--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When you’re held underwater, you think…" description: "\"“When you’re held underwater, you think only of air. I remember how I felt about Shanghai in the days after our lives changed - how streets that had on..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/641/lisa-see-2200_beautiful-women_when-you-re-held-underwater-you-think-on_2986339.jpg" --- # When you’re held underwater, you think only of air. I… ![“When you’re held underwater, you think only of air. I remember how I felt about Shanghai in the days after our lives changed - how streets that had once seemed exciting suddenly stank of nightsoil, how beautiful women suddenly were nothing more than girls with three holes, how all the money and…” quote by Lisa See](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/641/lisa-see-2200_beautiful-women_when-you-re-held-underwater-you-think-on_2986339.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/641/lisa-see-2200_beautiful-women_when-you-re-held-underwater-you-think-on_2986339.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/641/lisa-see-2200_beautiful-women_when-you-re-held-underwater-you-think-on_2986339.jpg) > ““When you’re held underwater, you think only of air. I remember how I felt about Shanghai in the days after our lives changed - how streets that had once seemed exciting suddenly stank of nightsoil, how beautiful women suddenly were nothing more than girls with three holes, how all the money and prosperity suddenly rendered everything forlon, dissolute and futile. The way I see Los Angeles and Chinatown during these difficult and frightening days couldn’t be more different.”” [Lisa See](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-see/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The narrator reflects on how drastic social and personal changes can make familiar places feel alien and unsettling **In simple terms:** Change can make familiar places feel strange Key Takeaway Recognize and adapt to rapid change Themes memory displacement urban decay identity crisis Mood reflective melancholic thoughtful Type literary personal When to use this quote - navigating cultural shifts - coping with loss - reassessing personal values - seeking stability Key Concepts nostalgia disillusionment urban transformation Questions to Reflect On - How do you cope when familiar environments become hostile? - What can preserve personal identity amid rapid change? 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They seem ordinary until one day they're extraordinary.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-see/maybe-that-s-what-we-re-all-like-with-our-mothers-they-seem-ordinary/) [Lisa See](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-see/) > [Model communes are the ones where the leaders lie the best and the biggest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-see/model-communes-are-the-ones-where-the-leaders-lie-the-best-and-the/) [Lisa See](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-see/) [Explore all 178 Lisa See quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-see/) ## More Beautiful women quotes > [In New York, you are constantly faced with this very urgent decision that you have to make, about every twenty minutes...you have to decide,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-cross/in-new-york-you-are-constantly-faced-with-this-very-urgent-decision/) [David Cross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-cross/) > [There is nothing touches our imagination so much as a beautiful woman in a plain dress.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/there-is-nothing-touches-our-imagination-so-much-as-a-beautiful-woman/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [A beautiful woman, if poor, should use double circumspection; for her beauty will tempt others, her poverty herself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/a-beautiful-woman-if-poor-should-use-double-circumspection-for-her/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [I was in the South of France, in Saint-Tropez and I met her when it was totally unexpected. 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They like things that are simple.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hubert-de-givenchy/i-think-all-beautiful-women-have-a-clean-look-they-like-things-that/) [Hubert de Givenchy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hubert-de-givenchy/) > [“Take me as I am Take me, baby, in stride Only you can save me tonight There's nowhere to run Nowhere to hide You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lana-del-rey/take-me-as-i-am-take-me-baby-in-stride-only-you-can-save-me-tonight/) [Lana Del Rey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lana-del-rey/) > [It is only possible to succeed at second-rate pursuitslikebecoming a millionaire or a prime minister, winning a war, seducing beautiful women, flying thought the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/it-is-only-possible-to-succeed-at-second-rate-pursuitslikebecoming-a/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [“Amongst all the beautiful women in this world.. there always an idiot ex-boyfriend, who still expects her love again”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/69rascal/amongst-all-the-beautiful-women-in-this-world-there-always-an-idiot/) [69rascal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/69rascal/) > [“This man was gorgeous. 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An ugly woman knows it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/a-beautiful-woman-looking-at-her-image-in-the-mirror-may-very-well/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) [Browse all 556 Beautiful women quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beautiful-women/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“When you’re held underwater, you think only of air. I remember how I felt about Shanghai in the days after our lives changed - how streets that had once seemed exciting suddenly stank of nightsoil, how beautiful women suddenly were nothing more than girls with three holes, how all the money and prosperity suddenly rendered everything forlon, dissolute and futile. 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