--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: But already this isn't quite right. The…" description: "\"“But already this isn't quite right. The first apartment I had wasn't on the island at all. It was in Brooklyn Heights, a few blocks away from where I ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c3/olivia-laing-24147_love_but-already-this-isn-t-quite-right-the-f_1003325.jpg" --- # But already this isn't quite right. The first apartment I… ![“But already this isn't quite right. The first apartment I had wasn't on the island at all. It was in Brooklyn Heights, a few blocks away from where I would have been living in the alternate reality of accomplished love, the ghostly other life that haunted me for almost two full years.” quote by Olivia Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c3/olivia-laing-24147_love_but-already-this-isn-t-quite-right-the-f_1003325.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c3/olivia-laing-24147_love_but-already-this-isn-t-quite-right-the-f_1003325.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c3/olivia-laing-24147_love_but-already-this-isn-t-quite-right-the-f_1003325.jpg) > ““But already this isn't quite right. The first apartment I had wasn't on the island at all. It was in Brooklyn Heights, a few blocks away from where I would have been living in the alternate reality of accomplished love, the ghostly other life that haunted me for almost two full years.”” [Olivia Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-laing/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A narrator reflects on a missed opportunity and an imagined alternate life that haunts them. **In simple terms:** Dreams of a different life linger. Key Takeaway Acknowledge and let go of imagined pasts. Themes longing memory alternatives Mood melancholic reflective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - relationship breakup - career crossroads - creative block - personal grief Key Concepts regret identity imagined futures Questions to Reflect On - What does the “alternate reality” represent for you? - How can you reclaim agency? A Different Perspective Living in the past can stall present growth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) ## Related quotes > [I wasn't scared; I was just somebody else, some stranger, and my whole life was a haunted life, the life of a ghost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-kerouac/i-wasn-t-scared-i-was-just-somebody-else-some-stranger-and-my-whole/) [Jack Kerouac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-kerouac/) > [I woke up as the sun was reddening; and that was the one distinct time in my life, the strangest moment of all, when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-kerouac/i-woke-up-as-the-sun-was-reddening-and-that-was-the-one-distinct-time/) [Jack Kerouac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-kerouac/) > [“I like you in my bed,” Patch said. “I rarely pull down the covers. I rarely sleep. I could get used to this picture.”…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/becca-fitzpatrick/i-like-you-in-my-bed-patch-said-i-rarely-pull-down-the-covers-i/) [Becca Fitzpatrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/becca-fitzpatrick/) > [ “\[T.J.\] I kissed her as soon as we were inside her apartment, and I wasn’t gentle about it, holding her face firmly in my… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracey-garvis-graves/t-j-i-kissed-her-as-soon-as-we-were-inside-her-apartment-and-i-wasn-t/) [Tracey Garvis-Graves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracey-garvis-graves/) > [Brooklyn Heights itself is a window on the port. Here, where the perspective is fixed by the towers of Manhattan and the hills of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-kazin/brooklyn-heights-itself-is-a-window-on-the-port-here-where-the/) [Alfred Kazin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-kazin/) > [I like to bike ride a lot just around where I live in Brooklyn Heights.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marky-ramone/i-like-to-bike-ride-a-lot-just-around-where-i-live-in-brooklyn-heights/) [Marky Ramone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marky-ramone/) > [“Eleven stories above Brooklyn Heights in a 659,000-square-foot building that also housed Morgan Stanley and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-allen/eleven-stories-above-brooklyn-heights-in-a-659-000-square-foot/) [Jonathan Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-allen/) > [Now more than ever do I realize that I will never be content with a sedentary life, that I will always be haunted by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabelle-eberhardt/now-more-than-ever-do-i-realize-that-i-will-never-be-content-with-a/) [Isabelle Eberhardt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabelle-eberhardt/) > [“...the haunted always take refuge in stillness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christina-dodd/the-haunted-always-take-refuge-in-stillness/) [Christina Dodd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christina-dodd/) > [They call them the haunted shores, these stretches of Devonshire and Cornwall and Ireland which rear up against the westward ocean. Mists gather here,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dodie-smith/they-call-them-the-haunted-shores-these-stretches-of-devonshire-and/) [Dodie Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dodie-smith/) > [I don't like haunted houses or anything like that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-burrow/i-don-t-like-haunted-houses-or-anything-like-that/) [Joe Burrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-burrow/) > [I keep all my clothes on in House on Haunted Hill, Mary Jane's Last Dance, and The Way of the Gun.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taye-diggs/i-keep-all-my-clothes-on-in-house-on-haunted-hill-mary-jane-s-last/) [Taye Diggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taye-diggs/) > [...you don't need ghosts to be haunted. Memory does that just fine without any supernatural help at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurell-k-hamilton/you-don-t-need-ghosts-to-be-haunted-memory-does-that-just-fine/) [Laurell K. Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurell-k-hamilton/) > [“She herself is a haunted house. She does not possess herself; her ancestors sometimes come and peer out of the window of her eyes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/she-herself-is-a-haunted-house-she-does-not-possess-herself-her/) [Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/) > [I love ghost stories, I love to read them, and I love the idea of being haunted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/micah-perks/i-love-ghost-stories-i-love-to-read-them-and-i-love-the-idea-of-being/) [Micah Perks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/micah-perks/) ## More by Olivia Laing > [“Not so long ago, I spent a period in New York City, that teeming island of gneiss and concrete and glass, inhabiting loneliness on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-laing/not-so-long-ago-i-spent-a-period-in-new-york-city-that-teeming-island/) [Olivia Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-laing/) > [“There is no possibility of permanent tenancy on this circling planet. It isn’t part of the deal.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-laing/there-is-no-possibility-of-permanent-tenancy-on-this-circling-planet/) [Olivia Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-laing/) > [“they’d even met, he recommended him to his own editor at Scribner, Max Perkins, suggesting Max sign up this promising young”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-laing/they-d-even-met-he-recommended-him-to-his-own-editor-at-scribner-max/) [Olivia Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-laing/) > [“The revelation of loneliness, the omnipresent, unanswerable feeling that I was in a state of lack, that I didn't have what people were supposed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-laing/the-revelation-of-loneliness-the-omnipresent-unanswerable-feeling/) [Olivia Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-laing/) > [“The city reveals itself as a set of cells, a hundred thousand windows, some darkened and some flooded with green or white or golden…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-laing/the-city-reveals-itself-as-a-set-of-cells-a-hundred-thousand-windows/) [Olivia Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-laing/) > [“Loneliness is a very special place. It isn’t always easy to see the truth of Wilson’s statement, but over the course of my travels…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-laing/loneliness-is-a-very-special-place-it-isn-t-always-easy-to-see-the/) [Olivia Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-laing/) > [“When he changed his mind, very suddenly, expressing increasingly grave reservations into a series of hotel phones, I found myself adrift, stunned by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-laing/when-he-changed-his-mind-very-suddenly-expressing-increasingly-grave/) [Olivia Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-laing/) > [“I saw him freeing me from the silences of the interior life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-laing/i-saw-him-freeing-me-from-the-silences-of-the-interior-life/) [Olivia Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-laing/) > [“Sometimes, all you need is permission to feel. Sometimes, what causes the most pain is actually the attempt to resist feeling, or the shame…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-laing/sometimes-all-you-need-is-permission-to-feel-sometimes-what-causes/) [Olivia Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-laing/) > [“Physically, Echo Spring is nothing more than a nickname for a liquor cabinet, drawn from the brand of bourbon it contains.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-laing/physically-echo-spring-is-nothing-more-than-a-nickname-for-a-liquor/) [Olivia Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-laing/) > [“As long as Frank was well, I was happy,’ he wrote in Memoirs. ‘He had a gift for creating a life and, when he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-laing/as-long-as-frank-was-well-i-was-happy-he-wrote-in-memoirs-he-had-a/) [Olivia Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-laing/) > [“If I could have put what I was feeling into words, the words would have been an infant's wail: I don't want to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-laing/if-i-could-have-put-what-i-was-feeling-into-words-the-words-would/) [Olivia Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-laing/) > [“Cities can be lonely places, and in admitting this we see that loneliness doesn't necessarily require physical solitude, but rather an absence or paucity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-laing/cities-can-be-lonely-places-and-in-admitting-this-we-see-that/) [Olivia Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-laing/) > [“I was working, but I didn't have anything like enough to do, and the bad times came in the evenings, when I went back…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-laing/i-was-working-but-i-didn-t-have-anything-like-enough-to-do-and-the/) [Olivia Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-laing/) > [“seemed to me that this second act of Darger’s life compounded the isolation of the first; divesting him of dignity and drowning out or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-laing/seemed-to-me-that-this-second-act-of-darger-s-life-compounded-the/) [Olivia Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-laing/) [Explore all 25 Olivia Laing quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-laing/) ## More Haunted quotes > [I love ghost stories, I love to read them, and I love the idea of being haunted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/micah-perks/i-love-ghost-stories-i-love-to-read-them-and-i-love-the-idea-of-being/) [Micah Perks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/micah-perks/) > [“...the haunted always take refuge in stillness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christina-dodd/the-haunted-always-take-refuge-in-stillness/) [Christina Dodd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christina-dodd/) > [I don't like haunted houses or anything like that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-burrow/i-don-t-like-haunted-houses-or-anything-like-that/) [Joe Burrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-burrow/) > [I keep all my clothes on in House on Haunted Hill, Mary Jane's Last Dance, and The Way of the Gun.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taye-diggs/i-keep-all-my-clothes-on-in-house-on-haunted-hill-mary-jane-s-last/) [Taye Diggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taye-diggs/) > [They call them the haunted shores, these stretches of Devonshire and Cornwall and Ireland which rear up against the westward ocean. Mists gather here,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dodie-smith/they-call-them-the-haunted-shores-these-stretches-of-devonshire-and/) [Dodie Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dodie-smith/) > [“She herself is a haunted house. She does not possess herself; her ancestors sometimes come and peer out of the window of her eyes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-carter/she-herself-is-a-haunted-house-she-does-not-possess-herself-her/) [Angela Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-carter/) > [...you don't need ghosts to be haunted. Memory does that just fine without any supernatural help at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurell-k-hamilton/you-don-t-need-ghosts-to-be-haunted-memory-does-that-just-fine/) [Laurell K. Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurell-k-hamilton/) > [“She haunted the makeup department until she was bored, then took a look around home furnishings. She wasn't ever going to get another dining…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/she-haunted-the-makeup-department-until-she-was-bored-then-took-a/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [“Despite the way she rallied, the haunted look in her eyes was enough to break him, as lost and lonely as an abandoned child’s.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-mcintyre/despite-the-way-she-rallied-the-haunted-look-in-her-eyes-was-enough/) [Katherine McIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-mcintyre/) > [“Every town has ‘THAT house’: the one that once held dark secrets. You know the house… the one no one will purchase? The one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-caskey/every-town-has-that-house-the-one-that-once-held-dark-secrets-you/) [James Caskey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-caskey/) > [“..., imagine a loamy earth that starts with genocide, then adds a mix of further disease, wars, hurricanes, murder, great fires, dueling, insurrection and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-caskey/imagine-a-loamy-earth-that-starts-with-genocide-then-adds-a-mix-of/) [James Caskey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-caskey/) > [“Darkness lingered in those blue eyes, like ghosts haunted him despite only the two of them standing in this cabin.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-mcintyre/darkness-lingered-in-those-blue-eyes-like-ghosts-haunted-him-despite/) [Katherine McIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-mcintyre/) > [“Your eyes remained haunted. Seeing something in the world that your mirth can not dissolve.” I”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tillie-cole/your-eyes-remained-haunted-seeing-something-in-the-world-that-your/) [Tillie Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tillie-cole/) > [“The director said he's got a haunted soul and a natural sweetness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miriam-toews/the-director-said-he-s-got-a-haunted-soul-and-a-natural-sweetness/) [Miriam Toews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miriam-toews/) > [Hotels are really scary. There are a lot of haunted ones in L.A. that I want to check out. So many people come in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-peters/hotels-are-really-scary-there-are-a-lot-of-haunted-ones-in-l-a-that-i/) [Evan Peters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-peters/) Browse all 398 Haunted quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“But already this isn't quite right. The first apartment I had wasn't on the island at all. 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