--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When I began writing these pages I…" description: "\"When I began writing these pages I believed their subject to be children, the ones we have and the ones we wish we had, the ways in which we depend on ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab8/joan-didion-497_acquaintance_when-i-began-writing-these-pages-i-belie_2657686.jpg" --- # When I began writing these pages I believed their subject… ![“When I began writing these pages I believed their subject to be children, the ones we have and the ones we wish we had, the ways in which we depend on our children to depend on us, the ways in which we encourage them to remain children, the ways in which they remain more unknown to us than they do…” quote by Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab8/joan-didion-497_acquaintance_when-i-began-writing-these-pages-i-belie_2657686.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab8/joan-didion-497_acquaintance_when-i-began-writing-these-pages-i-belie_2657686.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab8/joan-didion-497_acquaintance_when-i-began-writing-these-pages-i-belie_2657686.jpg) > “When I began writing these pages I believed their subject to be children, the ones we have and the ones we wish we had, the ways in which we depend on our children to depend on us, the ways in which we encourage them to remain children, the ways in which they remain more unknown to us than they do to their more casual acquaintances; the ways in which we remain equally opaque to them.” [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. She reflects on the complex, reciprocal dependence between generations and the mystery each holds for the other. **In simple terms:** Parents and children are interdependent mysteries. Key Takeaway Embrace mutual learning. Themes family dependence communication Mood introspective poetic Type reflective philosophical When to use this quote - parenting - elder care - education - therapy Key Concepts psychology philosophy generational dynamics Questions to Reflect On - What does it mean to truly know another? - How can we bridge generational gaps? A Different Perspective Assumes a one‑way dependency. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Acquaintance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/acquaintance/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Opaque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opaque/) [Wish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wish/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [After writing a page, Hemingway would let it float to the ground. He never crumpled pages - he believed that if you crumpled them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clive-owen/after-writing-a-page-hemingway-would-let-it-float-to-the-ground-he/) [Clive Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clive-owen/) > [“I matter to my children. My children depend on me for their basic needs. My children need my love and nurturance. My attitudes, behaviors,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/holli-kenley/i-matter-to-my-children-my-children-depend-on-me-for-their-basic/) Holli Kenley > [Just know, especially when they were infants and toddlers, the thought these two children depend on us for everything in their lives 24/7. That's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jake-arrieta/just-know-especially-when-they-were-infants-and-toddlers-the-thought/) [Jake Arrieta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jake-arrieta/) > [I began writing as an experimental writer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandra-cisneros/i-began-writing-as-an-experimental-writer/) [Sandra Cisneros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandra-cisneros/) > [The Lampoon started in 1970, and I began writing freelance for them around the end of 1971, and then all through '72. They hired…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-j-o-rourke/the-lampoon-started-in-1970-and-i-began-writing-freelance-for-them/) [P. J. 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Money is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-v-carey/i-began-writing-late-my-first-articles-and-stories-were-published/) M.V. Carey > [I enjoy what I do every minute of the day, even when the going gets tough. When I first began writing, I used to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-enjoy-what-i-do-every-minute-of-the-day-even-when-the-going-gets/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [As a graduate student at Oxford in 1963, I began writing about books in revolutionary France, helping to found the discipline of book history.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-darnton/as-a-graduate-student-at-oxford-in-1963-i-began-writing-about-books/) [Robert Darnton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-darnton/) > [I began writing seriously in my mid-20s and didn't publish my first book until I was 41.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kent-haruf/i-began-writing-seriously-in-my-mid-20s-and-didn-t-publish-my-first/) [Kent Haruf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kent-haruf/) > [I began writing early - very, very early... I was already writing short stories for the radio and selling poems to poetry and art…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/i-began-writing-early-very-very-early-i-was-already-writing-short/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) ## 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? In order to remember, of course, but exactly what was it I wanted to remember? How much of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/why-did-i-write-it-down-in-order-to-remember-of-course-but-exactly/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I no longer want reminders of what was, what got broken, what got lost, what got wasted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-no-longer-want-reminders-of-what-was-what-got-broken-what-got-lost/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [My mother 'gave teas' the way other mothers breathed. Her own mother 'gave teas.' All of their friends 'gave teas,' each involving butter cookies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/my-mother-gave-teas-the-way-other-mothers-breathed-her-own-mother/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I'm not very interested in people. 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 Acquaintance quotes > [Distrust all those who love you extremely upon a very slight acquaintance and without any visible reason.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/distrust-all-those-who-love-you-extremely-upon-a-very-slight/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Be much alone with God, and take time to get thoroughly acquainted. 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Jesus was led up of the Spirit to be tempted of the Devil; and it is also true that spirits…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-bradlaugh/god-is-a-spirit-jesus-was-led-up-of-the-spirit-to-be-tempted-of-the/) [Charles Bradlaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-bradlaugh/) > [ \[On an anarchist acquaintance:\] Everything in appearance the most alarmist aunt could wish. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-townsend-warner/on-an-anarchist-acquaintance-everything-in-appearance-the-most/) [Sylvia Townsend Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-townsend-warner/) > [There is no such thing as educational value in the abstract. 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