--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: And there I sat, long long ago, waiting…" description: "\"And there I sat, long long ago, waiting for the world to know me.\" — Nathaniel Hawthorne" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3fb/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_know-me_and-there-i-sat-long-long-ago-waiting-fo_1466369.jpg" --- # And there I sat, long long ago, waiting for the world to… ![“And there I sat, long long ago, waiting for the world to know me.” quote by Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3fb/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_know-me_and-there-i-sat-long-long-ago-waiting-fo_1466369.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3fb/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_know-me_and-there-i-sat-long-long-ago-waiting-fo_1466369.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3fb/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_know-me_and-there-i-sat-long-long-ago-waiting-fo_1466369.jpg) > “And there I sat, long long ago, waiting for the world to know me.” [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A longing for recognition, feeling overlooked while waiting for the world to notice one's existence. **In simple terms:** Waiting to be seen. Key Takeaway Seek ways to be noticed. Themes recognition loneliness aspiration Mood reflective hopeful Type motivational philosophical When to use this quote - personal branding - career advancement - social media presence Key Concepts existential yearning self‑validation Questions to Reflect On - How can you create your own audience? - What steps can you take to be noticed without waiting? A Different Perspective Recognition may be delayed by external factors beyond control. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ago Waiting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ago-waiting-5309544/) [Know me](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/know-me/) [Long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long/) [Long ago](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long-ago/) [Long Long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long-long/) [Sat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sat/) [Sat Long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sat-long-706535/) [Waiting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/waiting/) [Waiting World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/waiting-world-1364446/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [He sat a long time and he thought about his life and how little of it he could ever have foreseen and he wondered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/he-sat-a-long-time-and-he-thought-about-his-life-and-how-little-of-it/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [You have sat too long for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-cromwell/you-have-sat-too-long-for-any-good-you-have-been-doing-depart-i-say/) [Oliver Cromwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-cromwell/) > [“You have sat here too long for any good you may be doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you! In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-moss/you-have-sat-here-too-long-for-any-good-you-may-be-doing-depart-i-say/) [Norman Moss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-moss/) > [She sat long alone in the dark; refusing to go out in the light of day, to face the possibility that life goes on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-bokhari/she-sat-long-alone-in-the-dark-refusing-to-go-out-in-the-light-of-day/) [Sara Bokhari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-bokhari/) > [I was waiting for the world to change. I'm no longer waiting; I'm part of that movement. I think our role as performers and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alyssa-edwards/i-was-waiting-for-the-world-to-change-i-m-no-longer-waiting-i-m-part/) [Alyssa Edwards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alyssa-edwards/) > [I can see a new me just waiting to be found I have so much to give to the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-can-see-a-new-me-just-waiting-to-be-found-i-have-so-much-to-give-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Question and Answer Durban, Birmingham, Cape Town, Alabama, Johannesburg, Watts, The earth around Struggling, fighting, Dying--for what? A world to gain. Groping, hoping, Waiting--for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/langston-hughes/question-and-answer-durban-birmingham-cape-town-alabama-johannesburg/) [Langston Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/langston-hughes/) > [We just feel like we don't have the means, To rise above and beat it. So we keep waiting, Waiting on the world to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mayer/we-just-feel-like-we-don-t-have-the-means-to-rise-above-and-beat-it/) [John Mayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mayer/) > [“We're still waiting, waiting, waiting on the world to change.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mayer/we-re-still-waiting-waiting-waiting-on-the-world-to-change/) [John Mayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mayer/) > [There was no point in waiting until the next world. You had to do everything now, every kind of sin.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/there-was-no-point-in-waiting-until-the-next-world-you-had-to-do/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [Waiting on the World to Change.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mayer/waiting-on-the-world-to-change/) [John Mayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mayer/) > [“If you're waiting for the world to get it, if you're waiting for the world, forget it. I'm not waiting for the world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-franklin/if-you-re-waiting-for-the-world-to-get-it-if-you-re-waiting-for-the/) [Adam Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-franklin/) > [The whole world is waiting. The whole world needs you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-field/the-whole-world-is-waiting-the-whole-world-needs-you/) [Sally Field](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-field/) > [I'm waiting for the world to turn upside down so that I may swim in a sea of stars.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-m-waiting-for-the-world-to-turn-upside-down-so-that-i-may-swim-in-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Many of us would probably be better fishermen if we did not spend so much time watching and waiting for the world to become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-maclean/many-of-us-would-probably-be-better-fishermen-if-we-did-not-spend-so/) [Norman Maclean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-maclean/) ## More by Nathaniel Hawthorne > [“there was something of the women molded into the great, stalwart frame of Hollingsworth; nor was he ashamed of it; as men often are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/there-was-something-of-the-women-molded-into-the-great-stalwart-frame/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [The trees reflected in the river - they are unconscious of a spiritual world so near to them. So are we.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-trees-reflected-in-the-river-they-are-unconscious-of-a-spiritual/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“The dismaying thing about the classic totalitarian mind is that any given gear, though mutilated, will have at its circumference unbroken sequences of teeth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-dismaying-thing-about-the-classic-totalitarian-mind-is-that-any/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“My heart was a habitation large enough for many guests, but lonely and chill, and without a household fire, I longed to kindle one!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/my-heart-was-a-habitation-large-enough-for-many-guests-but-lonely-and/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [Wherever there is a heart and an intellect, the diseases of the physical frame are tinged with the peculiarities of these.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/wherever-there-is-a-heart-and-an-intellect-the-diseases-of-the/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might originally project, have invariably recognized it among their earliest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-founders-of-a-new-colony-whatever-utopia-of-human-virtue-and/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [Generosity is the flower of justice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/generosity-is-the-flower-of-justice/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“he seemed to be in quest for mental food, not heart sustenance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/he-seemed-to-be-in-quest-for-mental-food-not-heart-sustenance/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“Unfathomable to mere mortals is the lore of fiends.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/unfathomable-to-mere-mortals-is-the-lore-of-fiends/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“Possibly, he was in a state of second growth and recovery, and was constantly assimilating nutriment for his spirit and intellect from sights, sounds,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/possibly-he-was-in-a-state-of-second-growth-and-recovery-and-was/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“What wonder, then, should we be frightened by the aspect of a monster, which, after all,—though we can point to every feature of his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/what-wonder-then-should-we-be-frightened-by-the-aspect-of-a-monster/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [As the architecture of a country always follows the earliest structures, American architecture should be a refinement of the log-house. The Egyptian is so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/as-the-architecture-of-a-country-always-follows-the-earliest/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [What we call real estate - the solid ground to build a house on - is the broad foundation on which nearly all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/what-we-call-real-estate-the-solid-ground-to-build-a-house-on-is-the/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“The bookworm of great libraries.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-bookworm-of-great-libraries/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [There are many things in this world that a child must not ask about.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/there-are-many-things-in-this-world-that-a-child-must-not-ask-about/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) [Explore all 526 Nathaniel Hawthorne quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) ## More Know me quotes > [Anyone who knows me knows that I am really into hair. 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Packer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-i-packer/) > [I like a quiet life, you know me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-like-a-quiet-life-you-know-me/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [You don't know me. You know one me, just like I know one you. 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I'm still the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruben-studdard/the-only-thing-about-my-life-that-s-really-changed-is-the-fact-that-a/) [Ruben Studdard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruben-studdard/) > [I don't get the regular AIDS test anymore. I get the roundabout AIDS test. I ask my friend Brian, "Do you know anybody who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-hedberg/i-don-t-get-the-regular-aids-test-anymore-i-get-the-roundabout-aids/) [Mitch Hedberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-hedberg/) > [I just want to get my voice heard again and to allow people to know me outside of a group situation. 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