is-the-comic-the-comic-is-a-condescension-of/) [Isak Dinesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isak-dinesen/) > [“Dr Sass…maintained that in paradise, until the time of the fall, the whole world was flat, the back-curtain of the Lord, and that it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isak-dinesen/dr-sass-maintained-that-in-paradise-until-the-time-of-the-fall-the/) [Isak Dinesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isak-dinesen/) > [When you have a great and difficult task, something perhaps almost impossible, if you only work a little at a time, every day a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isak-dinesen/when-you-have-a-great-and-difficult-task-something-perhaps-almost/) [Isak Dinesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isak-dinesen/) [Explore all 135 Isak Dinesen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isak-dinesen/) ## More Animal quotes > [I was 3-years-old - to this day it is a vivid memory. My family and I were on a boat, catching fish. As one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joaquin-phoenix/i-was-3-years-old-to-this-day-it-is-a-vivid-memory-my-family-and-i/) [Joaquin Phoenix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joaquin-phoenix/) > [Animals know nothing of themselves, and they also know nothing of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/animals-know-nothing-of-themselves-and-they-also-know-nothing-of-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Humans are animals too, but some do not like to work from expectations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/humans-are-animals-too-but-some-do-not-like-to-work-from-expectations/) Mak\_786 > [When grubbing for necessities man is still an animal. He becomes uniquely human when he reaches out for the superfluous and extravagant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hoffer/when-grubbing-for-necessities-man-is-still-an-animal-he-becomes/) [Eric Hoffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hoffer/) > [I'm 38 and I'm single, and I'm having my most intense and gratifying relationship with a dog. But we all learn about love in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caroline-knapp/i-m-38-and-i-m-single-and-i-m-having-my-most-intense-and-gratifying/) [Caroline Knapp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caroline-knapp/) > [Practically all animals which move fast in a homogeneous medium have found means of giving their body a streamlined shape, thereby reducing friction to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/konrad-lorenz/practically-all-animals-which-move-fast-in-a-homogeneous-medium-have/) [Konrad Lorenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/konrad-lorenz/) > [A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/a-horse-a-horse-my-kingdom-for-a-horse/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [“it is a federal system of sadistic torture, vivisection, and animal genocide, which has been carried on for decades under the fraudulent guise of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-tobias/it-is-a-federal-system-of-sadistic-torture-vivisection-and-animal/) [Michael Tobias](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-tobias/) > [“What does it mean to be a self-conscious animal? The idea is ludicrous, if it is not monstrous. It means to know that one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-becker/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-self-conscious-animal-the-idea-is-ludicrous/) [Ernest Becker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-becker/) > [We must love animals in such a powerful way that we should reject to eat them!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/we-must-love-animals-in-such-a-powerful-way-that-we-should-reject-to/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [“The universe contains any amount of horrible ways to be woken up, such as the noise of the mob breaking down the front door,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/the-universe-contains-any-amount-of-horrible-ways-to-be-woken-up-such/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [This brings me back to the image of Kafka standing before a fish in the Berlin aquarium, a fish on which his gaze fell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-safran-foer/this-brings-me-back-to-the-image-of-kafka-standing-before-a-fish-in/) [Jonathan Safran Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-safran-foer/) > [That dog, I say that dog is lower than a snake full of buckshot.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/foghorn-leghorn/that-dog-i-say-that-dog-is-lower-than-a-snake-full-of-buckshot/) [Foghorn Leghorn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/foghorn-leghorn/) > [I bet plants go like 'Weeeeeeeee!' whenever they're swallowed by a giraffe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-bet-plants-go-like-weeeeeeeee-whenever-they-re-swallowed-by-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Animal rights without veganism is like human rights with slavery. It makes no sense. None whatsoever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-l-francione/animal-rights-without-veganism-is-like-human-rights-with-slavery-it/) [Gary L. Francione](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-l-francione/) [Browse all 13,456 Animal quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animal/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If only I could so live and so serve the world that after me there should never again be birds in cages.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Isak Dinesen" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isak-dinesen/if-only-i-could-so-live-and-so-serve-the-world-that-after-me-there/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Animal" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isak-dinesen/if-only-i-could-so-live-and-so-serve-the-world-that-after-me-there/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7f8/isak-dinesen-3174_animal_if-only-i-could-so-live-and-so-serve-the_2089104.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7f8/isak-dinesen-3174_animal_if-only-i-could-so-live-and-so-serve-the_2089104.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7f8/isak-dinesen-3174_animal_if-only-i-could-so-live-and-so-serve-the_2089104.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If only I could so live and so serve the world that after me there should never again be birds in cages.” — Isak Dinesen", "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": "Isak Dinesen", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isak-dinesen/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "If only I could so live...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isak-dinesen/if-only-i-could-so-live-and-so-serve-the-world-that-after-me-there/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isak-dinesen/if-only-i-could-so-live-and-so-serve-the-world-that-after-me-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 } } ] } ```