--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: About Danielle, I remember, my feelings…" description: "\"“About Danielle, I remember, my feelings were no more specific than pleasant anxiousness. She hadn’t caught me, obviously enough, at a very erotic mome..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/392/joseph-o-neill-10798_good-and-bad_about-danielle-i-remember-my-feelings-we_2772816.jpg" --- # About Danielle, I remember, my feelings were no more… ![“About Danielle, I remember, my feelings were no more specific than pleasant anxiousness. She hadn’t caught me, obviously enough, at a very erotic moment in my life. I had never been much of a pickup artist—a few ghastly encounters in my twenties had seen to that—and the alternative prospect of a…” quote by Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/392/joseph-o-neill-10798_good-and-bad_about-danielle-i-remember-my-feelings-we_2772816.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/392/joseph-o-neill-10798_good-and-bad_about-danielle-i-remember-my-feelings-we_2772816.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/392/joseph-o-neill-10798_good-and-bad_about-danielle-i-remember-my-feelings-we_2772816.jpg) > ““About Danielle, I remember, my feelings were no more specific than pleasant anxiousness. She hadn’t caught me, obviously enough, at a very erotic moment in my life. I had never been much of a pickup artist—a few ghastly encounters in my twenties had seen to that—and the alternative prospect of a euphoric romance not only exhausted me but, in fact, struck me as impossible. This wasn’t because of any fidelity to my absent wife or some aversion to sex, which, I like to think, grabs me as much as the next man. No, it was simply that I was uninterested in making, as I saw it, a Xerox of some old emotional state. I was in my mid-thirties, with a marriage more or less behind me. I was no longer vulnerable to curiosity’s enormous momentum. I had nothing new to murmur to another on the subject of myself and not the smallest eagerness about being briefed on Danielle’s supposedly unique trajectory—a curve described under the action, one could safely guess, of the usual material and maternal and soulful longings, a few thwarting tics of character, and luck good and bad. A life seemed like an old story.”” [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The narrator resists repeating past emotional patterns, feeling detached from new romantic possibilities despite lingering desire. **In simple terms:** He avoids copying old feelings in new relationships. Key Takeaway Stay authentic, avoid repeating past scripts. Themes relationships self‑reflection midlife loneliness Mood melancholic introspective Type literary psychological When to use this quote - dating after divorce - midlife career change - friendship boundaries - personal growth Key Concepts identity emotional fatigue Questions to Reflect On - What patterns from your past still influence you? - Can you be open to new emotions without fear? 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No, it was simply that I was uninterested in making, as I saw it, a Xerox of some old emotional state. I was in my mid-thirties, with a marriage more or less behind me. I was no longer vulnerable to curiosity’s enormous momentum. I had nothing new to murmur to another on the subject of myself and not the smallest eagerness about being briefed on Danielle’s supposedly unique trajectory—a curve described under the action, one could safely guess, of the usual material and maternal and soulful longings, a few thwarting tics of character, and luck good and bad. 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