---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I believed that I was approaching the end…"
description: "\"I believed that I was approaching the end of my days without having tasted to the full any of the pleasures for which my heart thirsted...without havin..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b64/jean-jacques-rousseau-418_chimera_i-believed-that-i-was-approaching-the-en_733269.jpg"
---

#  I believed that I was approaching the end of my days…

![“I believed that I was approaching the end of my days without having tasted to the full any of the pleasures for which my heart thirsted...without having ever tasted that passion which, through lack of an object, was always suppressed. ...The impossibility of attaining the real persons precipitated…” quote by Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b64/jean-jacques-rousseau-418_chimera_i-believed-that-i-was-approaching-the-en_733269.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b64/jean-jacques-rousseau-418_chimera_i-believed-that-i-was-approaching-the-en_733269.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b64/jean-jacques-rousseau-418_chimera_i-believed-that-i-was-approaching-the-en_733269.jpg)

> “I believed that I was approaching the end of my days without having tasted to the full any of the pleasures for which my heart thirsted...without having ever tasted that passion which, through lack of an object, was always suppressed. ...The impossibility of attaining the real persons precipitated me into the land of chimeras; and seeing nothing that existed worthy of my exalted feelings, I fostered them in an ideal world which my creative imagination soon peopled with beings after my own heart.”

[Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

He laments a life lacking authentic passion, turning to imagined ideals when reality feels insufficient.

**In simple terms:** Unfulfilled desire leads to escapism in fantasy.

Key Takeaway

Seek genuine experiences over imagined perfection.

Themes

longing disillusionment idealism self‑reflection

Mood

reflective philosophical melancholy

Type

literary personal inspirational

When to use this quote

- artistic creation
- personal growth
- philosophical inquiry
- mindful living

Key Concepts

Existential yearning creative imagination illusion

Questions to Reflect On

- What passions have you suppressed?
- How can you transform yearning into action?

A Different Perspective

Idealizing the imagined can prevent engagement with real opportunities.

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[Chimera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chimera/) [Creative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creative/) [Creative imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creative-imagination/) [Creativity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creativity/) [Feelings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feelings/) [Heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heart/) [Ideal world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideal-world/) [Imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination/) [Impossibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/impossibility/) [Passion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passion/) [Pleasure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pleasure/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/)

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> [The pleasures of the intellect are permanent, the pleasures of the heart are transitory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/the-pleasures-of-the-intellect-are-permanent-the-pleasures-of-the/)

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> [Equality is deemed by many a mere speculative chimera, which can never be reduced to practice. But if the abuse is inevitable, does it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/equality-is-deemed-by-many-a-mere-speculative-chimera-which-can-never/)

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> [The soul languishing in obscurity contracts a kind of rust, or abandons itself to the chimera of presumption; for it is natural for it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/quintilian/the-soul-languishing-in-obscurity-contracts-a-kind-of-rust-or/)

[Quintilian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/quintilian/)

> [For the first rate poet, nothing short of a Queen or a Chimera is adequate for the powers of his praise.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wyndham-lewis/for-the-first-rate-poet-nothing-short-of-a-queen-or-a-chimera-is/)

[Wyndham Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wyndham-lewis/)

> [Everyone knows that (1) happiness is the goal of life, and (2) happiness is a chimera.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/everyone-knows-that-1-happiness-is-the-goal-of-life-and-2-happiness/)

[Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/)

> [“Good Samaritans: Truth, justice and the American way–for them it wasn't only a comic book code; it was a way of life. it was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-thurman/good-samaritans-truth-justice-and-the-american-way-for-them-it-wasn-t/)

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> [Language is the only chimera whose illusory power is endless, the inexhaustibility which keeps life from being impoverished. Let men learn to serve language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/language-is-the-only-chimera-whose-illusory-power-is-endless-the/)

[Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/)

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> [Human history, like all great movements, was cyclical, and returned to the point of beginning. The idea of indefinite progress in a right line…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-bellamy/human-history-like-all-great-movements-was-cyclical-and-returned-to/)

[Edward Bellamy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-bellamy/)

> [Since there must be chimeras, why is not perfection the chimera of all men?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophie-swetchine/since-there-must-be-chimeras-why-is-not-perfection-the-chimera-of-all/)

[Sophie Swetchine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophie-swetchine/)

> [Commemoration of Pandita Mary Ramabai, Translator of the Scriptures, 1922 A memory of yesterday's pleasures, a fear of tomorrow's dangers, a straw under my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/commemoration-of-pandita-mary-ramabai-translator-of-the-scriptures/)

[John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/)

## More by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

> [Her dignity consists in being unknown to the world; her glory is in the esteem of her husband; her pleasures in the happiness of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/her-dignity-consists-in-being-unknown-to-the-world-her-glory-is-in/)

[Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/)

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[Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/)

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> [...in respect of riches, no citizen shall ever be wealthy enough to buy another, and none poor enough to be forced to sell himself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/in-respect-of-riches-no-citizen-shall-ever-be-wealthy-enough-to-buy/)

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> [Take from the philosopher the pleasure of being heard and his desire for knowledge ceases.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/take-from-the-philosopher-the-pleasure-of-being-heard-and-his-desire/)

[Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/)

> [Men, in general, are not this or that, they are what they are made to be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/men-in-general-are-not-this-or-that-they-are-what-they-are-made-to-be/)

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[Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/)

> [I do not know is a phrase which becomes us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/i-do-not-know-is-a-phrase-which-becomes-us/)

[Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/)

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[Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/)

[Explore all 518 Jean-Jacques Rousseau quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/)

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> [Commemoration of Pandita Mary Ramabai, Translator of the Scriptures, 1922 A memory of yesterday's pleasures, a fear of tomorrow's dangers, a straw under my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/commemoration-of-pandita-mary-ramabai-translator-of-the-scriptures/)

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> [For the first rate poet, nothing short of a Queen or a Chimera is adequate for the powers of his praise.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wyndham-lewis/for-the-first-rate-poet-nothing-short-of-a-queen-or-a-chimera-is/)

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