--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Left wing...Right wing...it's so limited…" description: "\"“Left wing...Right wing...it's so limited; why doesn't it ever occur to any of them that what one is really longing for is the wishbone?”\" — Jan Struther" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/282/jan-struther-13125_left-wing_left-wing-right-wing-it-s-so-limited-why_1574922.jpg" --- # Left wing...Right wing...it's so limited; why doesn't it… ![“Left wing...Right wing...it's so limited; why doesn't it ever occur to any of them that what one is really longing for is the wishbone?” quote by Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/282/jan-struther-13125_left-wing_left-wing-right-wing-it-s-so-limited-why_1574922.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/282/jan-struther-13125_left-wing_left-wing-right-wing-it-s-so-limited-why_1574922.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/282/jan-struther-13125_left-wing_left-wing-right-wing-it-s-so-limited-why_1574922.jpg) > ““Left wing...Right wing...it's so limited; why doesn't it ever occur to any of them that what one is really longing for is the wishbone?”” [Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Political labels feel limiting; true desire is something deeper and universal, like a wishbone. **In simple terms:** Left/right politics seem narrow; we crave something deeper. Key Takeaway Look beyond binaries to shared human longings. Themes politics limitation longing unity Mood thoughtful hopeful Type political philosophical When to use this quote - voting decisions - policy debates - community building Key Concepts philosophy social critique humanism Questions to Reflect On - What deeper values guide your political views? - How can you bridge partisan divides? A Different Perspective Binary choices can oversimplify complex values. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Left wing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/left-wing/) [Right wing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/right-wing/) [Wishbone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wishbone/) ## Related quotes > [Sometimes people with strong ideology, whether left-wing or right-wing, refuse to do something simply because they believe it is wrong, when doing it actually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ha-joon-chang/sometimes-people-with-strong-ideology-whether-left-wing-or-right-wing/) [Ha-Joon Chang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ha-joon-chang/) > [I don't use any of the terminology like 'left wing' and 'right wing.' I use language like 'godly' and 'holiness.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-robertson/i-don-t-use-any-of-the-terminology-like-left-wing-and-right-wing-i/) [Phil Robertson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-robertson/) > [Left wing. Right wing. Chicken wing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woody-guthrie/left-wing-right-wing-chicken-wing/) [Woody Guthrie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woody-guthrie/) > [I am neither left wing nor right wing. I am middle-of-the-bird.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-paulsen/i-am-neither-left-wing-nor-right-wing-i-am-middle-of-the-bird/) [Pat Paulsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-paulsen/) > [I don't think anybody who looks carefully at us thinks that we are a left-wing or a right-wing organization.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-jennings/i-don-t-think-anybody-who-looks-carefully-at-us-thinks-that-we-are-a/) [Peter Jennings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-jennings/) > [Left wing, right wing, I am wingless and tired of trying to fly. Here comes the ground.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marc-maron/left-wing-right-wing-i-am-wingless-and-tired-of-trying-to-fly-here/) [Marc Maron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marc-maron/) > [The country you're born in is where your passport comes from. No, not according to Donald Trump! No, not at all. I resent that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lydon/the-country-you-re-born-in-is-where-your-passport-comes-from-no-not/) [John Lydon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lydon/) > [No-one in their right mind would buy the 'New Statesman' and change it from being a left-wing to a right-wing magazine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-neil/no-one-in-their-right-mind-would-buy-the-new-statesman-and-change-it/) [Andrew Neil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-neil/) > [Assuming either the Left Wing or the Right Wing gained control of the country, it would probably fly around in circles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-paulsen/assuming-either-the-left-wing-or-the-right-wing-gained-control-of-the/) [Pat Paulsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-paulsen/) > [“I'm not left-wing, or right-wing. With only one wing I couldn't fly, and I just couldn't have that.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-m-not-left-wing-or-right-wing-with-only-one-wing-i-couldn-t-fly-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'm against ObamaCare, which is imposing radical change, and I would be against a conservative imposing radical change… I don't think right-wing social engineering…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/newt-gingrich/i-m-against-obamacare-which-is-imposing-radical-change-and-i-would-be/) [Newt Gingrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/newt-gingrich/) > [“Social conservatives from the right wing of the Republican party, who do not like globalization or closer integration with the world because it brings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-l-friedman/social-conservatives-from-the-right-wing-of-the-republican-party-who/) [Thomas L. Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-l-friedman/) > [Left-wing movements have tended to be unisex, and asexual in their imagery. Right-wing movements, however puritanical and repressive the realities they usher in, have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/left-wing-movements-have-tended-to-be-unisex-and-asexual-in-their/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [I honestly don't know what criteria makes someone right-wing or left-wing anymore. The boundaries of those definitions seem to be in a state of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-numan/i-honestly-don-t-know-what-criteria-makes-someone-right-wing-or-left/) [Gary Numan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-numan/) > [For everything in this journey of life we are on, there is a right wing and a left wing: for the wing of love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/for-everything-in-this-journey-of-life-we-are-on-there-is-a-right/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Jan Struther > [Things happen too quickly, crisis follows crisis, the soil of our minds is perpetually disturbed. Each of us, to relieve his feelings, broadcasts his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/things-happen-too-quickly-crisis-follows-crisis-the-soil-of-our-minds/) [Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/) > [“It was more like a form of claustrophobia -- a dread of exchanging the freedom of her own self-imposed routine for the inescapable burden…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/it-was-more-like-a-form-of-claustrophobia-a-dread-of-exchanging-the/) [Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/) > [“Mrs. Miniver suddenly understood why she was enjoying the forties so much better than she had enjoyed the thirties: it was the difference between…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/mrs-miniver-suddenly-understood-why-she-was-enjoying-the-forties-so/) [Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/) > [To be put down in this world, and given only eighty years to get to know it in, is like being let loose in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/to-be-put-down-in-this-world-and-given-only-eighty-years-to-get-to/) [Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/) > [ “...\[Y\]ou cannot successfully navigate the future unless you keep always framed beside it a small clear image of the past.” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/y-ou-cannot-successfully-navigate-the-future-unless-you-keep-always/) [Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/) > [One is what one remembers: no more, no less.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/one-is-what-one-remembers-no-more-no-less/) [Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/) > [In childhood the daylight always fails too soon -- except when there are going to be fireworks;](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/in-childhood-the-daylight-always-fails-too-soon-except-when-there-are/) [Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/) > [I can't abide cats myself, but of course we have to have one in the kitchen to deal with the mice. I insisted on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/i-can-t-abide-cats-myself-but-of-course-we-have-to-have-one-in-the/) [Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/) > [swans ... always look as though they'd just been reading their own fan-mail.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/swans-always-look-as-though-they-d-just-been-reading-their-own-fan/) [Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/) > [It seemed to her sometimes that the most important thing about marriage was not a home or children or a remedy against sin, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/it-seemed-to-her-sometimes-that-the-most-important-thing-about/) [Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/) > [Physical weather certainly is beyond our control. ... But human weather - the psychological climate of the world - is not beyond our control.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/physical-weather-certainly-is-beyond-our-control-but-human-weather/) [Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/) > [Scots are born exiles, and Scotland the perfect country to be exiled from. Do not imagine that I am running down Scotland. Far from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/scots-are-born-exiles-and-scotland-the-perfect-country-to-be-exiled/) [Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/) > [It took me forty years on earth To reach this sure conclusion: There is no Heaven but clarity, No Hell except confusion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/it-took-me-forty-years-on-earth-to-reach-this-sure-conclusion-there/) [Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/) > [It's just as important to marry the right life as the right person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/it-s-just-as-important-to-marry-the-right-life-as-the-right-person/) [Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/) > [Giving a party is like having a baby: its conception is more fun than its completion; and once you have begun it, it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/giving-a-party-is-like-having-a-baby-its-conception-is-more-fun-than/) [Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/) [Explore all 51 Jan Struther quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/) ## More Left wing quotes > ['Vanity Fair' is a left-wing rag.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-ailes/vanity-fair-is-a-left-wing-rag/) [Roger Ailes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-ailes/) > [There is a simple rule here, a rule of legislation, a rule of business, a rule of life: beyond a certain point, complexity is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-j-o-rourke/there-is-a-simple-rule-here-a-rule-of-legislation-a-rule-of-business/) [P. J. O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/p-j-o-rourke/) > [I'm sure the most favorite airplane in my career would still be the Sabre F86 cleft wing , which allowed me to be credited…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/buzz-aldrin/i-m-sure-the-most-favorite-airplane-in-my-career-would-still-be-the/) [Buzz Aldrin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/buzz-aldrin/) > [At Rennes, I played more down the left wing, but also down the right and sometimes in midfield. At Dortmund, it was the same:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ousmane-dembele/at-rennes-i-played-more-down-the-left-wing-but-also-down-the-right/) [Ousmane Dembele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ousmane-dembele/) > [I alienated myself from the academic world almost entirely because it's a left-wing world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelby-steele/i-alienated-myself-from-the-academic-world-almost-entirely-because-it/) [Shelby Steele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelby-steele/) > [I think I represent a more left-wing view of what jazz is](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-metheny/i-think-i-represent-a-more-left-wing-view-of-what-jazz-is/) [Pat Metheny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-metheny/) > [Sometimes people with strong ideology, whether left-wing or right-wing, refuse to do something simply because they believe it is wrong, when doing it actually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ha-joon-chang/sometimes-people-with-strong-ideology-whether-left-wing-or-right-wing/) [Ha-Joon Chang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ha-joon-chang/) > [As a broadly left-wing, environmentally aware urban believer in anthropogenic global warming, I am all for a total ban on motor vehicles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giles-coren/as-a-broadly-left-wing-environmentally-aware-urban-believer-in/) [Giles Coren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giles-coren/) > [Don't you see the rest of the country looks upon New York like we're left-wing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers? I think of us that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woody-allen/don-t-you-see-the-rest-of-the-country-looks-upon-new-york-like-we-re/) [Woody Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woody-allen/) > [Faceless, so little there to judge. Left wing let's separate the cold out. Opposites, we never need to tell one sting I've found I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chevelle/faceless-so-little-there-to-judge-left-wing-let-s-separate-the-cold/) Chevelle > [For everything in this journey of life we are on, there is a right wing and a left wing: for the wing of love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/for-everything-in-this-journey-of-life-we-are-on-there-is-a-right/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“When Roger Ailes said that NPR executives were 'the left wing of Nazism," he wasn't trying to tar NPR as evil in the eyes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-nunberg/when-roger-ailes-said-that-npr-executives-were-the-left-wing-of/) [Geoffrey Nunberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-nunberg/) > [“Libertarianism used to have a robust left wing as well. Both disliked government. Both were driven by a fantastically nostalgic conviction that a country…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/libertarianism-used-to-have-a-robust-left-wing-as-well-both-disliked/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [I was very much a child of the 1960s. I protested the Vietnam War and grew up in a fairly politicized home. My father…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-williamson/i-was-very-much-a-child-of-the-1960s-i-protested-the-vietnam-war-and/) [Marianne Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-williamson/) > [ \[Albert\]Camus had denounced the gulag and Stalin's trials. Today we can see that he was right. To say that there were concentration camps in… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-camus/albert-camus-had-denounced-the-gulag-and-stalin-s-trials-today-we-can/) [Catherine Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-camus/) [Browse all 295 Left wing quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/left-wing/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Left wing...Right wing...it's so limited; why doesn't it ever occur to any of them that what one is really longing for is the wishbone?”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jan Struther" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/left-wing-right-wing-it-s-so-limited-why-doesn-t-it-ever-occur-to-any/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Left wing" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/left-wing-right-wing-it-s-so-limited-why-doesn-t-it-ever-occur-to-any/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/282/jan-struther-13125_left-wing_left-wing-right-wing-it-s-so-limited-why_1574922.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/282/jan-struther-13125_left-wing_left-wing-right-wing-it-s-so-limited-why_1574922.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/282/jan-struther-13125_left-wing_left-wing-right-wing-it-s-so-limited-why_1574922.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Left wing...Right wing...it's so limited; why doesn't it ever occur to any of them that what one is really…” — Jan Struther", "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": "Jan Struther", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Left wing...Right wing...it's so limited; why...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/left-wing-right-wing-it-s-so-limited-why-doesn-t-it-ever-occur-to-any/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/left-wing-right-wing-it-s-so-limited-why-doesn-t-it-ever-occur-to-any/#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 } } ] } ```