---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Our desires are never wholly transparent…"
description: "\"Our desires are never wholly transparent, even to ourselves.\" — Mark Kingwell"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c48/mark-kingwell-25050_desire_our-desires-are-never-wholly-transparent_1088479.png"
---

#  Our desires are never wholly transparent, even to ourselves.

![“Our desires are never wholly transparent, even to ourselves.” quote by Mark Kingwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c48/mark-kingwell-25050_desire_our-desires-are-never-wholly-transparent_1088479.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c48/mark-kingwell-25050_desire_our-desires-are-never-wholly-transparent_1088479.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c48/mark-kingwell-25050_desire_our-desires-are-never-wholly-transparent_1088479.png)

> “Our desires are never wholly transparent, even to ourselves.”

[Mark Kingwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-kingwell/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Desires are partially hidden, even from ourselves, complicating self‑knowledge.

**In simple terms:** We don’t fully know our own desires.

Key Takeaway

Cultivate deeper self‑awareness.

Themes

self‑knowledge desire transparency psychology

Mood

introspective analytical

Type

philosophical psychological

When to use this quote

- therapy
- creative writing
- personal journaling

Key Concepts

cognitive bias introspection motivation

Questions to Reflect On

- What hidden motives drive your choices?
- How can you uncover subconscious desires?

A Different Perspective

Self‑deception can hinder growth.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Desire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desire/) [Desires](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desires/)

## Related quotes

> [“You cannot go on 'seeing through' things for ever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it. It is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/you-cannot-go-on-seeing-through-things-for-ever-the-whole-point-of/)

[C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/)

> [It is good that the window should be transparent, because the street or garden beyond it is opaque. How if you saw through the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/it-is-good-that-the-window-should-be-transparent-because-the-street/)

[C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/)

> [“In a word a contented Christian, being sweetly captivated under the authority of the Word, desires to be wholly at God's disposal and is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-watson/in-a-word-a-contented-christian-being-sweetly-captivated-under-the/)

[Thomas Watson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-watson/)

> [Every man is wholly honest to himself and to God, but not to any one else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/every-man-is-wholly-honest-to-himself-and-to-god-but-not-to-any-one/)

[Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/)

> [Only the half-mad are wholly alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/only-the-half-mad-are-wholly-alive/)

[Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/)

> [I've been making bronze sculptures for a long time. My sculptures are wholly unsuccessful and uncommercial. No one is even the remotest bit interested…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracey-emin/i-ve-been-making-bronze-sculptures-for-a-long-time-my-sculptures-are/)

[Tracey Emin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracey-emin/)

> [The novel that's contemporary in the sense of being wholly 'of now' is an impossibility, if only because novels may take years to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-swift/the-novel-that-s-contemporary-in-the-sense-of-being-wholly-of-now-is/)

[Graham Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-swift/)

> [My mind wanders terribly. I'm not wholly annoyed by my daydreaming as it has been immense use to me as regards imaginative thought, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jasper-fforde/my-mind-wanders-terribly-i-m-not-wholly-annoyed-by-my-daydreaming-as/)

[Jasper Fforde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jasper-fforde/)

> [Postmodernism came nowhere close in quality to Modernism at its apogee, not least because that later style wholly lacked the social impetus that animated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-filler/postmodernism-came-nowhere-close-in-quality-to-modernism-at-its/)

[Martin Filler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-filler/)

> [My experience of children on a film set, especially on a big film set like the 'Potter' one, is not wholly positive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessie-cave/my-experience-of-children-on-a-film-set-especially-on-a-big-film-set/)

[Jessie Cave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessie-cave/)

> [I am wholly yours - you are everything to me; we will sustain each other in all the ills of life it may please…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-diderot/i-am-wholly-yours-you-are-everything-to-me-we-will-sustain-each-other/)

[Denis Diderot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-diderot/)

> [“She was not a half. She was wholly her own.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/renee-ahdieh/she-was-not-a-half-she-was-wholly-her-own/)

[Renee Ahdieh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/renee-ahdieh/)

> [I ascribe my change wholly to God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-spurgeon/i-ascribe-my-change-wholly-to-god/)

[Charles Spurgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-spurgeon/)

> [He defined himself almost wholly in the negative: It was not who he was, it was who he was not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-bohjalian/he-defined-himself-almost-wholly-in-the-negative-it-was-not-who-he/)

[Chris Bohjalian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-bohjalian/)

> [Love is either wholly folly, or fully holy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-r-burch/love-is-either-wholly-folly-or-fully-holy/)

[Michael R. Burch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-r-burch/)

## More by Mark Kingwell

> [Socrates was likewise right that pissing people off is how we first, and maybe best, go about the business of provoking thought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-kingwell/socrates-was-likewise-right-that-pissing-people-off-is-how-we-first/)

[Mark Kingwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-kingwell/)

> [How doe we create the world we want, rather than a world that just happens to us?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-kingwell/how-doe-we-create-the-world-we-want-rather-than-a-world-that-just/)

[Mark Kingwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-kingwell/)

> [For every apparent gain, in short, we now observe a balancing danger. This is the world we have created.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-kingwell/for-every-apparent-gain-in-short-we-now-observe-a-balancing-danger/)

[Mark Kingwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-kingwell/)

> [Paradoxically, the problems of politics often arise not in the form of a problem of scarcity, but as one of abundance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-kingwell/paradoxically-the-problems-of-politics-often-arise-not-in-the-form-of/)

[Mark Kingwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-kingwell/)

> [If anyone is tweeting right now, I'm not pulling a knife on David Cronenberg!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-kingwell/if-anyone-is-tweeting-right-now-i-m-not-pulling-a-knife-on-david/)

[Mark Kingwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-kingwell/)

> [Ambition is ever tempered by experience. Otherwise, fortune makes fools of us all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-kingwell/ambition-is-ever-tempered-by-experience-otherwise-fortune-makes-fools/)

[Mark Kingwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-kingwell/)

> [Tyranny is abhorrent, freedom benefits all, whereas violence benefits no one for long.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-kingwell/tyranny-is-abhorrent-freedom-benefits-all-whereas-violence-benefits/)

[Mark Kingwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-kingwell/)

> [Friendship requires a leap, not of faith but of regard.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-kingwell/friendship-requires-a-leap-not-of-faith-but-of-regard/)

[Mark Kingwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-kingwell/)

> [Books, like lives, are always unfinished even when they end, for to write is to struggle with contingency, to impose a certain false order…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-kingwell/books-like-lives-are-always-unfinished-even-when-they-end-for-to/)

[Mark Kingwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-kingwell/)

> [Neiman's book is written with considerable flair, as many critics have already noted, but it possesses a far rarer and more valuable quality: moral…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-kingwell/neiman-s-book-is-written-with-considerable-flair-as-many-critics-have/)

[Mark Kingwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-kingwell/)

> [If you have ever been accused of being rude when you were merely stating the truth, or called a gossip because you like to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-kingwell/if-you-have-ever-been-accused-of-being-rude-when-you-were-merely/)

[Mark Kingwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-kingwell/)

> [Politics is rather the creation of the best possible polity out of the deep inner needs of its citizenry - who are only some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-kingwell/politics-is-rather-the-creation-of-the-best-possible-polity-out-of/)

[Mark Kingwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-kingwell/)

> [I hold to the idea that civility, understood as the willingness to engage in public discourse, is the first virtue of citizens.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-kingwell/i-hold-to-the-idea-that-civility-understood-as-the-willingness-to/)

[Mark Kingwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-kingwell/)

> [We don't know what the future will bring, but that's because we are ever in the process of creating it, not because it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-kingwell/we-don-t-know-what-the-future-will-bring-but-that-s-because-we-are/)

[Mark Kingwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-kingwell/)

> [We are capitalism made flesh.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-kingwell/we-are-capitalism-made-flesh/)

[Mark Kingwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-kingwell/)

[Explore all 23 Mark Kingwell quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-kingwell/)

## More Desire quotes

> [I put myself in the student's place and remember the frustrations, doubts, determination, and desires I felt when I was going through the initial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-martinez/i-put-myself-in-the-student-s-place-and-remember-the-frustrations/)

Ted Martinez

> [Passion is what you need to be good, an unforgiving passion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-easton/passion-is-what-you-need-to-be-good-an-unforgiving-passion/)

[David Easton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-easton/)

> [I want the municipality to be a helping hand to the man with a desire of sympathy, to help the fallen when it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burns/i-want-the-municipality-to-be-a-helping-hand-to-the-man-with-a-desire/)

[John Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burns/)

> [Ye youths and virgins, when your generous blood Has drunk the warmth of fifteen summers, now The loves invite; now to new rapture wakes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-armstrong/ye-youths-and-virgins-when-your-generous-blood-has-drunk-the-warmth/)

[John Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-armstrong/)

> [I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/i-have-observed-this-in-my-experience-of-slavery-that-whenever-my/)

[Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/)

> [“THE ESSENCE OF YOUR DESIRE IS A FEELING”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danielle-laporte/the-essence-of-your-desire-is-a-feeling/)

[Danielle LaPorte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danielle-laporte/)

> [On the brink of being satiated, desire still appears infinite.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-rostand/on-the-brink-of-being-satiated-desire-still-appears-infinite/)

[Jean Rostand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-rostand/)

> [If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/if-there-is-any-period-one-would-desire-to-be-born-in-is-it-not-the/)

[Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/)

> [He caught her, she fell, he caught her in his arms, he held her tightly unconscious of what he was doing. He held her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/he-caught-her-she-fell-he-caught-her-in-his-arms-he-held-her-tightly/)

[Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/)

> [ Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit. My three \[great teachers\] did not… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/teaching-might-even-be-the-greatest-of-the-arts-since-the-medium-is/)

[John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/)

> [“The deepest urge in human nature is the desire to be important.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/the-deepest-urge-in-human-nature-is-the-desire-to-be-important/)

[John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/)

> [In discovering books, you became free to explore the full range of human motives, desires, secrets, and lies. All my life, people have scolded…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/in-discovering-books-you-became-free-to-explore-the-full-range-of/)

[Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/)

> [I have never been in, nor have I had any strong particular desire to be in, what is termed a costume drama, but I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-freeman/i-have-never-been-in-nor-have-i-had-any-strong-particular-desire-to/)

[Martin Freeman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-freeman/)

> [Now I am in the place I call this wide wide Heaven because it includes all my simplest desires but also the most humble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-sebold/now-i-am-in-the-place-i-call-this-wide-wide-heaven-because-it/)

[Alice Sebold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-sebold/)

> [“from THE DEVIL YOU KNOW : She wanted him too. He could see it in the rapid rise of her breasts. He could smell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emery-lee/from-the-devil-you-know-she-wanted-him-too-he-could-see-it-in-the/)

[Emery Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emery-lee/)

[Browse all 15,155 Desire quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desire/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "Our desires are never wholly transparent, even to ourselves.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Mark Kingwell"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-kingwell/our-desires-are-never-wholly-transparent-even-to-ourselves/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Desire"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-kingwell/our-desires-are-never-wholly-transparent-even-to-ourselves/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c48/mark-kingwell-25050_desire_our-desires-are-never-wholly-transparent_1088479.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c48/mark-kingwell-25050_desire_our-desires-are-never-wholly-transparent_1088479.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c48/mark-kingwell-25050_desire_our-desires-are-never-wholly-transparent_1088479.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Our desires are never wholly transparent, even to ourselves.” — Mark Kingwell",
                "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": "Mark Kingwell",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-kingwell/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Our desires are never wholly transparent,...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-kingwell/our-desires-are-never-wholly-transparent-even-to-ourselves/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-kingwell/our-desires-are-never-wholly-transparent-even-to-ourselves/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
