--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I was seeing him different than when he…" description: "\"“I was seeing him different than when he first came in; I was seeing more to him than just big hands and red sideburns and a broken-nosed grin. I'd see..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b47/ken-kesey-1034_blank-paper_i-was-seeing-him-different-than-when-he_2961237.png" --- # I was seeing him different than when he first came in; I… ![“I was seeing him different than when he first came in; I was seeing more to him than just big hands and red sideburns and a broken-nosed grin. I'd see him do things that didn't fit with his face or hands, things like painting a picture at OT with real paints on a blank paper with no lines or…” quote by Ken Kesey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b47/ken-kesey-1034_blank-paper_i-was-seeing-him-different-than-when-he_2961237.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b47/ken-kesey-1034_blank-paper_i-was-seeing-him-different-than-when-he_2961237.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b47/ken-kesey-1034_blank-paper_i-was-seeing-him-different-than-when-he_2961237.png) > ““I was seeing him different than when he first came in; I was seeing more to him than just big hands and red sideburns and a broken-nosed grin. I'd see him do things that didn't fit with his face or hands, things like painting a picture at OT with real paints on a blank paper with no lines or numbers anywhere on it to tell him where to paint, or like writing letters to somebody in a beautiful flowing hand. How could a man who looked like him paint pictures or write letters to people, or be upset and worried like I saw him once when he got a letter back? \[...\] He hadn't let what he looked like run his life one way or the other, any more than he'd let the Combine mill him into fitting where they wanted him to fit.”” [Ken Kesey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-kesey/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People are more than their outward appearances; inner talents and emotions defy stereotypes. **In simple terms:** Looks don’t dictate abilities or feelings. Key Takeaway Look beyond surface traits. Themes identity stereotypes self‑discovery Mood thoughtful empathetic Type literary insightful When to use this quote - workplace interactions - personal relationships - creative pursuits - social judgments Key Concepts human complexity perception individuality Questions to Reflect On - How do you judge others based on appearance? - What hidden talents might you overlook? A Different Perspective Stereotypes can persist despite contradictory evidence. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Blank paper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/blank-paper/) [Writing Letters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing-letters/) ## Related quotes > [“I'd see him do things that didn't fit with his face or hands, things like painting a picture at OT with real paints on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-kesey/i-d-see-him-do-things-that-didn-t-fit-with-his-face-or-hands-things/) [Ken Kesey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-kesey/) > [Maybe I'm seeing myself in a different way than the people in the audience see me, 'cause to me, I think I look like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/misty-copeland/maybe-i-m-seeing-myself-in-a-different-way-than-the-people-in-the/) [Misty Copeland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/misty-copeland/) > [I like to look at everything and appreciate seeing the different things that have meaning to people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-koons/i-like-to-look-at-everything-and-appreciate-seeing-the-different/) [Jeff Koons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-koons/) > [With different scenarios and different places, I think it's easier for me to get inspired; I'm seeing different things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alessia-cara/with-different-scenarios-and-different-places-i-think-it-s-easier-for/) [Alessia Cara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alessia-cara/) > [If this world would stop discriminating and start seeing that everyone is different in their own ways then this world wouldn't be so messed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-this-world-would-stop-discriminating-and-start-seeing-that/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'm attracted to seeing how different I can be, pushing the boat out.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-d-arcy/i-m-attracted-to-seeing-how-different-i-can-be-pushing-the-boat-out/) [James D'arcy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-d-arcy/) > [I moved to New York when I was almost 21 and I've lived there for almost eight years, now I have a totally different…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emma-stone/i-moved-to-new-york-when-i-was-almost-21-and-i-ve-lived-there-for/) [Emma Stone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emma-stone/) > [Its very nice to be a part of something thats been received this well, although it just kind of sets you up for a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-eisenberg/its-very-nice-to-be-a-part-of-something-thats-been-received-this-well/) [Jesse Eisenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-eisenberg/) > [When you're more comfortable out there, you start seeing different things, relaxing more, being able to trust your pitches more and not try to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerrit-cole/when-you-re-more-comfortable-out-there-you-start-seeing-different/) [Gerrit Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerrit-cole/) > [We don't all see the same way at all. Even if I'm sitting looking at you, there is always the memory of you as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hockney/we-don-t-all-see-the-same-way-at-all-even-if-i-m-sitting-looking-at/) [David Hockney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hockney/) > [It's one of the things I love most about being an author - seeing the different covers from each country.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-gordon-smith/it-s-one-of-the-things-i-love-most-about-being-an-author-seeing-the/) [Alexander Gordon Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-gordon-smith/) > [Knowing it and seeing it are two different things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-collins/knowing-it-and-seeing-it-are-two-different-things/) [Suzanne Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-collins/) > [Looking and seeing are two different things. What matters is the relationship with the subject.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christophe-agou/looking-and-seeing-are-two-different-things-what-matters-is-the/) [Christophe Agou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christophe-agou/) > [Because the world of this film begins and ends in the imagination of Tim Burton, you're not seeing a movie that's been shot on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-hathaway/because-the-world-of-this-film-begins-and-ends-in-the-imagination-of/) [Anne Hathaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-hathaway/) > [“I'm sure that sounds odd, but looking at me and seeing me are two very different things.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ka-hancock/i-m-sure-that-sounds-odd-but-looking-at-me-and-seeing-me-are-two-very/) Ka Hancock ## More by Ken Kesey > [“Time overlaps itself. A breath breathed from a passing breeze is not the whole wind, neither is it just the last of what has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-kesey/time-overlaps-itself-a-breath-breathed-from-a-passing-breeze-is-not/) [Ken Kesey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-kesey/) > [The Grateful Dead are faster than light drive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-kesey/the-grateful-dead-are-faster-than-light-drive/) [Ken Kesey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-kesey/) > [“Okay, stand outa the way. Sometimes when I go to exertin' myself I use up all the air nearby and grown men faint from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-kesey/okay-stand-outa-the-way-sometimes-when-i-go-to-exertin-myself-i-use/) [Ken Kesey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-kesey/) > [The frontiers we broke into in the '60s are still largely unexplored.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-kesey/the-frontiers-we-broke-into-in-the-60s-are-still-largely-unexplored/) [Ken Kesey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-kesey/) > [There's something about taking a plow and breaking new ground. It gives you energy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-kesey/there-s-something-about-taking-a-plow-and-breaking-new-ground-it/) [Ken Kesey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-kesey/) > [The best of all possible cages.' Ben stepped back to regard the job with a sad smile. 'What more can one ask?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-kesey/the-best-of-all-possible-cages-ben-stepped-back-to-regard-the-job/) [Ken Kesey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-kesey/) > [Your trouble is, you keep trying to unscrew the unscrutable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-kesey/your-trouble-is-you-keep-trying-to-unscrew-the-unscrutable/) [Ken Kesey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-kesey/) > [That ain't me, that ain't my face. It wasn't even me when I was trying to be that face. I wasn't even really me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-kesey/that-ain-t-me-that-ain-t-my-face-it-wasn-t-even-me-when-i-was-trying/) [Ken Kesey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-kesey/) > [But if the strength ain't real, I recall thinking the very last thing that day, before I finally passed out, then the weakness sure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-kesey/but-if-the-strength-ain-t-real-i-recall-thinking-the-very-last-thing/) [Ken Kesey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-kesey/) > [“They think they know the book by its cover, but the book knows what it is. Now he knew better; if the book never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-kesey/they-think-they-know-the-book-by-its-cover-but-the-book-knows-what-it/) [Ken Kesey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-kesey/) > [More was revealed in a human face than a human being can bear face to face.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-kesey/more-was-revealed-in-a-human-face-than-a-human-being-can-bear-face-to/) [Ken Kesey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-kesey/) > [If this glorious birth to death hassle is the only hassle we are ever to have ..if our grand exhilarating fight of life is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-kesey/if-this-glorious-birth-to-death-hassle-is-the-only-hassle-we-are-ever/) [Ken Kesey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-kesey/) > [“It's gonna burn me just that way, finally telling about all this, about the hospital, and her, and the guys- and about McMurphy. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-kesey/it-s-gonna-burn-me-just-that-way-finally-telling-about-all-this-about/) [Ken Kesey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-kesey/) > [When Shakespeare was writing, he wasn't writing for stuff to lie on the page; it was supposed to get up and move around.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-kesey/when-shakespeare-was-writing-he-wasn-t-writing-for-stuff-to-lie-on/) [Ken Kesey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-kesey/) > [“And then some guy wandering as lost as you would all of a sudden be right before your eyes, his face bigger and clearer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-kesey/and-then-some-guy-wandering-as-lost-as-you-would-all-of-a-sudden-be/) [Ken Kesey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-kesey/) [Explore all 295 Ken Kesey quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-kesey/) ## More Blank paper quotes > [“I believe in magic. As a writer, I create them on blank paper.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sonnia-kemmer/i-believe-in-magic-as-a-writer-i-create-them-on-blank-paper/) [Sonnia Kemmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sonnia-kemmer/) > [All I have to do is keep my spirit, feelings and conscience like a sheet of blank paper, and let the Spirit and power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brigham-young/all-i-have-to-do-is-keep-my-spirit-feelings-and-conscience-like-a/) [Brigham Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brigham-young/) > [“The words in his book wormed off the pages. Everything glittered like blank paper.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/the-words-in-his-book-wormed-off-the-pages-everything-glittered-like/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [My mind turned by anxiety, or other cause, from its scrutiny of blank paper, is like a lost child–wandering the house, sitting on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/my-mind-turned-by-anxiety-or-other-cause-from-its-scrutiny-of-blank/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [Writing is very difficult. You have 120 pages of blank paper and it's like, "Go fill that up with some funny stuff," and that's challenging.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bobby-farrelly/writing-is-very-difficult-you-have-120-pages-of-blank-paper-and-it-s/) [Bobby Farrelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bobby-farrelly/) > [“If our shallow, self-critical culture sometimes seems to lack a sense of the numinous or spiritual it’s only in the same way a fish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grant-morrison/if-our-shallow-self-critical-culture-sometimes-seems-to-lack-a-sense/) [Grant Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grant-morrison/) > [Blank paper has always inspired me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-handler/blank-paper-has-always-inspired-me/) [Daniel Handler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-handler/) > [You know that fiction, prose rather, is possibly the roughest trade of all in writing. You do not have the reference, the old important…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/you-know-that-fiction-prose-rather-is-possibly-the-roughest-trade-of/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“I was asked the age old question today: why are you an author? I suppose there are lots of answers to this question that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-due/i-was-asked-the-age-old-question-today-why-are-you-an-author-i/) [Richard Due](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-due/) > [To lead by example is to offer your life as a living diarry for others to read. Never make your life pages blank; make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/to-lead-by-example-is-to-offer-your-life-as-a-living-diarry-for/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Sometime a blank paper tells u whole story. Some time even a book lacks the meanings. It is true that word are important But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritu-ghatourey/sometime-a-blank-paper-tells-u-whole-story-some-time-even-a-book/) [Ritu Ghatourey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritu-ghatourey/) > [“It just feels like meeting him again was like seeing a blank paper ready to be sketched, a different idea to be drawn.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/basma-salem/it-just-feels-like-meeting-him-again-was-like-seeing-a-blank-paper/) [Basma Salem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/basma-salem/) > [Who but a brazen crazy person would go one-on-one with blank paper or canvas armed with nothing but ideas?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-vonnegut/who-but-a-brazen-crazy-person-would-go-one-on-one-with-blank-paper-or/) [Mark Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-vonnegut/) > [Blank paper at this time she will cry, I did not write anything in the last Letter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/blank-paper-at-this-time-she-will-cry-i-did-not-write-anything-in-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [That's the horrible thing starting out, you get distracted a lot because anything is easier than writing. It's just the same enemy - blank…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jimmy-breslin/that-s-the-horrible-thing-starting-out-you-get-distracted-a-lot/) [Jimmy Breslin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jimmy-breslin/) [Browse all 43 Blank paper quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/blank-paper/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I was seeing him different than when he first came in; I was seeing more to him than just big hands and red sideburns and a broken-nosed grin. I'd see him do things that didn't fit with his face or hands, things like painting a picture at OT with real paints on a blank paper with no lines or numbers anywhere on it to tell him where to paint, or like writing letters to somebody in a beautiful flowing hand. How could a man who looked like him paint pictures or write letters to people, or be upset and worried like I saw him once when he got a letter back? [...] He hadn't let what he looked like run his life one way or the other, any more than he'd let the Combine mill him into fitting where they wanted him to fit.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ken Kesey" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-kesey/i-was-seeing-him-different-than-when-he-first-came-in-i-was-seeing/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Blank paper" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-kesey/i-was-seeing-him-different-than-when-he-first-came-in-i-was-seeing/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b47/ken-kesey-1034_blank-paper_i-was-seeing-him-different-than-when-he_2961237.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b47/ken-kesey-1034_blank-paper_i-was-seeing-him-different-than-when-he_2961237.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b47/ken-kesey-1034_blank-paper_i-was-seeing-him-different-than-when-he_2961237.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I was seeing him different than when he first came in; I was seeing more to him than just big hands and red…” — Ken Kesey", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Ken Kesey", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-kesey/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“I was seeing him different than...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-kesey/i-was-seeing-him-different-than-when-he-first-came-in-i-was-seeing/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-kesey/i-was-seeing-him-different-than-when-he-first-came-in-i-was-seeing/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```