--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Without fullness of experience, length of…" description: "\"Without fullness of experience, length of days is nothing. When fullness of life has been achieved, shortness of days is nothing. That is perhaps why t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/832/lewis-mumford-2870_death_without-fullness-of-experience-length-of_1234763.jpg" --- # Without fullness of experience, length of days is nothing… ![“Without fullness of experience, length of days is nothing. When fullness of life has been achieved, shortness of days is nothing. That is perhaps why the young have usually so little fear of death; they live by intensities that the elderly have forgotten.” quote by Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/832/lewis-mumford-2870_death_without-fullness-of-experience-length-of_1234763.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/832/lewis-mumford-2870_death_without-fullness-of-experience-length-of_1234763.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/832/lewis-mumford-2870_death_without-fullness-of-experience-length-of_1234763.jpg) > “Without fullness of experience, length of days is nothing. When fullness of life has been achieved, shortness of days is nothing. That is perhaps why the young have usually so little fear of death; they live by intensities that the elderly have forgotten.” [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Life’s depth matters more than its length; intense, meaningful experiences give value to time. **In simple terms:** Depth of life matters more than length. Key Takeaway Seek depth, not just longevity. Themes meaning experience life death age intensity Mood reflective thoughtful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - young adulthood - elderly reflection - caregiver moments - creative pursuits - spiritual practice Key Concepts Existentialism humanism philosophy Questions to Reflect On - How can you add depth to daily routines? - What experiences make you feel truly alive? A Different Perspective Depth alone may not compensate for lack of health or relationships. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Elderly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/elderly/) [Fear of death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fear-of-death/) [Fullness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fullness/) [Fullness of life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fullness-of-life/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) ## Related quotes > [Faith is more important to me than life itself because without it there would be no fullness of life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mother-teresa/faith-is-more-important-to-me-than-life-itself-because-without-it/) [Mother Teresa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mother-teresa/) > [The fullness of life is incubated in its messy places.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-dickinson/the-fullness-of-life-is-incubated-in-its-messy-places/) [Amy Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-dickinson/) > [I came to a clear conclusion, and it is a universal one: To live, to struggle, to be in love with life--in love with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betty-smith/i-came-to-a-clear-conclusion-and-it-is-a-universal-one-to-live-to/) [Betty Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betty-smith/) > [Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorian-cox/gratitude-unlocks-the-fullness-of-life-it-turns-what-we-have-into-3/) [Dorian Cox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorian-cox/) > [Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/gratitude-unlocks-the-fullness-of-life-it-turns-what-we-have-into-2/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Pray for and work for fullness of life above every thing; full red blood in the body; full honesty and truth in the mind;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phillips-brooks/pray-for-and-work-for-fullness-of-life-above-every-thing-full-red/) [Phillips Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phillips-brooks/) > [“May God grant your a great grace to live the fullness of life in the coming year.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/may-god-grant-your-a-great-grace-to-live-the-fullness-of-life-in-the/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [I believe that is what the God experience does for us. It calls us beyond our limits into the fullness of life - into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-shelby-spong/i-believe-that-is-what-the-god-experience-does-for-us-it-calls-us/) [John Shelby Spong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-shelby-spong/) > [“Giving Thanks unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have, no matter how little, into more than enough. It turns denial into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-d-longoria-jr/giving-thanks-unlocks-the-fullness-of-life-it-turns-what-we-have-no/) [Raymond D. Longoria Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-d-longoria-jr/) > [Gratitude unlocks fullness of life. It imparts a sense of satisfaction and appreciation. In the meantime one should not forget that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dr-anil-kr-sinha/gratitude-unlocks-fullness-of-life-it-imparts-a-sense-of-satisfaction/) [Dr Anil Kr Sinha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dr-anil-kr-sinha/) > [But we have only begun to love the earth. We have only begun to imagine the fullness of life. How could we tire of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denise-levertov/but-we-have-only-begun-to-love-the-earth-we-have-only-begun-to/) [Denise Levertov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denise-levertov/) > [The fullness of life comes from an identity built on giving and on joy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-fullness-of-life-comes-from-an-identity-built-on-giving-and-on-joy/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melody-beattie/gratitude-unlocks-the-fullness-of-life-it-turns-what-we-have-into/) [Melody Beattie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melody-beattie/) > [Only gratefulness, in the form of limitless openness for surprise, lays hold of the fullness of life in hope.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-steindl-rast/only-gratefulness-in-the-form-of-limitless-openness-for-surprise-lays/) [David Steindl-Rast](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-steindl-rast/) > [Gratefulness is that fullness of life for which we are all thirsting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-steindl-rast/gratefulness-is-that-fullness-of-life-for-which-we-are-all-thirsting/) [David Steindl-Rast](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-steindl-rast/) ## More by Lewis Mumford > [Restore human legs as a means of travel. Pedestrians rely on food for fuel and need no special parking facilities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/restore-human-legs-as-a-means-of-travel-pedestrians-rely-on-food-for/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Mechanical instruments, potentially a vehicle of rational human purposes, are scarcely a blessing when they enable the gossip of the village idiot and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/mechanical-instruments-potentially-a-vehicle-of-rational-human/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [However far modern science and techniques have fallen short of their inherent possibilities, they have taught mankind at least one lesson; nothing is impossible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/however-far-modern-science-and-techniques-have-fallen-short-of-their/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Iron and coal dominated everywhere, from grey to black: the black boots, the black stove-pipe hat, the black coach or carriage, the black iron…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/iron-and-coal-dominated-everywhere-from-grey-to-black-the-black-boots/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [The self holds both a hell and a heaven.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/the-self-holds-both-a-hell-and-a-heaven/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [By his very success in inventing labor-saving devices, modern man has manufactured an abyss of boredom that only the privileged classes in earlier civilizations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/by-his-very-success-in-inventing-labor-saving-devices-modern-man-has/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Each person is a temporary focus of forces, vitalities, and values that carry back to an immemorial past and that reach forward into an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/each-person-is-a-temporary-focus-of-forces-vitalities-and-values-that/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Adventure is humdrum and routine unless one assimilates it, unless one relates it to a central core which grows within and gives it contour…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/adventure-is-humdrum-and-routine-unless-one-assimilates-it-unless-one/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Safety razors make it hard to grow beards in America: America would be a better place if there were a few bearded, savage, terrible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/safety-razors-make-it-hard-to-grow-beards-in-america-america-would-be/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [A society that gives to one class all the opportunities for leisure, and to another all the burdens of work, dooms both classes to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/a-society-that-gives-to-one-class-all-the-opportunities-for-leisure/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Without leisure there can be neither art nor science nor fine conversation, nor any ceremonious performance of the offices of love and friendship.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/without-leisure-there-can-be-neither-art-nor-science-nor-fine/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Not sense data or atoms or electrons or packets of energy, but purposes, interests, and meanings, constitute the underlying facts of human experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/not-sense-data-or-atoms-or-electrons-or-packets-of-energy-but/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [When cities were first founded, an old Egyptian scribe tells us, the mission of the founder was to 'put gods in their shrines.' The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/when-cities-were-first-founded-an-old-egyptian-scribe-tells-us-the/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [“Forget the damned motor car and built cities for lovers and friends .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/forget-the-damned-motor-car-and-built-cities-for-lovers-and-friends/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Western society has accepted as unquestionable a technological imperative that is quite as arbitrary as the most primitive taboo: not merely the duty to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/western-society-has-accepted-as-unquestionable-a-technological/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) [Explore all 146 Lewis Mumford quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) ## More Death quotes > [“He wondered how it was fair that your dying should depend so much on when you were born.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-albom/he-wondered-how-it-was-fair-that-your-dying-should-depend-so-much-on/) [Mitch Albom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-albom/) > [What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing differences and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/what-sets-worlds-in-motion-is-the-interplay-of-differences-their/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Most of us are convinced that we are our egos, which is who we think we are. The ego is part of our incarnation.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ram-dass/most-of-us-are-convinced-that-we-are-our-egos-which-is-who-we-think/) [Ram Dass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ram-dass/) > [I do not want to live at the cost of the life even of a snake. I should let him bite me to death…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/i-do-not-want-to-live-at-the-cost-of-the-life-even-of-a-snake-i/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [“It was beautiful. He thought he had never seen anything so beautiful in all his life; that, having seen it, he could die content,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mira-grant/it-was-beautiful-he-thought-he-had-never-seen-anything-so-beautiful/) [Mira Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mira-grant/) > [Retirement? You're talking about death, right?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-altman/retirement-you-re-talking-about-death-right/) [Robert Altman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-altman/) > [With multiplayer, permanent death, and an ever-changing world to explore and conquer, 'A Valley Without Wind' might be the place you're looking for if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-manuel/with-multiplayer-permanent-death-and-an-ever-changing-world-to/) [Rob Manuel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-manuel/) > [“What did you see?” she asked gently. His brow furrowed, as if he could not understand the question. Then his eyes turned to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-anthony-torino/what-did-you-see-she-asked-gently-his-brow-furrowed-as-if-he-could/) J. Anthony Torino > [Those whose life is long still strive for gain, and for all mortals all things take second place to money.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophocles/those-whose-life-is-long-still-strive-for-gain-and-for-all-mortals/) [Sophocles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophocles/) > [“I practice Dying--every night-- But have not learned to, still-- Though Talented--by Mortal bones-- For such a common Skill.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-w-powers/i-practice-dying-every-night-but-have-not-learned-to-still-though/) Alan W. Powers > [“You must understand the pain and grief of losing someone is nothing more than a function of survival.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-cooper/you-must-understand-the-pain-and-grief-of-losing-someone-is-nothing/) [Steven Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-cooper/) > [I am not a depressive person at all, but I reflect a lot on my life, and life in general, from the perspective of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu/i-am-not-a-depressive-person-at-all-but-i-reflect-a-lot-on-my-life/) [Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu/) > [“Death is a reality that calls the rest of life and all of our assorted strivings into sharp relief.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-d-lounsbrough/death-is-a-reality-that-calls-the-rest-of-life-and-all-of-our/) [Craig D. Lounsbrough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-d-lounsbrough/) > [I love life. I love life to death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emmanuelle-riva/i-love-life-i-love-life-to-death/) [Emmanuelle Riva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emmanuelle-riva/) > [I think when you’re dying you start looking for important things in the corners. You can’t let anything that seems even semi-important pass, because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-crutcher/i-think-when-you-re-dying-you-start-looking-for-important-things-in/) [Chris Crutcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-crutcher/) [Browse all 39,127 Death quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Without fullness of experience, length of days is nothing. When fullness of life has been achieved, shortness of days is nothing. That is perhaps why the young have usually so little fear of death; they live by intensities that the elderly have forgotten.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Lewis Mumford" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/without-fullness-of-experience-length-of-days-is-nothing-when/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Death" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/without-fullness-of-experience-length-of-days-is-nothing-when/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/832/lewis-mumford-2870_death_without-fullness-of-experience-length-of_1234763.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/832/lewis-mumford-2870_death_without-fullness-of-experience-length-of_1234763.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/832/lewis-mumford-2870_death_without-fullness-of-experience-length-of_1234763.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Without fullness of experience, length of days is nothing. When fullness of life has been achieved…” — Lewis Mumford", "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": "Lewis Mumford", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Without fullness of experience, length of...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/without-fullness-of-experience-length-of-days-is-nothing-when/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/without-fullness-of-experience-length-of-days-is-nothing-when/#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 } } ] } ```