---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There is only one real deprivation... and…"
description: "\"There is only one real deprivation... and that is not to be able to give one's gifts to those one loves most.\" — May Sarton"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/765/may-sarton-897_able_there-is-only-one-real-deprivation-and-t_2753977.jpg"
---

#  There is only one real deprivation... and that is not to…

![“There is only one real deprivation... and that is not to be able to give one's gifts to those one loves most.” quote by May Sarton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/765/may-sarton-897_able_there-is-only-one-real-deprivation-and-t_2753977.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/765/may-sarton-897_able_there-is-only-one-real-deprivation-and-t_2753977.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/765/may-sarton-897_able_there-is-only-one-real-deprivation-and-t_2753977.jpg)

> “There is only one real deprivation... and that is not to be able to give one's gifts to those one loves most.”

[May Sarton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/may-sarton/)

## About This Quote

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

True loss is being unable to share one's gifts with loved ones.

**In simple terms:** Inability to give to loved ones is deepest deprivation.

Key Takeaway

Share your talents with those you love.

Themes

generosity relationships self‑fulfillment

Mood

hopeful introspective

Type

motivational philosophical

When to use this quote

- family gatherings
- volunteering
- creative collaborations
- teaching

Key Concepts

psychology human connection gift‑giving

Questions to Reflect On

- What gifts are you holding back?
- How can you safely share them?

A Different Perspective

Sometimes gifts are withheld due to fear or circumstance.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Able](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/able/) [Able Gifts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/able-gifts-3120249/) [Deprivation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deprivation/) [Deprivation Able](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deprivation-able-3120248/) [Gift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gift/) [Gifts Loves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gifts-loves-2458311/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Poverty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poverty/) [Real](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real/) [Real Deprivation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real-deprivation-3120247/)

## Related quotes

> [“There is only one real deprivation, I decided this morning, and that is not to be able to give one's gifts to those one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/may-sarton/there-is-only-one-real-deprivation-i-decided-this-morning-and-that-is/)

[May Sarton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/may-sarton/)

> [My ten-year-old daughter loves gifts. She loves to give them and she loves to get them. She loves to give them when she's hurt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-junod/my-ten-year-old-daughter-loves-gifts-she-loves-to-give-them-and-she/)

[Tom Junod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-junod/)

> [Discrimination and multiple deprivations of human rights are also frequently part of the problem, sentencing entire populations to poverty... It is surely a matter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/navi-pillay/discrimination-and-multiple-deprivations-of-human-rights-are-also/)

[Navi Pillay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/navi-pillay/)

> [State governments seek local remedies for the globally fabricated deprivations and miseries in vain - just as the individuals-by-the-decree-of-fate (read: by the impact of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zygmunt-bauman/state-governments-seek-local-remedies-for-the-globally-fabricated/)

[Zygmunt Bauman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zygmunt-bauman/)

> [As soon as you lay down, that's when the most bizarre things start coming out of her mouth. 'Goodnight, baby.' 'Do you think we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-ferrara/as-soon-as-you-lay-down-that-s-when-the-most-bizarre-things-start/)

[Adam Ferrara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-ferrara/)

> [Inactivity and deprivation of all accustomed stimulus is not rest; it is a preparation for the tomb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robertson-davies/inactivity-and-deprivation-of-all-accustomed-stimulus-is-not-rest-it/)

[Robertson Davies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robertson-davies/)

> [Many low-income children face chronic stress from nutritional deprivation or persistent violence at home or in the community. By addressing their medical, emotional and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irwin-redlener/many-low-income-children-face-chronic-stress-from-nutritional/)

[Irwin Redlener](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irwin-redlener/)

> [“Suicide is nothing, but an act of depriving the soul from it's very right to liberation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aniruddha-sastikar/suicide-is-nothing-but-an-act-of-depriving-the-soul-from-it-s-very/)

[Aniruddha Sastikar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aniruddha-sastikar/)

> [What government has been doing, we've got major programmes now, of billions of pounds, which are directed by central government into these areas of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-prescott/what-government-has-been-doing-we-ve-got-major-programmes-now-of/)

[John Prescott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-prescott/)

> [My mother suffers mental health problems and has a learning deprivation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-rayner/my-mother-suffers-mental-health-problems-and-has-a-learning/)

[Angela Rayner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-rayner/)

> [It should surprise no one that the life of the writer - such as it is - is colorless to the point of sensory…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/it-should-surprise-no-one-that-the-life-of-the-writer-such-as-it-is/)

[Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/)

> [Capitalism has created a situation called scarcity. And that scarcity is not natural, it's socially induced. Along with that sense of scarcity, or feeling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/murray-bookchin/capitalism-has-created-a-situation-called-scarcity-and-that-scarcity/)

[Murray Bookchin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/murray-bookchin/)

> [“We have created a manic world nauseous with the pursuit of material wealth. Many also bear their cross of imagined deprivation, while their fellow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthon-st-maarten/we-have-created-a-manic-world-nauseous-with-the-pursuit-of-material/)

[Anthon St. Maarten](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthon-st-maarten/)

> [“SOME OF THE HARDEST parts of parenting never change—like sleep deprivation, which, according to researchers at Queen’s University in Ontario, can in some respects…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-senior/some-of-the-hardest-parts-of-parenting-never-change-like-sleep/)

[Jennifer Senior](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-senior/)

> [Deprivation is for me what daffodils were for Wordsworth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-larkin/deprivation-is-for-me-what-daffodils-were-for-wordsworth/)

[Philip Larkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-larkin/)

## More by May Sarton

> [“I felt pain like an assault, The old pain again When the world thrusts itself inside, When we have to take in the outside,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/may-sarton/i-felt-pain-like-an-assault-the-old-pain-again-when-the-world-thrusts/)

[May Sarton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/may-sarton/)

> [Most people have to talk so they won't hear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/may-sarton/most-people-have-to-talk-so-they-won-t-hear/)

[May Sarton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/may-sarton/)

> [People who cannot feel punish those who do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/may-sarton/people-who-cannot-feel-punish-those-who-do/)

[May Sarton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/may-sarton/)

> [This suspension of one's own reality, this being entirely alone in a strange city (at times I wondered if I had lost the power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/may-sarton/this-suspension-of-one-s-own-reality-this-being-entirely-alone-in-a/)

[May Sarton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/may-sarton/)

> [One must think like a hero to behave like a merely decent human being.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/may-sarton/one-must-think-like-a-hero-to-behave-like-a-merely-decent-human-being/)

[May Sarton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/may-sarton/)

> [Real joy is becoming exceedingly rare among artists of any kind. And I have an idea that those who can and do communicate it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/may-sarton/real-joy-is-becoming-exceedingly-rare-among-artists-of-any-kind-and-i/)

[May Sarton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/may-sarton/)

> [For to be desperate is to discover strength. / We die of comfort and by conflict live.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/may-sarton/for-to-be-desperate-is-to-discover-strength-we-die-of-comfort-and-by/)

[May Sarton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/may-sarton/)

> [“I see you with that shell Held to your sensitive abstracted ear, Hunting the ocean’s rumor till you hear it well, Until you can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/may-sarton/i-see-you-with-that-shell-held-to-your-sensitive-abstracted-ear/)

[May Sarton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/may-sarton/)

> [There is a wilder solitude in winter When every sense is pricked alive and keen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/may-sarton/there-is-a-wilder-solitude-in-winter-when-every-sense-is-pricked/)

[May Sarton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/may-sarton/)

> [I long for the bulbs to arrive, for the early autumn chores are melancholy, but the planting of bulbs is the work of hope…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/may-sarton/i-long-for-the-bulbs-to-arrive-for-the-early-autumn-chores-are/)

[May Sarton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/may-sarton/)

> [Why is it that people who cannot show feeling presume that that is a strength and not a weakness?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/may-sarton/why-is-it-that-people-who-cannot-show-feeling-presume-that-that-is-a/)

[May Sarton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/may-sarton/)

> [Innocence is not pure so much as pleased, Always expectant, bright-eyed, self-enclosed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/may-sarton/innocence-is-not-pure-so-much-as-pleased-always-expectant-bright-eyed/)

[May Sarton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/may-sarton/)

> [I have written every poem, every novel, for the same purpose-to find out what I think, to know where I stand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/may-sarton/i-have-written-every-poem-every-novel-for-the-same-purpose-to-find/)

[May Sarton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/may-sarton/)

> [For art is order, but it is born out of the chaos of life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/may-sarton/for-art-is-order-but-it-is-born-out-of-the-chaos-of-life/)

[May Sarton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/may-sarton/)

> [all great people are humble because great people have great work and are humbled by the largeness of their dreams.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/may-sarton/all-great-people-are-humble-because-great-people-have-great-work-and/)

[May Sarton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/may-sarton/)

[Explore all 336 May Sarton quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/may-sarton/)

## More Able quotes

> [I am certain that children always know more than they are able to tell, and that makes the big difference between them and adults,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-lusseyran/i-am-certain-that-children-always-know-more-than-they-are-able-to/)

[Jacques Lusseyran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-lusseyran/)

> [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/)

> [There is something about the South that accepts the supernatural. If you don't accept it and you're having a conversation with someone who does,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-englert/there-is-something-about-the-south-that-accepts-the-supernatural-if/)

[Alice Englert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-englert/)

> [In the '80s, the way radio was programmed, if you didn't have a hit record you weren't going to be able to make any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/huey-lewis/in-the-80s-the-way-radio-was-programmed-if-you-didn-t-have-a-hit/)

[Huey Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/huey-lewis/)

> [I think I've had the longest career of strength, focus, and still being able to sell records. I think I'm that guy. I'm still…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nas/i-think-i-ve-had-the-longest-career-of-strength-focus-and-still-being/)

[Nas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nas/)

> [I have that need in me, I want everyone to love me, but I'm embarrassed by that need, so I wanted to cover it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-jeselnik/i-have-that-need-in-me-i-want-everyone-to-love-me-but-i-m-embarrassed/)

[Anthony Jeselnik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-jeselnik/)

> [Thinking about the things that happened, I don't know any other ball player would could have done what he (Jackie Robinson) did. To be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pee-wee-reese/thinking-about-the-things-that-happened-i-don-t-know-any-other-ball/)

[Pee Wee Reese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pee-wee-reese/)

> [I wanted to remember in order to be able to return.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/i-wanted-to-remember-in-order-to-be-able-to-return/)

[Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/)

> [Government schools, with your tax money, now discourage the teaching of multiplication tables by rote memorization but teach reading by the 'look-and-say' method which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-perry/government-schools-with-your-tax-money-now-discourage-the-teaching-of/)

[Greg Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-perry/)

> [I don't know if I would qualify as mainstream. I think I have managed to function pretty successfully on the fringes of the music…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-metheny/i-don-t-know-if-i-would-qualify-as-mainstream-i-think-i-have-managed/)

[Pat Metheny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-metheny/)

> [What we're supposed to do as actors is be able to portray real human beings and emotions. And if you grow up in this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-browning/what-we-re-supposed-to-do-as-actors-is-be-able-to-portray-real-human/)

[Emily Browning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-browning/)

> [The reason that Apple is able to create products like iPad is because we always try to be at the intersection of technology and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-jobs/the-reason-that-apple-is-able-to-create-products-like-ipad-is-because/)

[Steve Jobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-jobs/)

> [It was an important period for us, because even though we weren't a "punk band", and what became a model for a punk band,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-mallinder/it-was-an-important-period-for-us-because-even-though-we-weren-t-a/)

[Stephen Mallinder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-mallinder/)

> [- You look fine. - Right. I look fine. Except I don't, said Zora, tugging sadly at her man's nightshirt. This was why Kiki…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zadie-smith/you-look-fine-right-i-look-fine-except-i-don-t-said-zora-tugging/)

[Zadie Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zadie-smith/)

> [There is a way to be a woman, ask for what we deserve and be able to negotiate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracee-ellis-ross/there-is-a-way-to-be-a-woman-ask-for-what-we-deserve-and-be-able-to/)

[Tracee Ellis Ross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracee-ellis-ross/)

[Browse all 17,257 Able quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/able/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "There is only one real deprivation... and that is not to be able to give one's gifts to those one loves most.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "May Sarton"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/may-sarton/there-is-only-one-real-deprivation-and-that-is-not-to-be-able-to-give/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Able"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/may-sarton/there-is-only-one-real-deprivation-and-that-is-not-to-be-able-to-give/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/765/may-sarton-897_able_there-is-only-one-real-deprivation-and-t_2753977.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/765/may-sarton-897_able_there-is-only-one-real-deprivation-and-t_2753977.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/765/may-sarton-897_able_there-is-only-one-real-deprivation-and-t_2753977.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“There is only one real deprivation... and that is not to be able to give one's gifts to those one loves most.” — May Sarton",
                "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": "May Sarton",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/may-sarton/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "There is only one real deprivation......",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/may-sarton/there-is-only-one-real-deprivation-and-that-is-not-to-be-able-to-give/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/may-sarton/there-is-only-one-real-deprivation-and-that-is-not-to-be-able-to-give/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
