--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Reasons for not keeping a notebook: 1)…" description: "\"Reasons for not keeping a notebook: 1) the ambiguity of the reader\" — Lionel Trilling" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff2/lionel-trilling-12210_ambiguity_reasons-for-not-keeping-a-notebook-1-the_2423902.png" --- # Reasons for not keeping a notebook: 1) the ambiguity of… ![“Reasons for not keeping a notebook: 1) the ambiguity of the reader” quote by Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff2/lionel-trilling-12210_ambiguity_reasons-for-not-keeping-a-notebook-1-the_2423902.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff2/lionel-trilling-12210_ambiguity_reasons-for-not-keeping-a-notebook-1-the_2423902.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff2/lionel-trilling-12210_ambiguity_reasons-for-not-keeping-a-notebook-1-the_2423902.png) > “Reasons for not keeping a notebook: 1) the ambiguity of the reader” [Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Keeping a notebook is hindered by ambiguous interpretation, limiting its usefulness. **In simple terms:** Ambiguity can make note‑taking ineffective. Key Takeaway Clarify purpose before recording notes. Themes communication clarity learning documentation Mood analytical practical Type advisory philosophical When to use this quote - academic study - research projects - personal journaling - creative writing Key Concepts interpretation purpose knowledge management Questions to Reflect On - How can you ensure notes stay meaningful over time? - What systems help maintain note relevance? A Different Perspective Even with clarity, notes may become outdated or irrelevant. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ambiguity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambiguity/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Journalism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/journalism/) [Notebook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/notebook/) [Reason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason/) ## Related quotes > [Reasons for not keeping a notebook: 1) the ambiguity of the reader--it is never quite oneself. 2) I usually hate the sight of my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/reasons-for-not-keeping-a-notebook-1-the-ambiguity-of-the-reader-it/) [Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/) > [If life is envisioned as a continuously running motion picture, the keeping of a notebook stops the action and allows a meaningful scene to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-coudert/if-life-is-envisioned-as-a-continuously-running-motion-picture-the/) [Jo Coudert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-coudert/) > [You can't compartmentalise everything but the more you do that the easier it is. Keeping a notebook is a good way of dealing with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-strauss/you-can-t-compartmentalise-everything-but-the-more-you-do-that-the/) [Andrew Strauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-strauss/) > [ “\[from "On Keeping a Notebook"\]: It is a good idea to keep in touch, and I suppose that keeping in touch is what notebooks… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/from-on-keeping-a-notebook-it-is-a-good-idea-to-keep-in-touch-and-i/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“You will be back by then Ellen, wont you? I'm keeping this notebook safe for you because I want to believe you'll read it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natasha-mac-a-bhaird/you-will-be-back-by-then-ellen-wont-you-i-m-keeping-this-notebook/) Natasha Mac a'Bhaird > [“So the point of my keeping a notebook has never been, nor is it now, to have an accurate factual record of what I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/so-the-point-of-my-keeping-a-notebook-has-never-been-nor-is-it-now-to/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I'm not asking a poem to carry a lot of rocks in its pockets. Just being an ordinary observer and liver and feeler and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-olds/i-m-not-asking-a-poem-to-carry-a-lot-of-rocks-in-its-pockets-just/) [Sharon Olds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-olds/) > [I'm giving all that I have in this life. I'm opening up my notebook, and I'm saying everything in there out loud.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kanye-west/i-m-giving-all-that-i-have-in-this-life-i-m-opening-up-my-notebook/) [Kanye West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kanye-west/) > [My inspiration comes from everywhere, just walking down the street and I never know where it's going to come from, so I keep a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rita-dove/my-inspiration-comes-from-everywhere-just-walking-down-the-street-and/) [Rita Dove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rita-dove/) > [You get attached to the way you write, and I'm attached to notebooks. That's where I really write the plays. Just two or three…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-simon/you-get-attached-to-the-way-you-write-and-i-m-attached-to-notebooks/) [Neil Simon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-simon/) > [Everything about writing is hard for me except for that - the names pop into my head. That's one of the reasons why I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-dicamillo/everything-about-writing-is-hard-for-me-except-for-that-the-names-pop/) [Kate DiCamillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-dicamillo/) > [My little notebooks were beginnings - they were the ground into which I dropped the seed... I would work in this way when I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/my-little-notebooks-were-beginnings-they-were-the-ground-into-which-i/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [Actually, when I look at my old notebooks, I think I have been a bit self-indulgent and have given myself too much time to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie-goldberg/actually-when-i-look-at-my-old-notebooks-i-think-i-have-been-a-bit/) [Natalie Goldberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie-goldberg/) > [It's hard no to work, so I find a way to put myself back to work. And I think it's important, in between projects,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angelina-jolie/it-s-hard-no-to-work-so-i-find-a-way-to-put-myself-back-to-work-and-i/) [Angelina Jolie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angelina-jolie/) > [My writing routine is: get son off to school and sit down at 8 A.M. I read what I wrote the day before, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracy-chevalier/my-writing-routine-is-get-son-off-to-school-and-sit-down-at-8-a-m-i/) [Tracy Chevalier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracy-chevalier/) ## More by Lionel Trilling > [Our culture peculiarly honors the act of blaming, which it takes as the sign of virtue and intellect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/our-culture-peculiarly-honors-the-act-of-blaming-which-it-takes-as/) [Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/) > [The definitions of humanism are many, but let us here take it to be the attitude of those men who think it an advantage…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/the-definitions-of-humanism-are-many-but-let-us-here-take-it-to-be/) [Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/) > [Literature is the human activity that make the fullest and most precise account of variousness, possibility, complexity, and difficulty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/literature-is-the-human-activity-that-make-the-fullest-and-most/) [Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/) > [A primary function of art andthought is to liberate the individual from the tyranny of his culture in the environmental sense and to permit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/a-primary-function-of-art-andthought-is-to-liberate-the-individual/) [Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/) > [Being a Jew is like walking in the wind or swimming: you are touched at all points and conscious everywhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/being-a-jew-is-like-walking-in-the-wind-or-swimming-you-are-touched/) [Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/) > [It is possible that the contemplation of cruelty will not make us humane but cruel; that the reiteration of the badness of our spiritual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/it-is-possible-that-the-contemplation-of-cruelty-will-not-make-us/) [Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/) > [Every neurosis is a primitive form of legal proceeding in which the accused carries on the prosecution, imposes judgment and executes the sentence: all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/every-neurosis-is-a-primitive-form-of-legal-proceeding-in-which-the/) [Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/) > [Some paradox of our natures leads us, when once we have made our fellow men the objects of our enlightened interest, to go on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/some-paradox-of-our-natures-leads-us-when-once-we-have-made-our/) [Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/) > [In the American Metaphysical, reality is always material reality, hard, resistant, unformed, impenetrable, and unpleasant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/in-the-american-metaphysical-reality-is-always-material-reality-hard/) [Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/) > [“...perhaps we have never been more than vocal and perhaps soon we can hope to be no more than thoughtful...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/perhaps-we-have-never-been-more-than-vocal-and-perhaps-soon-we-can/) [Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/) > [It is now life and not art that requires the willing suspension of disbelief.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/it-is-now-life-and-not-art-that-requires-the-willing-suspension-of/) [Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/) > [Ideology is not the product of thought; it is the habit or the ritual of showing respect for certain formulas to which, for various…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/ideology-is-not-the-product-of-thought-it-is-the-habit-or-the-ritual/) [Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/) > [There is no connection between the political ideas of our educated class and the deep places of the imagination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/there-is-no-connection-between-the-political-ideas-of-our-educated/) [Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/) > [The function of literature, through all its mutations, has been to make us aware of the particularity of selves, and the high authority of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/the-function-of-literature-through-all-its-mutations-has-been-to-make/) [Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/) > [Unless we insist that politics is imagination and mind, we will learn that imagination and mind are politics, and of a kind we will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/unless-we-insist-that-politics-is-imagination-and-mind-we-will-learn/) [Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/) [Explore all 56 Lionel Trilling quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/) ## More Ambiguity quotes > [The position is clear - there is no ambiguity in Sinn Fein's position. We, along with all the other parties, have signed up to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-mcguinness/the-position-is-clear-there-is-no-ambiguity-in-sinn-fein-s-position/) [Martin McGuinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-mcguinness/) > [Ambiguity is necessary in some of my stories, not in all. In those, it certainly contributes to the richness of the story. I doubt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-wolfe/ambiguity-is-necessary-in-some-of-my-stories-not-in-all-in-those-it/) [Gene Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-wolfe/) > [During the Cold War, we lived in coded times when it wasn't easy and there were shades of grey and ambiguity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-le-carre/during-the-cold-war-we-lived-in-coded-times-when-it-wasn-t-easy-and/) [John le Carre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-le-carre/) > [You cannot grow in the integrative dance of action and contemplation without a strong tolerance for ambiguity, an ability to allow, forgive, and contain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/you-cannot-grow-in-the-integrative-dance-of-action-and-contemplation/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) > [I blame my grandfather 100 percent for his oldest son's death. I don't think there's any ambiguity there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-l-trump/i-blame-my-grandfather-100-percent-for-his-oldest-son-s-death-i-don-t/) [Mary L. Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-l-trump/) > [I think the relationship between social-dominance orientation in people and the extent to which they're made uncomfortable by ambiguity and novelty is really important.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-sapolsky/i-think-the-relationship-between-social-dominance-orientation-in/) [Robert Sapolsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-sapolsky/) > [Yet again, an ancient answer echoes across the centuries: Listen! Listen to stories! For what stories do, above all else, is hold up a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-kurtz/yet-again-an-ancient-answer-echoes-across-the-centuries-listen-listen/) [Ernest Kurtz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-kurtz/) > [My path to wisdom began when I stopped pretending to know things I didn't know. When I explicitly admitted to the limits of my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tucker-max/my-path-to-wisdom-began-when-i-stopped-pretending-to-know-things-i/) [Tucker Max](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tucker-max/) > [If there is a single tragic flaw that mars our biggest enterprises, it is conservatism - the failure to fail, and fail big, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-peters/if-there-is-a-single-tragic-flaw-that-mars-our-biggest-enterprises-it/) [Tom Peters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-peters/) > [In order to be as free as I possibly can, in my own imagination, I can't take positions that are closed. Everything I've ever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/in-order-to-be-as-free-as-i-possibly-can-in-my-own-imagination-i-can/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [I've always been drawn to ambiguity in pop music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-furman/i-ve-always-been-drawn-to-ambiguity-in-pop-music/) [Ezra Furman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-furman/) > [I believe that we can still have a genre of scientific books suitable for and accessible alike to professionals and interested laypeople. The concepts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/i-believe-that-we-can-still-have-a-genre-of-scientific-books-suitable/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [I am in the utmost perplexity, yand have wished a hundred times, that if there is a A God, nature would manifest him without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blaise-pascal/i-am-in-the-utmost-perplexity-yand-have-wished-a-hundred-times-that/) [Blaise Pascal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blaise-pascal/) > [There's a lot of ambiguity in life, and so often, our art is very neatly wrapped up at the end, when our lives never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carrie-coon/there-s-a-lot-of-ambiguity-in-life-and-so-often-our-art-is-very/) [Carrie Coon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carrie-coon/) > [“Man must not attempt to dispel the ambiguity of his being but, on the contrary, accept the task of realizing it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/man-must-not-attempt-to-dispel-the-ambiguity-of-his-being-but-on-the/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) [Browse all 431 Ambiguity quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambiguity/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Reasons for not keeping a notebook: 1) the ambiguity of the reader", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Lionel Trilling" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/reasons-for-not-keeping-a-notebook-1-the-ambiguity-of-the-reader/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Ambiguity" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/reasons-for-not-keeping-a-notebook-1-the-ambiguity-of-the-reader/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff2/lionel-trilling-12210_ambiguity_reasons-for-not-keeping-a-notebook-1-the_2423902.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff2/lionel-trilling-12210_ambiguity_reasons-for-not-keeping-a-notebook-1-the_2423902.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff2/lionel-trilling-12210_ambiguity_reasons-for-not-keeping-a-notebook-1-the_2423902.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Reasons for not keeping a notebook: 1) the ambiguity of the reader” — Lionel Trilling", "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": "Lionel Trilling", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Reasons for not keeping a notebook:...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/reasons-for-not-keeping-a-notebook-1-the-ambiguity-of-the-reader/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/reasons-for-not-keeping-a-notebook-1-the-ambiguity-of-the-reader/#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 } } ] } ```