--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We are not idealized wild things. We are…" description: "\"“We are not idealized wild things. We are imperfect mortal beings, aware of that mortality even as we push it away, failed by our very complication, so..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fcb/joan-didion-497_death_we-are-not-idealized-wild-things-we-are_2353246.jpg" --- # We are not idealized wild things. We are imperfect mortal… ![“We are not idealized wild things. We are imperfect mortal beings, aware of that mortality even as we push it away, failed by our very complication, so wired that when we mourn our losses we also mourn, for better or for worse, ourselves. As we were. As we are no longer. As we will one day not be…” quote by Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fcb/joan-didion-497_death_we-are-not-idealized-wild-things-we-are_2353246.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fcb/joan-didion-497_death_we-are-not-idealized-wild-things-we-are_2353246.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fcb/joan-didion-497_death_we-are-not-idealized-wild-things-we-are_2353246.jpg) > ““We are not idealized wild things. We are imperfect mortal beings, aware of that mortality even as we push it away, failed by our very complication, so wired that when we mourn our losses we also mourn, for better or for worse, ourselves. As we were. As we are no longer. As we will one day not be at all.”” [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote contemplates human mortality and imperfection, noting that our complexities cause us to mourn both loss and ourselves, reflecting on existence’s transient nature. **In simple terms:** Humans are imperfect, mortal, and mourn both loss and self. Key Takeaway Recognize imperfection and the fleeting nature of life. Themes mortality imperfection grief Mood somber introspective Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - therapy - creative writing - philosophical discussion - personal reflection Key Concepts existentialism human condition self-awareness Questions to Reflect On - What does mourning yourself look like? - How can we find meaning amid imperfection? A Different Perspective It may be overly melancholic for some audiences. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Idealized Wild](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/idealized-wild-5735793/) [Imperfect Mortal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imperfect-mortal-2448131/) [Mortal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mortal/) [Mortal Beings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mortal-beings-3805782/) [Wild things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wild-things/) [Wired Mourn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wired-mourn-2448132/) ## Related quotes > [we are imperfect mortal beings, aware of that mortality even as we push it away, failed by our very complication, so wired that when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/we-are-imperfect-mortal-beings-aware-of-that-mortality-even-as-we/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Looking after imperfect, messy, really existing mortal beings is much more demanding - not to mention playful, intellectually interesting and emotionally satisfying - than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eben-kirksey/looking-after-imperfect-messy-really-existing-mortal-beings-is-much/) [Eben Kirksey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eben-kirksey/) > [“In the world of wild naturalism, there is nothing greater or higher than mortal survival tactics. 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This year for the first time since I was twenty-nine I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/for-forty-years-i-saw-myself-through-john-s-eyes-i-did-not-age-this/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [A wild thing may say wild things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abigail-williams/a-wild-thing-may-say-wild-things/) [Abigail Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abigail-williams/) > [I've never seen a wild thing feel sorry for itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-h-lawrence/i-ve-never-seen-a-wild-thing-feel-sorry-for-itself/) [D. H. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence/) > [“The wild things and places belong to all of us. So while I can't fix the bigger problems of race in the United States…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-drew-lanham/the-wild-things-and-places-belong-to-all-of-us-so-while-i-can-t-fix/) [J. Drew Lanham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-drew-lanham/) > [I'm the perfect kind of personality for making YouTube videos. I deal in short attention span theater. I do wild things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-o/i-m-the-perfect-kind-of-personality-for-making-youtube-videos-i-deal/) [Steve-O](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-o/) > [It was great to be the rock comic, the shock comic. But after you've played Giants Stadium with Bon Jovi in front of 82,000…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-kinison/it-was-great-to-be-the-rock-comic-the-shock-comic-but-after-you-ve/) [Sam Kinison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-kinison/) > [ I got to a happier point and then started making a record \[Wild Things\]. 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I wasn’t floating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/the-more-i-read-the-more-i-felt-connected-across-time-to-other-lives/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) > [But who knows what she spoke to the darkness, alone, in the bitter watches of the night, when all her life seemed shrinking, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/but-who-knows-what-she-spoke-to-the-darkness-alone-in-the-bitter/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Joan Didion > [To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/to-shift-the-structure-of-a-sentence-alters-the-meaning-of-that/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I work every day. Sometimes I don't accomplish anything every day, but if I don't work every day, I get depressed and get afraid…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-work-every-day-sometimes-i-don-t-accomplish-anything-every-day-but/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [Style is character.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/style-is-character/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [California is a place in which a boom mentality and a sense of Chekhovian loss meet in uneasy suspension.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/california-is-a-place-in-which-a-boom-mentality-and-a-sense-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“I went because I was interested in the alchemy of issues.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-went-because-i-was-interested-in-the-alchemy-of-issues/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Why did I write it down? 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I recognize it in myself - there is a basic indifference toward people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-m-not-very-interested-in-people-i-recognize-it-in-myself-there-is-a/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Was there ever in anyone's life span a point free in time, devoid of memory, a point when choice was any more than sum…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/was-there-ever-in-anyone-s-life-span-a-point-free-in-time-devoid-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Research to date has shown that, like many other stressors, grief frequently leads to changes in the endocrine, immune, autonomic nervous, and cardiovascular systems;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/research-to-date-has-shown-that-like-many-other-stressors-grief/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“By the end of the week she was thinking constantly about where her body stopped and the air began about the exact point in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/by-the-end-of-the-week-she-was-thinking-constantly-about-where-her/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“I just can't see the upside in this," I heard myself say by way of explanation. Later he said that if John had been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-just-can-t-see-the-upside-in-this-i-heard-myself-say-by-way-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [ I read so ravenously that I would read through whole categories. I was crazy about reading biographies. \[...\] I think biographies are very urgent… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-read-so-ravenously-that-i-would-read-through-whole-categories-i-was/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [To those of us who remained committed mainly to the exploration of moral distinctions and ambiguities, the feminist analysis may have seemed a particularly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/to-those-of-us-who-remained-committed-mainly-to-the-exploration-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Explore all 515 Joan Didion quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) ## More Death quotes > [“He wondered how it was fair that your dying should depend so much on when you were born.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-albom/he-wondered-how-it-was-fair-that-your-dying-should-depend-so-much-on/) [Mitch Albom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-albom/) > [What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. 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Then his eyes turned to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-anthony-torino/what-did-you-see-she-asked-gently-his-brow-furrowed-as-if-he-could/) [J. Anthony Torino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-anthony-torino/) > [Those whose life is long still strive for gain, and for all mortals all things take second place to money.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophocles/those-whose-life-is-long-still-strive-for-gain-and-for-all-mortals/) [Sophocles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophocles/) > [“I practice Dying--every night-- But have not learned to, still-- Though Talented--by Mortal bones-- For such a common Skill.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-w-powers/i-practice-dying-every-night-but-have-not-learned-to-still-though/) [Alan W. 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