--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Or maybe, just maybe, he'd got close…" description: "\"“Or maybe, just maybe, he'd got close enough to sense the melancholy that sits at the core of her, usually hidden deep behind a superficial mask of che..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/906/matt-haig-1036_quote_or-maybe-just-maybe-he-d-got-close-enoug_1329099.jpg" --- # Or maybe, just maybe, he'd got close enough to sense the… ![“Or maybe, just maybe, he'd got close enough to sense the melancholy that sits at the core of her, usually hidden deep behind a superficial mask of cheerful sarcasm.” quote by Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/906/matt-haig-1036_quote_or-maybe-just-maybe-he-d-got-close-enoug_1329099.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/906/matt-haig-1036_quote_or-maybe-just-maybe-he-d-got-close-enoug_1329099.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/906/matt-haig-1036_quote_or-maybe-just-maybe-he-d-got-close-enoug_1329099.jpg) > ““Or maybe, just maybe, he'd got close enough to sense the melancholy that sits at the core of her, usually hidden deep behind a superficial mask of cheerful sarcasm.”” [Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People mask mask sadness behind humor, making true feelings hard to read. **In simple terms:** Humor can hide deeper sorrow. Key Takeaway Look beyond the surface. Themes mental health emotions masking Mood empathetic insightful Type literary psychological When to use this quote - friendships - therapy sessions - social media interactions - workplace dynamics Key Concepts psychology literary analysis Questions to Reflect On - How do you recognize hidden melancholy? - When is humor protective? A Different Perspective Humor can also be a coping tool, not just a mask. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Melancholy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/melancholy/) [Sarcasm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sarcasm/) ## Related quotes > [“The way Susannah sings 'The Wind Will Carry Us' is so sad," he murmured. "Yeah, it really is." 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There is poetry in the dying of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kyffin-williams/i-love-the-autumn-for-its-sense-of-melancholy-seems-to-strike-my-need/) Kyffin Williams > [I love the autumn for its sense of melancholy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kyffin-williams/i-love-the-autumn-for-its-sense-of-melancholy/) Kyffin Williams > [You can achieve one thing, but because of that, you have to adapt or lose something else. If you end up in a relationship,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-haigh/you-can-achieve-one-thing-but-because-of-that-you-have-to-adapt-or/) [Andrew Haigh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-haigh/) > [“You're back where you swore yourself you wouldn't be The familiar shackles you can't tell from your own skin Your head's under water when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sanhita-baruah/you-re-back-where-you-swore-yourself-you-wouldn-t-be-the-familiar/) [Sanhita Baruah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sanhita-baruah/) > [For me, the melancholy of the late XXth Century is walking late at night by the Mont Blanc pen store and seeing these things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/for-me-the-melancholy-of-the-late-xxth-century-is-walking-late-at/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [There was only the broad square with the scattered dim moons of the street lamps and with the monumental stone arch which receded into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-maria-remarque/there-was-only-the-broad-square-with-the-scattered-dim-moons-of-the/) [Erich Maria Remarque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-maria-remarque/) > [In such a diversity it was impossible I should be disposed to melancholy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-boone/in-such-a-diversity-it-was-impossible-i-should-be-disposed-to/) [Daniel Boone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-boone/) > [“Nothing you did made sense and nothing you’ll ever do.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-hogan/nothing-you-did-made-sense-and-nothing-you-ll-ever-do/) [Michael Hogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-hogan/) > [“They laughed, but I was melancholy. The remnants of Rome always make me sad, simply because they are proof that we slide inexorably towards…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-cornwell/they-laughed-but-i-was-melancholy-the-remnants-of-rome-always-make-me/) [Bernard Cornwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-cornwell/) > [You felt a deep sorrow, the kind of melancholy you feel when you're in a beautiful place and the sun is going down](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thrity-umrigar/you-felt-a-deep-sorrow-the-kind-of-melancholy-you-feel-when-you-re-in/) [Thrity Umrigar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thrity-umrigar/) > [“Wish in one hand, shit in the other, see which one fills up faster.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noelle-oxenhandler/wish-in-one-hand-shit-in-the-other-see-which-one-fills-up-faster/) Noelle Oxenhandler > [“As ofttimes as it rains on my little spot of earth, you'd think I'd grow accustomed to the gloom.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richelle-e-goodrich/as-ofttimes-as-it-rains-on-my-little-spot-of-earth-you-d-think-i-d/) [Richelle E. Goodrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richelle-e-goodrich/) ## More by Matt Haig > [“Maybe that is what growing up was all about. It was about changing your mind. Opening it right up. Admitting to yourself that you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/maybe-that-is-what-growing-up-was-all-about-it-was-about-changing/) [Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/) > [“It felt civilised and modern. It felt refined and tantalising, all at once, like a polite collective pre-orgasm.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/it-felt-civilised-and-modern-it-felt-refined-and-tantalising-all-at/) [Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/) > [If you can't give children optimism, then what are you doing?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/if-you-can-t-give-children-optimism-then-what-are-you-doing/) [Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/) > [“He just wanted to live inside a moment of that life with her forever, to pluck it like a flower and press it in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/he-just-wanted-to-live-inside-a-moment-of-that-life-with-her-forever/) [Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/) > [British culture is very cynical sometimes of overt displays of sentimentality, and I think that becomes almost a suspicion of emotion, or a suspicion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/british-culture-is-very-cynical-sometimes-of-overt-displays-of/) [Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/) > [“That is one of the patterns: when nothing is happening, nothing continues to happen, but after a while the lull becomes too much and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/that-is-one-of-the-patterns-when-nothing-is-happening-nothing/) [Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/) > [The single biggest act of bravery or madness anyone can do is the act of change.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/the-single-biggest-act-of-bravery-or-madness-anyone-can-do-is-the-act/) [Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/) > [For me, as a writer, I desperately want to be read. I'm very conscious of readers as I'm writing. I think, 'If you write…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/for-me-as-a-writer-i-desperately-want-to-be-read-i-m-very-conscious/) [Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/) > [“It’s not you. It’s them. (No, really. It is.)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/it-s-not-you-it-s-them-no-really-it-is/) [Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/) > [“We are all so weird that, really, none of us are. There are seven billion versions of strange on this freak wonder of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/we-are-all-so-weird-that-really-none-of-us-are-there-are-seven/) [Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/) > [“Sa asculti muzica, mi-am dat eu seama, nu era altceva decat placerea de a numara fara sa iti dai seama ca numeri.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/sa-asculti-muzica-mi-am-dat-eu-seama-nu-era-altceva-decat-placerea-de/) [Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/) > [“Beauty--be not caused," said Emily Dickinson. "It is." In one way she was wrong. The scattering of light over a long distance creates a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/beauty-be-not-caused-said-emily-dickinson-it-is-in-one-way-she-was/) [Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/) > [I'm a firm believer in the connection between the body and the mind: feed one, feed both. I like to run, but only short…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/i-m-a-firm-believer-in-the-connection-between-the-body-and-the-mind/) [Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/) > [Look at the sky; remind yourself of the cosmos. Seek vastness at every opportunity in order to see the smallness of yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/look-at-the-sky-remind-yourself-of-the-cosmos-seek-vastness-at-every/) [Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/) > [A book is a map. There will be times in your life when you will feel lost and confused. The way back to yourself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/a-book-is-a-map-there-will-be-times-in-your-life-when-you-will-feel/) [Matt Haig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/) [Explore all 294 Matt Haig quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/) ## More Melancholy quotes > [“As ofttimes as it rains on my little spot of earth, you'd think I'd grow accustomed to the gloom.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richelle-e-goodrich/as-ofttimes-as-it-rains-on-my-little-spot-of-earth-you-d-think-i-d/) [Richelle E. Goodrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richelle-e-goodrich/) > [“Wish in one hand, shit in the other, see which one fills up faster.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noelle-oxenhandler/wish-in-one-hand-shit-in-the-other-see-which-one-fills-up-faster/) Noelle Oxenhandler > [You felt a deep sorrow, the kind of melancholy you feel when you're in a beautiful place and the sun is going down](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thrity-umrigar/you-felt-a-deep-sorrow-the-kind-of-melancholy-you-feel-when-you-re-in/) [Thrity Umrigar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thrity-umrigar/) > [“They laughed, but I was melancholy. The remnants of Rome always make me sad, simply because they are proof that we slide inexorably towards…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-cornwell/they-laughed-but-i-was-melancholy-the-remnants-of-rome-always-make-me/) [Bernard Cornwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-cornwell/) > [“Nothing you did made sense and nothing you’ll ever do.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-hogan/nothing-you-did-made-sense-and-nothing-you-ll-ever-do/) [Michael Hogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-hogan/) > [In such a diversity it was impossible I should be disposed to melancholy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-boone/in-such-a-diversity-it-was-impossible-i-should-be-disposed-to/) [Daniel Boone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-boone/) > [There was only the broad square with the scattered dim moons of the street lamps and with the monumental stone arch which receded into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-maria-remarque/there-was-only-the-broad-square-with-the-scattered-dim-moons-of-the/) [Erich Maria Remarque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-maria-remarque/) > [For me, the melancholy of the late XXth Century is walking late at night by the Mont Blanc pen store and seeing these things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/for-me-the-melancholy-of-the-late-xxth-century-is-walking-late-at/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“This night is not calm; the equinox still struggles in its storms. The wild rains of the day are abated; the great single cloud…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-bronte/this-night-is-not-calm-the-equinox-still-struggles-in-its-storms-the/) [Charlotte Brontë](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-bronte/) > [“He presses two fingers against each eye and attempts to account for this crippling melancholy, but is having trouble with rational thought. It feels…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-nicholls/he-presses-two-fingers-against-each-eye-and-attempts-to-account-for/) [David Nicholls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-nicholls/) > [“During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/during-the-whole-of-a-dull-dark-and-soundless-day-in-the-autumn-of/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [“what the melancholy among us sometimes know, though may not be able to articulate, is that coming to the end of our resources may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-mcmahon-moffitt/what-the-melancholy-among-us-sometimes-know-though-may-not-be-able-to/) Sharon McMahon Moffitt > [“Sympathy from strangers can be ruinous.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/sympathy-from-strangers-can-be-ruinous/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [Books are never out of humour; never envious or jealous, they answer all questions with readiness; ... they teach us how to live and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/holbrook-jackson/books-are-never-out-of-humour-never-envious-or-jealous-they-answer/) [Holbrook Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/holbrook-jackson/) > [Every man beholds his human condition with a degree of melancholy. As a ship aground is battered by the waves, so man, imprisonedin mortal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/every-man-beholds-his-human-condition-with-a-degree-of-melancholy-as/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) [Browse all 1,016 Melancholy quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/melancholy/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Or maybe, just maybe, he'd got close enough to sense the melancholy that sits at the core of her, usually hidden deep behind a superficial mask of cheerful sarcasm.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Haig" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/or-maybe-just-maybe-he-d-got-close-enough-to-sense-the-melancholy/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Melancholy" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/or-maybe-just-maybe-he-d-got-close-enough-to-sense-the-melancholy/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/906/matt-haig-1036_quote_or-maybe-just-maybe-he-d-got-close-enoug_1329099.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/906/matt-haig-1036_quote_or-maybe-just-maybe-he-d-got-close-enoug_1329099.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/906/matt-haig-1036_quote_or-maybe-just-maybe-he-d-got-close-enoug_1329099.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Or maybe, just maybe, he'd got close enough to sense the melancholy that sits at the core of her, usually…” — Matt Haig", "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": "Matt Haig", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-haig/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Or maybe, just maybe, he'd got...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/or-maybe-just-maybe-he-d-got-close-enough-to-sense-the-melancholy/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-haig/or-maybe-just-maybe-he-d-got-close-enough-to-sense-the-melancholy/#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 } } ] } ```