--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If you listen at doors, you hear what you…" description: "\"“If you listen at doors, you hear what you deserve.”\" — Mavis Gallant" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95d/mavis-gallant-21083_cause-and-effect_if-you-listen-at-doors-you-hear-what-you_1371488.jpg" --- # If you listen at doors, you hear what you deserve. ![“If you listen at doors, you hear what you deserve.” quote by Mavis Gallant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95d/mavis-gallant-21083_cause-and-effect_if-you-listen-at-doors-you-hear-what-you_1371488.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95d/mavis-gallant-21083_cause-and-effect_if-you-listen-at-doors-you-hear-what-you_1371488.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95d/mavis-gallant-21083_cause-and-effect_if-you-listen-at-doors-you-hear-what-you_1371488.jpg) > ““If you listen at doors, you hear what you deserve.”” [Mavis Gallant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mavis-gallant/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Suggests that paying attention to subtle signals (doors) reveals what one truly deserves. **In simple terms:** Listening to subtle signs shows what you deserve. Key Takeaway Be attentive to inner signals. Themes intuition destiny self‑knowledge metaphor personal growth Mood contemplative thoughtful Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - career counseling - personal coaching - creative writing - mindfulness training Key Concepts inner voice signs self‑assessment life choices Questions to Reflect On - What doors have you ignored? - How do you differentiate intuition from wishful thinking? A Different Perspective Over‑reliance on intuition can ignore practical realities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Cause and effect](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cause-and-effect/) [Eavesdropping](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eavesdropping/) ## Related quotes > [“What, are there masques? 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Why this herd curiosity about a street, a house, windows, doors? He was a public servant, the Inspector mused,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellery-queen/why-did-people-do-it-why-this-herd-curiosity-about-a-street-a-house/) [Ellery Queen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellery-queen/) > [“I especially like eavesdropping on women my age. Besides being titillating, it also helps me gauge where I'm at in comparison.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mindy-kaling/i-especially-like-eavesdropping-on-women-my-age-besides-being/) [Mindy Kaling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mindy-kaling/) > [As a child I loved to be in the kitchen with my mum and aunties, eavesdropping on the adults.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/monica-galetti/as-a-child-i-loved-to-be-in-the-kitchen-with-my-mum-and-aunties/) [Monica Galetti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/monica-galetti/) > [“Americans may say they love our accents (I have been accused of sounding 'like Princess Di') but the more thoughtful ones resent and rather…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-hitchens/americans-may-say-they-love-our-accents-i-have-been-accused-of/) [Peter Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-hitchens/) > [Spying on people by magic is the same as spying on them in any other way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/spying-on-people-by-magic-is-the-same-as-spying-on-them-in-any-other/) [C. 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Eavesdropping on friends is unacceptable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-putin/we-re-no-longer-in-the-cold-war-eavesdropping-on-friends-is/) [Vladimir Putin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-putin/) > [ \[Peter Pan\] has never broken his terrible habit of eavesdropping. So, maybe that wasn't the rustle of pages you heard while this story lasted,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geraldine-mccaughrean/peter-pan-has-never-broken-his-terrible-habit-of-eavesdropping-so/) [Geraldine McCaughrean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geraldine-mccaughrean/) > [“Wait, were you eavesdropping on my conversation with the duke? That's very rude." "Is it? Half of the plays in the world contain eavesdropping.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sabrina-jeffries/wait-were-you-eavesdropping-on-my-conversation-with-the-duke-that-s/) [Sabrina Jeffries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sabrina-jeffries/) ## More by Mavis Gallant > [“Like his father, like Jules Renard, he had been carried along the slow, steady swindle of history and experience.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mavis-gallant/like-his-father-like-jules-renard-he-had-been-carried-along-the-slow/) [Mavis Gallant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mavis-gallant/) > [Success can only be measured in terms of distance traveled...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mavis-gallant/success-can-only-be-measured-in-terms-of-distance-traveled/) [Mavis Gallant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mavis-gallant/) > [“Converts have it soft," said Mary. "They come to it late, without ever having had the Devil under the bed. They sail in and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mavis-gallant/converts-have-it-soft-said-mary-they-come-to-it-late-without-ever/) [Mavis Gallant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mavis-gallant/) > [“If your life isn't exactly the way you want it to be by the time you are forty-five," said Walter's father, whom he admired,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mavis-gallant/if-your-life-isn-t-exactly-the-way-you-want-it-to-be-by-the-time-you/) [Mavis Gallant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mavis-gallant/) > [All lives are interesting; no one life is more interesting than another. Its fascination depends on how much is revealed, and in what manner.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mavis-gallant/all-lives-are-interesting-no-one-life-is-more-interesting-than/) [Mavis Gallant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mavis-gallant/) > [I believed that if I was to call myself a writer, I should live on writing. If I could not live on it, even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mavis-gallant/i-believed-that-if-i-was-to-call-myself-a-writer-i-should-live-on/) [Mavis Gallant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mavis-gallant/) > [ \[My father\] had spent his own short time like a priest in charge of a relic, forever expecting the blessed blood to liquefy. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mavis-gallant/my-father-had-spent-his-own-short-time-like-a-priest-in-charge-of-a/) [Mavis Gallant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mavis-gallant/) > [“There is a term for people caught on a street crossing after the light has changed: "pedestrian-traffic residue".”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mavis-gallant/there-is-a-term-for-people-caught-on-a-street-crossing-after-the/) [Mavis Gallant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mavis-gallant/) > [Like every other form of art, literature is no more and nothing less than a matter of life and death. The only question worth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mavis-gallant/like-every-other-form-of-art-literature-is-no-more-and-nothing-less/) [Mavis Gallant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mavis-gallant/) > [I write every day as a matter of course It is not a burden. It is the way I live.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mavis-gallant/i-write-every-day-as-a-matter-of-course-it-is-not-a-burden-it-is-the/) [Mavis Gallant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mavis-gallant/) > [No one is as real to me as people in the novel. It grows like a living thing. When I realize they do not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mavis-gallant/no-one-is-as-real-to-me-as-people-in-the-novel-it-grows-like-a-living/) [Mavis Gallant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mavis-gallant/) > [“My mother has lived every day of her life as if it were preparation for some kind of crisis.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mavis-gallant/my-mother-has-lived-every-day-of-her-life-as-if-it-were-preparation/) [Mavis Gallant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mavis-gallant/) > [Against the sustained tick of a watch, fiction takes the measure of a life, a season, a look exchanged, the turning point, desire as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mavis-gallant/against-the-sustained-tick-of-a-watch-fiction-takes-the-measure-of-a/) [Mavis Gallant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mavis-gallant/) > [I wanted to live in Paris and write nothing but fiction and be perfectly free. I had decided all this had to be settled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mavis-gallant/i-wanted-to-live-in-paris-and-write-nothing-but-fiction-and-be/) [Mavis Gallant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mavis-gallant/) > [There is something I keep wanting to say about reading short stories. I am doing it now, because I many never have another occasion.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mavis-gallant/there-is-something-i-keep-wanting-to-say-about-reading-short-stories/) [Mavis Gallant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mavis-gallant/) [Explore all 30 Mavis Gallant quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mavis-gallant/) ## More Cause and effect quotes > [Time travel offends our sense of cause and effect - but maybe the universe doesn't insist on cause and effect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-m-lerner/time-travel-offends-our-sense-of-cause-and-effect-but-maybe-the/) [Edward M. 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Next to us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/nearest-to-all-things-is-that-power-which-fashions-their-being-next/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [“There are two types of purushartha (self effort): those with wrong beliefs have self effort (purusharth) with illusory vision and the enlightened one’s have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dada-bhagwan/there-are-two-types-of-purushartha-self-effort-those-with-wrong/) [Dada Bhagwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dada-bhagwan/) > [The Law of Karma is also called the Law of Cause and Effect, Action and Reaction and also as you sow, so shall you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sham-hinduja/the-law-of-karma-is-also-called-the-law-of-cause-and-effect-action/) [Sham Hinduja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sham-hinduja/) > [Soft fantasy worlds have a much looser cause-and-effect relationship. 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Mind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-allen/cause-and-effect-is-as-absolute-and-undeviating-in-the-hidden-realm/) [James Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-allen/) > [In Lullabies, I wanted to capture what I remembered of the drunken babbling of unfortunate twelve-year-olds: their illusions, their ludicrously bad choices, their lack…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heather-o-neill/in-lullabies-i-wanted-to-capture-what-i-remembered-of-the-drunken/) [Heather O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heather-o-neill/) > [“When people conclude that anger causes abuse, they are confusing cause and effect. 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