--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Regarding life, it is much the best to…" description: "\"“Regarding life, it is much the best to think that the experiences we have are necessary for us. It is by means of experience that we develop and not t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c76/joy-williams-12254_emotional-pain_regarding-life-it-is-much-the-best-to-th_979050.jpg" --- # Regarding life, it is much the best to think that the… ![“Regarding life, it is much the best to think that the experiences we have are necessary for us. It is by means of experience that we develop and not through our imagination. Imagination is nothing. Explanation is nothing. One can only experience and somehow describe--with, in Camus's phrase, lucid…” quote by Joy Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c76/joy-williams-12254_emotional-pain_regarding-life-it-is-much-the-best-to-th_979050.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c76/joy-williams-12254_emotional-pain_regarding-life-it-is-much-the-best-to-th_979050.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c76/joy-williams-12254_emotional-pain_regarding-life-it-is-much-the-best-to-th_979050.jpg) > ““Regarding life, it is much the best to think that the experiences we have are necessary for us. It is by means of experience that we develop and not through our imagination. Imagination is nothing. Explanation is nothing. One can only experience and somehow describe--with, in Camus's phrase, lucid indifference . At the same time, experience is fundamentally illusory. When one is experiencing emotional pain or grief, one feels that everything that happens in life is unreal. And this is a right understanding of life.”” [Joy Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joy-williams/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Experience shapes us more than imagination; yet experience can feel unreal during pain, revealing life's paradox. **In simple terms:** Life is learned through experience, not imagination, but pain makes it feel unreal. Key Takeaway Embrace experience, accept its illusion. Themes existentialism pain perception reality growth Mood reflective melancholic Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - grief counseling - creative writing - philosophical reflection - mindfulness practice Key Concepts subjectivity lucid indifference illusion Questions to Reflect On - How does pain alter your sense of reality? - Can imagination supplement experience? A Different Perspective Experience alone cannot fully capture truth; imagination still offers insight. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Emotional pain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/emotional-pain/) [Experience Fundamentally](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/experience-fundamentally-1930480/) [Imagination Explanation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination-explanation-1930477/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Lucid Indifference](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lucid-indifference-1930478/) [Means Experience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/means-experience-709555/) [Regarding Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/regarding-life-213811/) [Think Experiences](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/think-experiences-417602/) [Understanding Of Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understanding-of-life/) ## Related quotes > [For the absurd man, it is not a matter of explaining and solving, but of experiencing and describing. Everything begins with lucid indifference.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/for-the-absurd-man-it-is-not-a-matter-of-explaining-and-solving-but/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [Fiction is a place where people can meet, where they take the time to very seriously examine and think about the experiences of other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-klay/fiction-is-a-place-where-people-can-meet-where-they-take-the-time-to/) [Phil Klay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-klay/) > [I think we all have experiences when we were young where we either had an interaction with someone we admired or you know, had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cena/i-think-we-all-have-experiences-when-we-were-young-where-we-either/) [John Cena](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cena/) > [...as bad as it is here, it's better than being somewhere else." -Chris Rose, regarding life in Post-Katrina New Orleans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-rose/as-bad-as-it-is-here-it-s-better-than-being-somewhere-else-chris-rose/) [Chris Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-rose/) > [ “\[G\]rowing into your future with health and grace and beauty doesn’t have to take all your time. It rather requires a dedication to caring… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victoria-moran/g-rowing-into-your-future-with-health-and-grace-and-beauty-doesn-t/) [Victoria Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victoria-moran/) > [If you think back over your experiences, the chances are that you will find the finest moments in your life were those when you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arlene-francis/if-you-think-back-over-your-experiences-the-chances-are-that-you-will/) [Arlene Francis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arlene-francis/) > [“She did as she pleased, regarding life as 'an inexhaustible counter', from which she seemed to be continually picking out presents for herself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-mackrell/she-did-as-she-pleased-regarding-life-as-an-inexhaustible-counter/) [Judith Mackrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judith-mackrell/) > [Think of all your experiences as a huge tapestry that can be laid out in whatever pattern you wish. Each day you add a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-robbins/think-of-all-your-experiences-as-a-huge-tapestry-that-can-be-laid-out/) [Tony Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-robbins/) > [I think you only see experiences as defining moments with distance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-taylor-wood/i-think-you-only-see-experiences-as-defining-moments-with-distance/) [Sam Taylor-Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-taylor-wood/) > [“Error regarding life necessary to life. - Every belief in the value and dignity of life rests on false thinking; it is possible only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/error-regarding-life-necessary-to-life-every-belief-in-the-value-and/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Fantasy and science fiction stories are very applicable to talking to your children about the world. They tend to talk about the big questions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-h-segal/fantasy-and-science-fiction-stories-are-very-applicable-to-talking-to/) [Stephen H. Segal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-h-segal/) > [Regarding Life Each day is a little life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritu-ghatourey/regarding-life-each-day-is-a-little-life/) [Ritu Ghatourey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritu-ghatourey/) > [Regarding life, the wisest men of all ages have judged alike: it is worthless.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/regarding-life-the-wisest-men-of-all-ages-have-judged-alike-it-is/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [All of us feel, I think, that our experiences can be the worst possible thing you can go through and that we're alone in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/montaigne/all-of-us-feel-i-think-that-our-experiences-can-be-the-worst-possible/) [Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/montaigne/) > [A person whose skin is metallic can no more have its reproduction restricted than a black-skinned person. Regarding life as a form of machinery…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-person-whose-skin-is-metallic-can-no-more-have-its-reproduction/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Joy Williams > [“We are saved not because we are worthy. We are saved because we are loved.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joy-williams/we-are-saved-not-because-we-are-worthy-we-are-saved-because-we-are/) [Joy Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joy-williams/) > [There is a certain type of conversation one hears only when one is drunk and it is like a dream, full of humor and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joy-williams/there-is-a-certain-type-of-conversation-one-hears-only-when-one-is/) [Joy Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joy-williams/) > [A side benefit of the new and developing technologies is that soon we won't have to feel guilty about the suffering and denigration of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joy-williams/a-side-benefit-of-the-new-and-developing-technologies-is-that-soon-we/) [Joy Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joy-williams/) > [Good writing never soothes or comforts. It is no prescription, neither is it diversionary, although it can and should enchant while it explodes in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joy-williams/good-writing-never-soothes-or-comforts-it-is-no-prescription-neither/) [Joy Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joy-williams/) > [Words at night were feral things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joy-williams/words-at-night-were-feral-things/) [Joy Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joy-williams/) > [Writers end up writing stories-or rather, stories' shadows-and they're grateful if they can, but it is not enough. Nothing the writer can do is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joy-williams/writers-end-up-writing-stories-or-rather-stories-shadows-and-they-re/) [Joy Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joy-williams/) > [You have never seen such animals as these who without a sound or a sign carry you off. You race with them across the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joy-williams/you-have-never-seen-such-animals-as-these-who-without-a-sound-or-a/) [Joy Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joy-williams/) > [“Our treatment of animals and our attitude toward them are crucial not only to any pretensions we have to ethical behavior but the humankind's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joy-williams/our-treatment-of-animals-and-our-attitude-toward-them-are-crucial-not/) [Joy Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joy-williams/) > [“For centuries poets, some poets, have tried to give a voice to the animals, and readers, some readers, have felt empathy and sorrow. If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joy-williams/for-centuries-poets-some-poets-have-tried-to-give-a-voice-to-the/) [Joy Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joy-williams/) > [The writer trusts nothing she writes-it should be too reckless and alive for that, it should be beautiful and menacing and slightly out of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joy-williams/the-writer-trusts-nothing-she-writes-it-should-be-too-reckless-and/) [Joy Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joy-williams/) > [“Down in the kitchen, I open the refrigerator. There is nothing there but the prize steer of the county fair, rearranged in neat and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joy-williams/down-in-the-kitchen-i-open-the-refrigerator-there-is-nothing-there/) [Joy Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joy-williams/) > [Writers are like eremites or anchorites - natural-born eremites or anchorites - who seem puzzled as to why they went up the pole or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joy-williams/writers-are-like-eremites-or-anchorites-natural-born-eremites-or/) [Joy Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joy-williams/) > [A writer starts out, I think, wanting to be a transfiguring agent, and ends up usually just making contact, contact with other human beings.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joy-williams/a-writer-starts-out-i-think-wanting-to-be-a-transfiguring-agent-and/) [Joy Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joy-williams/) > [But who knows what good might come from the least of us? From the bones of old horses is made the most beautiful Prussian…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joy-williams/but-who-knows-what-good-might-come-from-the-least-of-us-from-the/) [Joy Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joy-williams/) > [Why does the writer write? The writer writes to serve--hopeless ly he writes in the hope that he might serve--not himself and not others,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joy-williams/why-does-the-writer-write-the-writer-writes-to-serve-hopeless-ly-he/) [Joy Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joy-williams/) [Explore all 55 Joy Williams quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joy-williams/) ## More Emotional pain quotes > [“Addictions are just symptoms of underlying issues, and in my view Nikki self-medicated the emotional pain of his childhood, and being away from his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikki-sixx/addictions-are-just-symptoms-of-underlying-issues-and-in-my-view/) [Nikki Sixx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikki-sixx/) > [“The thing I feared the most was the network of unexplored crevices in my dark mind . . . because perhaps, there was no such thing as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-c-reden/the-thing-i-feared-the-most-was-the-network-of-unexplored-crevices-in/) [Laura C. Reden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-c-reden/) > [“For a split second, I realize completely and absolutely that the season of winter is sentient, that there is an intelligence behind it. There's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/damien-echols/for-a-split-second-i-realize-completely-and-absolutely-that-the/) [Damien Echols](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/damien-echols/) > [“Mental illness People assume you aren’t sick unless they see the sickness on your skin like scars forming a map of all the ways…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emm-roy/mental-illness-people-assume-you-aren-t-sick-unless-they-see-the/) [Emm Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emm-roy/) > [Emotional pain is sometimes what we make of it. We can always choose how we react. No matter what the pain, breathing always centers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleks-paunovic/emotional-pain-is-sometimes-what-we-make-of-it-we-can-always-choose/) [Aleks Paunovic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleks-paunovic/) > [“I have found that most people are more willing to accept physical pain and limitation rather than acknowledge and deal with the mental and/or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tobe-hanson/i-have-found-that-most-people-are-more-willing-to-accept-physical/) [Tobe Hanson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tobe-hanson/) > [“So what you've actually got is traumatized children. When children are traumatized that affects how they feel about themselves, which is deeply ashamed because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabor-mat/so-what-you-ve-actually-got-is-traumatized-children-when-children-are/) [Gabor Maté](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabor-mat/) > [“Even sorrow has its silver lining, as the emotion that pours forth reminds us of our capacity to love, and to be loved.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-kozak/even-sorrow-has-its-silver-lining-as-the-emotion-that-pours-forth/) [Rob Kozak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-kozak/) > [In order to handle my emotional pain I talk to friends about it, I write, I breathe, and most of all, I put it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-loeb/in-order-to-handle-my-emotional-pain-i-talk-to-friends-about-it-i/) [Lisa Loeb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-loeb/) > [Everyone goes through heartbreak or be disappointed over something at different points in our lives. Use that emotional pain to be a better and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritu-ghatourey/everyone-goes-through-heartbreak-or-be-disappointed-over-something-at/) [Ritu Ghatourey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritu-ghatourey/) > [“We've all felt a little incompetent, insufficient, overexposed, helpless, unlovable, terrified, defective, unfit and unsung at times. And deep down, for whatever reason, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-clendening/we-ve-all-felt-a-little-incompetent-insufficient-overexposed-helpless/) [Anne Clendening](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-clendening/) > [“...spiritual or emotional pain doesn't become a memory so much as a bruise ...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-geddes/spiritual-or-emotional-pain-doesn-t-become-a-memory-so-much-as-a/) [John Geddes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-geddes/) > [I don't think there's ever a winner in a feud. 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It helps me get to the truest source of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/romany-malco/when-faced-with-emotional-pain-i-become-still-for-hours-sometimes/) [Romany Malco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/romany-malco/) [Browse all 271 Emotional pain quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/emotional-pain/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Regarding life, it is much the best to think that the experiences we have are necessary for us. It is by means of experience that we develop and not through our imagination. Imagination is nothing. Explanation is nothing. One can only experience and somehow describe--with, in Camus's phrase, lucid indifference . At the same time, experience is fundamentally illusory. When one is experiencing emotional pain or grief, one feels that everything that happens in life is unreal. 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