--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I was perpetually grief-stricken when I…" description: "\"I was perpetually grief-stricken when I finished a book, and would slide down from my sitting position on the bed, put my cheek on the pillow and sigh ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e3e/marya-hornbacher-2109_bed_i-was-perpetually-grief-stricken-when-i_386186.png" --- # I was perpetually grief-stricken when I finished a book… ![“I was perpetually grief-stricken when I finished a book, and would slide down from my sitting position on the bed, put my cheek on the pillow and sigh for a long time. It seemed there would never be another book. It was all over, the book was dead. It lay in its bent cover by my hand. What was the…” quote by Marya Hornbacher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e3e/marya-hornbacher-2109_bed_i-was-perpetually-grief-stricken-when-i_386186.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e3e/marya-hornbacher-2109_bed_i-was-perpetually-grief-stricken-when-i_386186.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e3e/marya-hornbacher-2109_bed_i-was-perpetually-grief-stricken-when-i_386186.png) > “I was perpetually grief-stricken when I finished a book, and would slide down from my sitting position on the bed, put my cheek on the pillow and sigh for a long time. It seemed there would never be another book. It was all over, the book was dead. It lay in its bent cover by my hand. What was the use? Why bother dragging the weight of my small body down to dinner? Why move? Why breathe? The book had left me, and there was no reason to go on.” [Marya Hornbacher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-hornbacher/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Grief after finishing a story can feel like loss of purpose, prompting existential doubt about daily life. **In simple terms:** Finishing a book can cause deep sadness and question meaning. Key Takeaway Acknowledge the feeling, then seek new stories or activities. Themes grief existential doubt literature transition Mood melancholic reflective Type literary personal When to use this quote - post‑reading reflection - daily routine - seeking new hobbies Key Concepts attachment meaning-making emotional processing Questions to Reflect On - What does the book mean to you beyond its ending? - How can you channel this feeling into creative energy? A Different Perspective The intensity may fade; not all readers experience this depth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Body](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/body/) [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Dinner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dinner/) [Grief](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grief/) [Reason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Weight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/weight/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [Those who live alone slide into the habit of vertical eating: why bother with the niceties when there's no one to share or censure?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/those-who-live-alone-slide-into-the-habit-of-vertical-eating-why/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“An Afternoon in the Stacks Closing the book, I find I have left my head inside. It is dark in here, but the chapters…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-edgar-stafford/an-afternoon-in-the-stacks-closing-the-book-i-find-i-have-left-my/) [William Edgar Stafford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-edgar-stafford/) > [A successful book is not made of what is in it, but what is left out of it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/a-successful-book-is-not-made-of-what-is-in-it-but-what-is-left-out/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [I love the solitude of being on a plane and finally getting to read an entire book and being left alone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christina-ricci/i-love-the-solitude-of-being-on-a-plane-and-finally-getting-to-read/) [Christina Ricci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christina-ricci/) > [A book which is left on a shelf is a dead thing but it is also a chrysalis, an inanimate object packed with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-hill/a-book-which-is-left-on-a-shelf-is-a-dead-thing-but-it-is-also-a/) [Susan Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-hill/) > [“Unmade, mid-morning. A dress where it fell, where you snaked from it. The slab of the bedsheet, marbled with creases. These pillows washed up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/unmade-mid-morning-a-dress-where-it-fell-where-you-snaked-from-it-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“A book would therefore have a twofold benefit. First, it would rid me of my demons and perhaps save some innocent conversationalist from my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-forsyth/a-book-would-therefore-have-a-twofold-benefit-first-it-would-rid-me/) [Mark Forsyth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-forsyth/) > [I have left my book, I have left my room, For I heard you singing Through the gloom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-joyce/i-have-left-my-book-i-have-left-my-room-for-i-heard-you-singing/) [James Joyce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-joyce/) > [“Grief is not necessarily any prettier than death, and the grief-stricken do not wander like lambs grateful for the shepherd's guidance. They can be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/piers-anthony/grief-is-not-necessarily-any-prettier-than-death-and-the-grief/) [Piers Anthony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/piers-anthony/) > [One of the things that happens to everyone who is grief-stricken, who has lost someone, is there comes a time when everyone else just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/one-of-the-things-that-happens-to-everyone-who-is-grief-stricken-who/) [Edward Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/) > [I can be almost terminally grief-stricken because things are so dire, but at the same, there's a real lightheartednes s about just the recoverability…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-walker/i-can-be-almost-terminally-grief-stricken-because-things-are-so-dire-2/) [Alice Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-walker/) > [Grief-stricken. Stricken is right; it is as though you had been felled. Knocked to the ground; pitched out of life and into something else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/penelope-lively/grief-stricken-stricken-is-right-it-is-as-though-you-had-been-felled/) [Penelope Lively](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/penelope-lively/) > [“I tucked my arm under my head and started crying like a child. I was perishing from exhaustion. I was worn and miserable and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/i-tucked-my-arm-under-my-head-and-started-crying-like-a-child-i-was/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [I can be almost terminally grief-stricken because things are so dire, but at the same time, there's a real lightheartedness about just the recoverability…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-walker/i-can-be-almost-terminally-grief-stricken-because-things-are-so-dire/) [Alice Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-walker/) > [“Dr. Urbino caught the parrot around the neck with a triumphant sigh: ça y est. But he released him immediately because the ladder slipped…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/dr-urbino-caught-the-parrot-around-the-neck-with-a-triumphant-sigh-a/) [Gabriel García Márquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/) ## More by Marya Hornbacher > [“Something had been confirmed: I was worth giving a shit about; I was getting to be a successful sick person. Sick is when they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-hornbacher/something-had-been-confirmed-i-was-worth-giving-a-shit-about-i-was/) [Marya Hornbacher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-hornbacher/) > [Because I'm not, in fact, depressed, Prozac makes me manic and numb - one of the reasons I slice my arm in the first…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-hornbacher/because-i-m-not-in-fact-depressed-prozac-makes-me-manic-and-numb-one/) [Marya Hornbacher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-hornbacher/) > [“perhaps our purpose is, for the time being, to be human, to live on this earth and in this human community, to receive something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-hornbacher/perhaps-our-purpose-is-for-the-time-being-to-be-human-to-live-on-this/) [Marya Hornbacher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-hornbacher/) > [I have never been normal about my body. It has always seemed to me a strange and foreign entity. I don't know that there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-hornbacher/i-have-never-been-normal-about-my-body-it-has-always-seemed-to-me-a/) [Marya Hornbacher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-hornbacher/) > [The joy is an absurd yellow tulip, popping up in my life, contradicting all the evidence that shows it should not be there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-hornbacher/the-joy-is-an-absurd-yellow-tulip-popping-up-in-my-life-contradicting/) [Marya Hornbacher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-hornbacher/) > [“At a certain point, an eating disorder ceases to be "about" any one thing. It stops being about your family, or your culture. Very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-hornbacher/at-a-certain-point-an-eating-disorder-ceases-to-be-about-any-one/) [Marya Hornbacher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-hornbacher/) > [You can't teach an ear, you can't teach talent, but you can teach people who have those things not to just fly by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-hornbacher/you-can-t-teach-an-ear-you-can-t-teach-talent-but-you-can-teach/) [Marya Hornbacher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-hornbacher/) > [It's really interesting to me how all of us can experience the exact same event, and yet come away with wildly disparate interpretations of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-hornbacher/it-s-really-interesting-to-me-how-all-of-us-can-experience-the-exact/) [Marya Hornbacher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-hornbacher/) > [“Being here, living now, recognizing our smallness, is a spiritual practice. It allows us to be at peace with our humanity. It humbles us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-hornbacher/being-here-living-now-recognizing-our-smallness-is-a-spiritual/) [Marya Hornbacher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-hornbacher/) > [We think of bulimia and anorexia as either a bizarre psychosis, or as a quirky little habit, a phase, or as a thing that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-hornbacher/we-think-of-bulimia-and-anorexia-as-either-a-bizarre-psychosis-or-as/) [Marya Hornbacher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-hornbacher/) > [The anoretic operates under the astounding illusion that she can escape the flesh, and, by association, the realm of emotions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-hornbacher/the-anoretic-operates-under-the-astounding-illusion-that-she-can/) [Marya Hornbacher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-hornbacher/) > [If I had been a different sort of person, maybe less impressionable, less intense, less fearful, less utterly dependent upon the perceptions of others…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-hornbacher/if-i-had-been-a-different-sort-of-person-maybe-less-impressionable/) [Marya Hornbacher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-hornbacher/) > [“Every morning I watched the sun rise and read a highly religious little meditation book and tried having a conversation with God. I waited…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-hornbacher/every-morning-i-watched-the-sun-rise-and-read-a-highly-religious/) [Marya Hornbacher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-hornbacher/) > [My bones are brittle, my heart weak and erratic, my esophagus and stomach riddled with ulcers, my reproductive system shot, my immune system useless...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-hornbacher/my-bones-are-brittle-my-heart-weak-and-erratic-my-esophagus-and/) [Marya Hornbacher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-hornbacher/) > [One really ought to be afraid of self-torture. But it tempted me. It begged. The dark place that my mind was fast becoming blends,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-hornbacher/one-really-ought-to-be-afraid-of-self-torture-but-it-tempted-me-it/) [Marya Hornbacher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-hornbacher/) [Explore all 185 Marya Hornbacher quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-hornbacher/) ## More Bed quotes > [When man of slender visits you / Nothing on earth that one can do / In well he’ll hide, or watery hole / And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-goldstein/when-man-of-slender-visits-you-nothing-on-earth-that-one-can-do-in/) [Jack Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-goldstein/) > [Your idea of fidelity is not having more than one man in bed at the same time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederic-raphael/your-idea-of-fidelity-is-not-having-more-than-one-man-in-bed-at-the/) [Frederic Raphael](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederic-raphael/) > [The beginning of love is all about the butterflies, but the end of it is when you can't get out of bed in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taylor-swift/the-beginning-of-love-is-all-about-the-butterflies-but-the-end-of-it/) [Taylor Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taylor-swift/) > [Home is behind, the world ahead, And there are many paths to tread Through shadows to the edge of night, Until the stars are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/home-is-behind-the-world-ahead-and-there-are-many-paths-to-tread/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I wish I had as much in bed as I get in the newspapers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-ronstadt/i-wish-i-had-as-much-in-bed-as-i-get-in-the-newspapers/) [Linda Ronstadt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-ronstadt/) > [ Leave a cavity behind the \[wall\] facings, and on the inside build walls two feet thick, made of red dimension stone or burnt brick… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-vitruvius-pollio/leave-a-cavity-behind-the-wall-facings-and-on-the-inside-build-walls/) [Marcus Vitruvius Pollio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-vitruvius-pollio/) > [Why couldn't Jesus command us to obsess over everything, to try to control and manipulate people, to try not to breathe at all, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/why-couldn-t-jesus-command-us-to-obsess-over-everything-to-try-to/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [“To all the secret writers, late-night painters, would-be singers, lapsed and scared artists of every stripe, dig out your paintbrush, or your flute, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/to-all-the-secret-writers-late-night-painters-would-be-singers-lapsed/) [Shauna Niequist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shauna-niequist/) > [“In the parking lot, she drove and parked in a dark area with no other cars around. She reclined her seat, and listened to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tao-lin/in-the-parking-lot-she-drove-and-parked-in-a-dark-area-with-no-other/) [Tao Lin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tao-lin/) > [It wasn't really touching to be young; it was touching not to be young, because you had less of life left. Touching to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/it-wasn-t-really-touching-to-be-young-it-was-touching-not-to-be-young/) [Rose Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-macaulay/) > [I have to meditate before I go to bed, always. I have to let the day go and let the eternal in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bellamy-young/i-have-to-meditate-before-i-go-to-bed-always-i-have-to-let-the-day-go/) [Bellamy Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bellamy-young/) > [Sometimes by a woodland stream he watched the water rush over the pebbled bed, its tiny modulations of bounce and flow. A woman's body…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/sometimes-by-a-woodland-stream-he-watched-the-water-rush-over-the/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [I think life is full of challenges and problems. I don't believe that anyone is perfect. We all make mistakes. It's not a bed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nigel-mansell/i-think-life-is-full-of-challenges-and-problems-i-don-t-believe-that/) [Nigel Mansell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nigel-mansell/) > [When I saw him I thought I could curl up inside him and go to sleep and never wake up." "Men are no good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherynne-m-valente/when-i-saw-him-i-thought-i-could-curl-up-inside-him-and-go-to-sleep/) [Catherynne M. Valente](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherynne-m-valente/) > [I always wanted to be a movie star. I thought it meant being famous and having breakfast in bed. I didn't know you had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/june-allyson/i-always-wanted-to-be-a-movie-star-i-thought-it-meant-being-famous/) [June Allyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/june-allyson/) Browse all 4,159 Bed quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I was perpetually grief-stricken when I finished a book, and would slide down from my sitting position on the bed, put my cheek on the pillow and sigh for a long time. It seemed there would never be another book. It was all over, the book was dead. It lay in its bent cover by my hand. What was the use? Why bother dragging the weight of my small body down to dinner? Why move? Why breathe? 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