--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I no longer cared about survival...I…" description: "\"I no longer cared about survival...I merely loved.\" — Loren Eiseley" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ae/loren-eiseley-3848_cared_i-no-longer-cared-about-survival-i-merel_1586516.png" --- # I no longer cared about survival...I merely loved. ![“I no longer cared about survival...I merely loved.” quote by Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ae/loren-eiseley-3848_cared_i-no-longer-cared-about-survival-i-merel_1586516.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ae/loren-eiseley-3848_cared_i-no-longer-cared-about-survival-i-merel_1586516.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ae/loren-eiseley-3848_cared_i-no-longer-cared-about-survival-i-merel_1586516.png) > “I no longer cared about survival...I merely loved.” [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He shifts from survival instinct to pure love, suggesting love transcends basic needs. **In simple terms:** Love replaces survival instinct. Key Takeaway Live with love. Themes love existentialism humanity Mood hopeful introspective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - relationships - artistic creation - spiritual practice Key Concepts philosophy psychology Questions to Reflect On - Can love truly replace all survival drives? - How do you balance love and self‑preservation? A Different Perspective Survival needs still exist. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Friendship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friendship/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Survival](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/survival/) ## Related quotes > [“Shall I belong to one man whom I don't love, merely because I have once loved him? No, I do not renounce; I love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritter-von-leopold-sacher-masoch/shall-i-belong-to-one-man-whom-i-don-t-love-merely-because-i-have/) [Ritter von Leopold Sacher-Masoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritter-von-leopold-sacher-masoch/) > [Even when I'm alone I have real good company — dreams and imaginations and pretendings. I like to be alone now and then, just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/even-when-i-m-alone-i-have-real-good-company-dreams-and-imaginations/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I sing your restless longing for the statue, your fear of the feelings that await you in the street. I sing the small sea…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/federico-garc-a-lorca/i-sing-your-restless-longing-for-the-statue-your-fear-of-the-feelings/) [Federico Garcia Lorca](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/federico-garc-a-lorca/) > [Love just seems to make life not just livable, but a gallant, gallant event.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/love-just-seems-to-make-life-not-just-livable-but-a-gallant-gallant/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [Can you imagine Simon as a kid? His imaginary friends probably never wanted to play with him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paula-abdul/can-you-imagine-simon-as-a-kid-his-imaginary-friends-probably-never/) [Paula Abdul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paula-abdul/) > [All that matters in life," the grey man went on, "is to climb the ladder of success, amount to something, own things. When a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ende/all-that-matters-in-life-the-grey-man-went-on-is-to-climb-the-ladder/) [Michael Ende](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ende/) > [You soothe my soul. You fill it with so tender a sentiment that it is sweet to live during the time that I see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanne-julie-eleonore-de-lespinasse/you-soothe-my-soul-you-fill-it-with-so-tender-a-sentiment-that-it-is/) [Jeanne Julie Eleonore de Lespinasse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanne-julie-eleonore-de-lespinasse/) > [There can be no friendship where there is no freedom. Friendship loves a free air, and will not be fenced up in straight and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-penn/there-can-be-no-friendship-where-there-is-no-freedom-friendship-loves/) [William Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-penn/) > [They love least that let men know their loves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/they-love-least-that-let-men-know-their-loves/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [The bonds between ourselves and another person exists only in our minds. Memory as it grows fainter loosens them, and notwithstanding the illusion by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/the-bonds-between-ourselves-and-another-person-exists-only-in-our/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [For me, friendship has always been the most accessible of relationships - certainly far more so than romantic love. Friendship, I learned, provided a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sullivan/for-me-friendship-has-always-been-the-most-accessible-of/) [Andrew Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sullivan/) > [Marriage is like a three-speed gearbox - affection, friendship, love. It is not advisable to crash your gears and go right through to love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-ustinov/marriage-is-like-a-three-speed-gearbox-affection-friendship-love-it/) [Peter Ustinov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-ustinov/) > [How many slams in an old screen door? Depends how loud you shut it. How many slices in a bread? Depends how thin you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-klein/how-many-slams-in-an-old-screen-door-depends-how-loud-you-shut-it-how/) [Stephanie Klein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-klein/) > [In all holiest and most unselfish love, friendship is the purest element of the affection. No love in any relation of life can be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-clay-trumbull/in-all-holiest-and-most-unselfish-love-friendship-is-the-purest/) [Henry Clay Trumbull](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-clay-trumbull/) > [Life is one fool thing after another whereas love is two fool things after each other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/life-is-one-fool-thing-after-another-whereas-love-is-two-fool-things/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) ## More by Loren Eiseley > [“Taking a final pleasure in what the wind can neither proclaim nor destroy, I am a student of nightfall, I claim no other profession.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/taking-a-final-pleasure-in-what-the-wind-can-neither-proclaim-nor/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [We are one of many appearances of the thing called Life; we are not its perfect image, for it has no perfect image except…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/we-are-one-of-many-appearances-of-the-thing-called-life-we-are-not/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [Perhaps a creature of so much ingenuity and deep memory is almost bound to grow alienated from his world, his fellows, and the objects…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/perhaps-a-creature-of-so-much-ingenuity-and-deep-memory-is-almost/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [“The best way to be resurrected is to be forgotten.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/the-best-way-to-be-resurrected-is-to-be-forgotten/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [To have dragons one must have change; that is the first principle of dragon lore.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/to-have-dragons-one-must-have-change-that-is-the-first-principle-of/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [It is frequently the tragedy of the great artist, as it is of the great scientist, that he frightens the ordinary man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/it-is-frequently-the-tragedy-of-the-great-artist-as-it-is-of-the/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [Every time we walk along a beach some ancient urge disturbs us so that we find ourselves shedding shoes and garments or scavenging among…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/every-time-we-walk-along-a-beach-some-ancient-urge-disturbs-us-so/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [The future is neither ahead nor behind, on one side or another. Nor is it dark or light. It is contained within ourselves; its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/the-future-is-neither-ahead-nor-behind-on-one-side-or-another-nor-is/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [Out of the choked Devonian waters emerged sight and sound and the music that rolls invisible through the composer's brain. They are there still…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/out-of-the-choked-devonian-waters-emerged-sight-and-sound-and-the/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [One could not pluck a flower without troubling a star.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/one-could-not-pluck-a-flower-without-troubling-a-star/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [“I once saw, on a flower pot in my own living room, the efforts of a field mouse to build a remembered field. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/i-once-saw-on-a-flower-pot-in-my-own-living-room-the-efforts-of-a/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [Lights come and go in the night sky. Men, troubled at last by the things they build, may toss in their sleep and dream…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/lights-come-and-go-in-the-night-sky-men-troubled-at-last-by-the/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [The secret, if one may paraphrase a savage vocabulary, lies in the egg of night.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/the-secret-if-one-may-paraphrase-a-savage-vocabulary-lies-in-the-egg/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [Without the gift of flowers and the infinite diversity of their fruits, man and bird, if they had continued to exist at all, would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/without-the-gift-of-flowers-and-the-infinite-diversity-of-their/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [“Black magic, the magic of the primeval chaos, blots out or transmogrifies the true form of things. At the stroke of twelve the princess…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/black-magic-the-magic-of-the-primeval-chaos-blots-out-or/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) [Explore all 121 Loren Eiseley quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) ## More Cared quotes > [I never cared a lot for school.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tobias-lutke/i-never-cared-a-lot-for-school/) [Tobias Lutke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tobias-lutke/) > [The only person I truly cared for left me with a broken heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keys/the-only-person-i-truly-cared-for-left-me-with-a-broken-heart/) [Keys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keys/) > [You know what would be nice? If you actually cared about me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-know-what-would-be-nice-if-you-actually-cared-about-me/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [It's funny, I used to say on 'That 70's Show', you could really put us in any decade, and it was about the people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-prepon/it-s-funny-i-used-to-say-on-that-70-s-show-you-could-really-put-us-in/) [Laura Prepon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-prepon/) > [No one cared what she wanted. No one had ever cared. And perhaps, worst of all, no one ever would care.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/no-one-cared-what-she-wanted-no-one-had-ever-cared-and-perhaps-worst/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Her underwear, her jeans, the comforter, my corduroys and my boxers between us, I thought. Five layers, and yet I felt it, the nervous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/her-underwear-her-jeans-the-comforter-my-corduroys-and-my-boxers/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [If he really cared..he would go out his way to make you happy <3](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-he-really-cared-he-would-go-out-his-way-to-make-you-happy-3/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Did that mean she had not cared deeply for any of her husbands? I wondered. Or only that she was a woman of great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-gabaldon/did-that-mean-she-had-not-cared-deeply-for-any-of-her-husbands-i/) [Diana Gabaldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-gabaldon/) > [You make me laugh, mad, happy, excited, sad, jumpy, careless, most of all you make me..well me. your my best friend, you were there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tiffany/you-make-me-laugh-mad-happy-excited-sad-jumpy-careless-most-of-all/) [Tiffany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tiffany/) > [I'd occasionally do some exercises at home, but I never cared for gyms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-moore/i-d-occasionally-do-some-exercises-at-home-but-i-never-cared-for-gyms/) [Roger Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-moore/) > [“Nobody cared if you plagiarized in the third grade. All”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-janz/nobody-cared-if-you-plagiarized-in-the-third-grade-all/) Jonathan Janz > [He loved them and cared for them, and you don't kill kids that you love and care for.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-griffith/he-loved-them-and-cared-for-them-and-you-don-t-kill-kids-that-you/) [Thomas Griffith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-griffith/) > [I was always hurting to some extent, but never really cared about it. Now, I do care, because I have a reason to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shawn-michaels/i-was-always-hurting-to-some-extent-but-never-really-cared-about-it/) [Shawn Michaels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shawn-michaels/) > [“That’s all she cared about—protecting her brother, who was probably some fop with a lame sword hand and a fear of pistols!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sabrina-jeffries/that-s-all-she-cared-about-protecting-her-brother-who-was-probably/) [Sabrina Jeffries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sabrina-jeffries/) > [I don't give a shit anymore, think what you think, believe what you want, but remember I cared when no one else did.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nishan-panwar/i-don-t-give-a-shit-anymore-think-what-you-think-believe-what-you/) [Nishan Panwar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nishan-panwar/) Browse all 487 Cared quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I no longer cared about survival...I merely loved.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Loren Eiseley" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/i-no-longer-cared-about-survival-i-merely-loved/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Cared" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/i-no-longer-cared-about-survival-i-merely-loved/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ae/loren-eiseley-3848_cared_i-no-longer-cared-about-survival-i-merel_1586516.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ae/loren-eiseley-3848_cared_i-no-longer-cared-about-survival-i-merel_1586516.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ae/loren-eiseley-3848_cared_i-no-longer-cared-about-survival-i-merel_1586516.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I no longer cared about survival...I merely loved.” — Loren Eiseley", "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": "Loren Eiseley", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I no longer cared about survival...I...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/i-no-longer-cared-about-survival-i-merely-loved/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/i-no-longer-cared-about-survival-i-merely-loved/#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 } } ] } ```