--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: How do you stop longing for what you…" description: "\"How do you stop longing for what you absolutely know you can't get? Which really means: How do you absolutely know you can't-and won't-get it, not ever..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/445/leigh-newman-15257_hope_how-do-you-stop-longing-for-what-you-abs_2084487.jpg" --- # How do you stop longing for what you absolutely know you… ![“How do you stop longing for what you absolutely know you can't get? Which really means: How do you absolutely know you can't-and won't-get it, not ever? How do you pinch out that wisp of feeble, ruthless hope?” quote by Leigh Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/445/leigh-newman-15257_hope_how-do-you-stop-longing-for-what-you-abs_2084487.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/445/leigh-newman-15257_hope_how-do-you-stop-longing-for-what-you-abs_2084487.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/445/leigh-newman-15257_hope_how-do-you-stop-longing-for-what-you-abs_2084487.jpg) > “How do you stop longing for what you absolutely know you can't get? Which really means: How do you absolutely know you can't-and won't-get it, not ever? How do you pinch out that wisp of feeble, ruthless hope?” [Leigh Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-newman/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. It asks how to let go of unattainable desires and the false hope that sustains them. **In simple terms:** Let go of impossible wishes. Key Takeaway Release the illusion of impossible hope. Themes acceptance desire mindfulness resilience Mood reflective somber Type philosophical advice When to use this quote - relationship loss - career ambition - unrequited love - personal goals Key Concepts psychology attachment theory cognitive reframing Questions to Reflect On - What does this unattainable goal represent for you? - How might you redirect that energy? A Different Perspective Hope can motivate positive action, so abandoning it may reduce drive. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Feeble](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feeble/) [Hope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hope/) [Knows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knows/) [Longing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/longing/) [Longing Absolutely](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/longing-absolutely-4088691/) [Mean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mean/) [Really mean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/really-mean/) [Ruthless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ruthless/) [Stop Longing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stop-longing-2878622/) [Wisps](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wisps/) ## Related quotes > [Stop longing. You poison todays ease, reaching always for tomorrow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-hobb/stop-longing-you-poison-todays-ease-reaching-always-for-tomorrow/) [Robin Hobb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-hobb/) > [“When does it stop-the longing to be mothered?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emery-lord/when-does-it-stop-the-longing-to-be-mothered/) [Emery Lord](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emery-lord/) > [“you’ve got all these ideas and plans, don’t just walk away. Stop longing for what you can’t have, and make the most of what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sue-watson/you-ve-got-all-these-ideas-and-plans-don-t-just-walk-away-stop/) [Sue Watson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sue-watson/) > [Stop longing.You poison today’s ease, reaching always for tomorrow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-hobb/stop-longing-you-poison-today-s-ease-reaching-always-for-tomorrow/) [Robin Hobb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-hobb/) > [Forgiveness of self is impossible until you stop longing for a better past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/forgiveness-of-self-is-impossible-until-you-stop-longing-for-a-better/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Hour of Stars (1920) The round silence of night, one note on the stave of the infinite. Ripe with lost poems, I step naked…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/federico-garc-a-lorca/hour-of-stars-1920-the-round-silence-of-night-one-note-on-the-stave/) [Federico Garcia Lorca](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/federico-garc-a-lorca/) > [“Through all he said, even through his appalling sentimentality, i was reminded of something - an elusive rhythm, a fragment of lost words, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/through-all-he-said-even-through-his-appalling-sentimentality-i-was/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [Light That's how I feel- like the winter-fringed breeze might scoop me up into its wings, fly away with me trapped in its feathered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-hopkins/light-that-s-how-i-feel-like-the-winter-fringed-breeze-might-scoop-me/) [Ellen Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-hopkins/) > [Rely upon your own judgment; be true to your own conscience; follow the light that is within you; all outward lights are so many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-allen/rely-upon-your-own-judgment-be-true-to-your-own-conscience-follow-the/) [James Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-allen/) > [During the day, our souls gather their ... impressions of us, how our lives feel. ... Our spirits collect these impressions, keep them together,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marsha-norman/during-the-day-our-souls-gather-their-impressions-of-us-how-our-lives/) [Marsha Norman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsha-norman/) > [Ideas, we all know, are not born in people's heads. They begin somewhere out there, loose wisps of smoke swirling directionless in their search…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mia-couto/ideas-we-all-know-are-not-born-in-people-s-heads-they-begin-somewhere/) [Mia Couto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mia-couto/) > [He snatched out his hand desperately as if to snatch only a wisp of air, to save a fragment of the spot that she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/he-snatched-out-his-hand-desperately-as-if-to-snatch-only-a-wisp-of/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [There are like twenty people in that waiting room right now. Some of them are related to you. Some of them are not. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gayle-forman/there-are-like-twenty-people-in-that-waiting-room-right-now-some-of/) [Gayle Forman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gayle-forman/) > [So we and our elaborately evolving computers may meet each other halfway. Someday a human being, named perhaps Fred White, may shoot a robot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-k-dick/so-we-and-our-elaborately-evolving-computers-may-meet-each-other/) [Philip K. Dick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-k-dick/) > [A real flame of love is a subtle thing. It burns as a will-o'-the-wisp, dancing onward to fairy lands of delight. It roars as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-dreiser/a-real-flame-of-love-is-a-subtle-thing-it-burns-as-a-will-o-the-wisp/) [Theodore Dreiser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-dreiser/) ## More by Leigh Newman > [Resisting and avoiding pain sucks energy-and time. The more you let yourself feel those minute-and-a-half hells, the quicker you'll start feeling those minute-and-a-half happinesses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-newman/resisting-and-avoiding-pain-sucks-energy-and-time-the-more-you-let/) [Leigh Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-newman/) > [“Pain only seems scary while you're waiting for it to happen. After it does, it's just hurt and recovery.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-newman/pain-only-seems-scary-while-you-re-waiting-for-it-to-happen-after-it/) [Leigh Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-newman/) > [I turned what was a wonderful case of self-reliance into a case of self-exile. Which is not uncommon, I think, in people who grow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-newman/i-turned-what-was-a-wonderful-case-of-self-reliance-into-a-case-of/) [Leigh Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-newman/) > [I wasn't in a position that some other memoirists are, dealing with families who fed them meth, or kidnapped them, or did something that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-newman/i-wasn-t-in-a-position-that-some-other-memoirists-are-dealing-with/) [Leigh Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-newman/) > [It feels like people talk a lot, in their relationships and in therapy. But my family wasn't like that. My dad wasn't and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-newman/it-feels-like-people-talk-a-lot-in-their-relationships-and-in-therapy/) [Leigh Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-newman/) > [The minute I landed back in Alaska, it was back to hip boots and fish guts. This cultural flipping wasn't easy - especially on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-newman/the-minute-i-landed-back-in-alaska-it-was-back-to-hip-boots-and-fish/) [Leigh Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-newman/) > [Often, I think that my brothers were the reason I didn't do something really stupid in my teenage years; I didn't want to disappoint…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-newman/often-i-think-that-my-brothers-were-the-reason-i-didn-t-do-something/) [Leigh Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-newman/) > [My natural inclination is to think in scenes. So that's how I write, and the issue for me is usually: what to compress for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-newman/my-natural-inclination-is-to-think-in-scenes-so-that-s-how-i-write/) [Leigh Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-newman/) > [The tough thing is how to cultivate a life where the paramecium of happiness gets a lot of chances to get out and swim…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-newman/the-tough-thing-is-how-to-cultivate-a-life-where-the-paramecium-of/) [Leigh Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-newman/) > [There's a kind of intimacy that happens between a mother and an only child. Which only gets more intimate when it's between a mother…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-newman/there-s-a-kind-of-intimacy-that-happens-between-a-mother-and-an-only/) [Leigh Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-newman/) > [My dad felt pretty strongly that I know about the basic workings of a plane and so he taught me how to read and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-newman/my-dad-felt-pretty-strongly-that-i-know-about-the-basic-workings-of-a/) [Leigh Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-newman/) > [ Penning an advice column for the literary website The Rumpus, \[Strayed\] worked anonymously, using the pen name Sugar, replying to letters from readings suffering… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-newman/penning-an-advice-column-for-the-literary-website-the-rumpus-strayed/) [Leigh Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-newman/) > [After my parents divorced, my father remarried and my brothers were born when I was twelve and sixteen. I was thunderstruck at these kids.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-newman/after-my-parents-divorced-my-father-remarried-and-my-brothers-were/) [Leigh Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-newman/) > [It's much harder when you're writing about your life, than when you're writing fiction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-newman/it-s-much-harder-when-you-re-writing-about-your-life-than-when-you-re/) [Leigh Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-newman/) > [“Can't lives on won't street.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-newman/can-t-lives-on-won-t-street/) [Leigh Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-newman/) [Explore all 43 Leigh Newman quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-newman/) ## More Feeble quotes > [“Man may feel like a feeble and powerless pawn, at some moment in his life. This apprehension can come out of the blue, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-pevernagie/man-may-feel-like-a-feeble-and-powerless-pawn-at-some-moment-in-his/) [Erik Pevernagie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-pevernagie/) > [“Have you ever plunged into the immensity of space and time by reading the geological treatises of Cuvier? Borne away on the wings of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/have-you-ever-plunged-into-the-immensity-of-space-and-time-by-reading/) [Honoré de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [“May you hear my feeble voice! It will tell you that here below there is a heart full of the memory of you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herculine-barbin/may-you-hear-my-feeble-voice-it-will-tell-you-that-here-below-there/) [Herculine Barbin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herculine-barbin/) > [I know my own soul, how feeble and puny it is: I know the magnitude of this ministry, and the great difficulty of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-chrysostom/i-know-my-own-soul-how-feeble-and-puny-it-is-i-know-the-magnitude-of/) [John Chrysostom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-chrysostom/) > [“Atticus was feeble: he was nearly fifty.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harper-lee/atticus-was-feeble-he-was-nearly-fifty/) [Harper Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harper-lee/) > [Persuasion is the resource of the feeble; and the feeble can seldom persuade . . .](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/persuasion-is-the-resource-of-the-feeble-and-the-feeble-can-seldom/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [The only black people you found were occasional characters or characters who were so feeble-witted that they couldn't manage anything, anyway. I wrote myself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavia-butler/the-only-black-people-you-found-were-occasional-characters-or/) [Octavia Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavia-butler/) > [What I seek to accomplish is simply to serve with my feeble capacity truth and justice, at the risk of pleasing no one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/what-i-seek-to-accomplish-is-simply-to-serve-with-my-feeble-capacity/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [“Even a feeble-minded man wants to be like other men.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-keyes/even-a-feeble-minded-man-wants-to-be-like-other-men/) [Daniel Keyes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-keyes/) > [“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of feeble minds”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/a-foolish-consistency-is-the-hobgoblin-of-feeble-minds/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [A feeble body weakens the mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/a-feeble-body-weakens-the-mind/) [Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/) > [“Religion adheres to the wise, while the feeble are bound to it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vd/religion-adheres-to-the-wise-while-the-feeble-are-bound-to-it/) [VD](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vd/) > [A feeble executive implies a feeble execution of the government. A feeble execution is but another phrase for a bad execution; and a government…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-hamilton/a-feeble-executive-implies-a-feeble-execution-of-the-government-a/) [Alexander Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-hamilton/) > [Humane sentiments are baseless, mad, and improper; they are incredibly feeble; never do they withstand the gainsaying passions, never do they resist bare necessity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/humane-sentiments-are-baseless-mad-and-improper-they-are-incredibly/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [Profanity is the effort of a feeble brain to express itself forcibly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-w-kimball/profanity-is-the-effort-of-a-feeble-brain-to-express-itself-forcibly/) [Spencer W. Kimball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-w-kimball/) [Browse all 77 Feeble quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feeble/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "How do you stop longing for what you absolutely know you can't get? Which really means: How do you absolutely know you can't-and won't-get it, not ever? 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