--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Birthdays are a time when one stock…" description: "\"“Birthdays are a time when one stock takes, which means, I suppose, a good spineless mope: I scan my horizon and can discern no sail of hope along my o..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9f/philip-larkin-1822_ambition_birthdays-are-a-time-when-one-stock-take_2656868.jpg" --- # Birthdays are a time when one stock takes, which means, I… ![“Birthdays are a time when one stock takes, which means, I suppose, a good spineless mope: I scan my horizon and can discern no sail of hope along my own particular ambition. I tell you what it is: I'm quite in accord with the people who enquire 'What is the matter with the man?' because I don't…” quote by Philip Larkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9f/philip-larkin-1822_ambition_birthdays-are-a-time-when-one-stock-take_2656868.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9f/philip-larkin-1822_ambition_birthdays-are-a-time-when-one-stock-take_2656868.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9f/philip-larkin-1822_ambition_birthdays-are-a-time-when-one-stock-take_2656868.jpg) > ““Birthdays are a time when one stock takes, which means, I suppose, a good spineless mope: I scan my horizon and can discern no sail of hope along my own particular ambition. I tell you what it is: I'm quite in accord with the people who enquire 'What is the matter with the man?' because I don't seem to be producing anything as the years pass but rank self indulgence. You know that my sole ambition, officially at any rate, was to write poems & novels, an activity I never found any difficulty fulfilling between the (dangerous) ages of 17-24: I can't very well ignore the fact that this seems to have died a natural death. On the other hand I feel regretful that what talents I have in this direction are not being used. Then again, if I am not going to produce anything in the literary line, the justification for my selfish life is removed - but since I go on living it, the suspicion arises that the writing existed to produce the life, & not vice versa. And as a life it has very little to recommend it: I spend my days footling in a job I care nothing about, a curate among lady-clerks; I evade all responsibility, familial, professional, emotional, social, not even saving much money or helping my mother. I look around me & I see people getting on, or doing things, or bringing up children - and here I am in a kind of vacuum. If I were writing, I would even risk the fearful old age of the Henry-James hero: not fearful in circumstance but in realisation: because to me to catch, render, preserve, pickle, distil or otherwise secure life-as-it-seemed for the future seems to me infinitely worth doing; but as I'm not the entire morality of it collapses. And when I ask why I'm not, well, I'm not because I don't want to: every novel I attempt stops at a point where I awake from the impulse as one might awake from a particularly-sickening nightmare - I don't want to 'create character', I don't want to be vivid or memorable or precise, I neither wish to bathe each scene in the lambency of the 'love that accepts' or be excoriatingly cruel, smart, vicious, 'penetrating' (ugh), or any of the other recoil qualities. In fact, like the man in St Mawr, I want nothing. Nothing, I want. And so it becomes quite impossible for me to carry on. This failure of impulse seems to me suspiciously like a failure of sexual impulse: people conceive novels and dash away at them & finish them in the same way as they fall in love & will not be satisfied till they're married - another point on which I seem to be out of step. There's something cold & heavy sitting on me somewhere, & until something budges it I am no good.”” [Philip Larkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-larkin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A reflective lament about unfulfilled creative ambition, self‑indulgence, and the feeling of stagnation in life. **In simple terms:** Regret over lost creative drive and idle existence. Key Takeaway Confront your inertia and pursue meaningful work. Themes regret creativity purpose stagnation Mood melancholic contemplative Type reflective philosophical When to use this quote - career reassessment - creative projects - personal growth - financial planning Key Concepts existentialism self‑critique identity Questions to Reflect On - What small step could reignite your creative spark? - How can you balance responsibility with artistic pursuit? A Different Perspective Self‑critical tone may overlook external constraints and mental health factors. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ambition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambition/) [Arises Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arises-writing-2395438/) [Doing things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doing-things/) [Fall in love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fall-in-love/) [Hope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hope/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Motivation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/motivation/) [Old age](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-age/) [Particular Ambition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/particular-ambition-2395437/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Self indulgence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self-indulgence/) [Selfish Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/selfish-life-884986/) [Sole Ambition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sole-ambition-1515998/) [Te Amo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/te-amo/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Vice versa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vice-versa/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [I was never the type who had a particular ambition. I had friends in college who would say, 'I want to be a vice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-c-bogle/i-was-never-the-type-who-had-a-particular-ambition-i-had-friends-in/) [John C. Bogle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-c-bogle/) > [When I was very young and first worked in Hollywood, the films had bred in me one sole ambition: to get away from them;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-loos/when-i-was-very-young-and-first-worked-in-hollywood-the-films-had/) [Anita Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-loos/) > [“One day someone will say to me: “Is it autobiographical?” And I shall reply: “Only the bit where I die.” To die has always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-roux/one-day-someone-will-say-to-me-is-it-autobiographical-and-i-shall/) [Tim Roux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-roux/) > [My sole ambition is to rid Mexico of the class that has oppressed her and given the people a chance to know what real…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pancho-villa/my-sole-ambition-is-to-rid-mexico-of-the-class-that-has-oppressed-her/) [Pancho Villa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pancho-villa/) > [Beauty is the sole ambition, the exclusive goal of Taste.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/beauty-is-the-sole-ambition-the-exclusive-goal-of-taste/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [My sole ambition as a composer is to hurl my javelin into the infinite space of the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-liszt/my-sole-ambition-as-a-composer-is-to-hurl-my-javelin-into-the/) [Franz Liszt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-liszt/) > [“Money as the sole ambition has no value.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/habeeb-akande/money-as-the-sole-ambition-has-no-value/) [Habeeb Akande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/habeeb-akande/) > [I'm a bit selfish and everyone needs to be selfish. Else they will not become anything in their life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/regina-cassandra/i-m-a-bit-selfish-and-everyone-needs-to-be-selfish-else-they-will-not/) [Regina Cassandra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/regina-cassandra/) > [“To live a selfish life is the fastest track to catastrophe”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/to-live-a-selfish-life-is-the-fastest-track-to-catastrophe/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [I know I have a successful career, a successful life. If I sit and say, 'Look, I have a comfortable life,' and I... just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-weah/i-know-i-have-a-successful-career-a-successful-life-if-i-sit-and-say/) [George Weah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-weah/) > [“Living a selfish life is a recipe for disaster”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/living-a-selfish-life-is-a-recipe-for-disaster/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [“ការរស់នៅក្នុងភាពអាត្មានិយមគឺជាការរស់នៅបញ្ច្រាសនឹងច្បាប់ធម្មជាតិ។ It is against law of nature to live a selfish life”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khem-veasna-2/it-is-against-law-of-nature-to-live-a-selfish-life/) [Khem Veasna ខឹម វាសនា](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khem-veasna-2/) > [You can go through life angry and selfish or you can go through life with a smile and help others. Because there is nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-aaron-mangan/you-can-go-through-life-angry-and-selfish-or-you-can-go-through-life/) [Timothy Aaron Mangan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-aaron-mangan/) > [People who think of themselves as tough-minded and realistic, among them influential political leaders and businessmen as well as go-getters and hustlers of smaller…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-i-hayakawa/people-who-think-of-themselves-as-tough-minded-and-realistic-among/) [S. I. Hayakawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-i-hayakawa/) > [“A selfish life isn’t God’s purpose for you”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/a-selfish-life-isn-t-god-s-purpose-for-you/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) ## More by Philip Larkin > [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/) > [Only one ship is seeking us, a black-Sailed unfamiliar, towing at her backA huge and birdless silence. In her wakeNo waters breed or break.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-larkin/only-one-ship-is-seeking-us-a-black-sailed-unfamiliar-towing-at-her/) [Philip Larkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-larkin/) > [And immediately Rather than words comes the thought of high windows: The sun-comprehending glass, And beyond it, the deep blue air, that shows Nothing,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-larkin/and-immediately-rather-than-words-comes-the-thought-of-high-windows/) [Philip Larkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-larkin/) > [“Living toys are something novel, But it soon wears off somehow.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-larkin/living-toys-are-something-novel-but-it-soon-wears-off-somehow/) [Philip Larkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-larkin/) > [“Once I am sure there's nothing going on I step inside, letting the door thud shut. Another church: matting, seats, and stone, And little…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-larkin/once-i-am-sure-there-s-nothing-going-on-i-step-inside-letting-the/) [Philip Larkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-larkin/) > [Life is first boredom, then fear. Whether or not we use it, it goes, And leaves what something hidden from us chose, age, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-larkin/life-is-first-boredom-then-fear-whether-or-not-we-use-it-it-goes-and/) [Philip Larkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-larkin/) > [“It never worked for me. Something to do with violence A long way back, and wrong rewards, And arrogant eternity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-larkin/it-never-worked-for-me-something-to-do-with-violence-a-long-way-back/) [Philip Larkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-larkin/) > [Seriously, I think it is a grave fault in life that so much time is wasted in social matters, because it not only takes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-larkin/seriously-i-think-it-is-a-grave-fault-in-life-that-so-much-time-is/) [Philip Larkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-larkin/) > [So many things I had thought forgotten Return to my mind with stranger pain: Like letters that arrive addressed to someone Who left the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-larkin/so-many-things-i-had-thought-forgotten-return-to-my-mind-with/) [Philip Larkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-larkin/) > [“One of the quainter quirks of life is that we shall never know who dies on the same day as we do ourselves.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-larkin/one-of-the-quainter-quirks-of-life-is-that-we-shall-never-know-who/) [Philip Larkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-larkin/) > [“I sit in my room like Miss Havisham, about whom I have been reading this week. Better the Dickens you know than the Dickens…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-larkin/i-sit-in-my-room-like-miss-havisham-about-whom-i-have-been-reading/) [Philip Larkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-larkin/) > [“When I throw back my head and howl People (women mostly) say But you've always done what you want, You always get your way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-larkin/when-i-throw-back-my-head-and-howl-people-women-mostly-say-but-you-ve/) [Philip Larkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-larkin/) > [I think a young poet, or an old poet, for that matter, should try to produce something that pleases himself personally, not only when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-larkin/i-think-a-young-poet-or-an-old-poet-for-that-matter-should-try-to/) [Philip Larkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-larkin/) > [But superstition, like belief, must die.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-larkin/but-superstition-like-belief-must-die/) [Philip Larkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-larkin/) > [“Side by side, their faces blurred, The earl and countess lie in stone, Their proper habits vaguely shown As jointed armour, stiffened pleat, And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-larkin/side-by-side-their-faces-blurred-the-earl-and-countess-lie-in-stone/) [Philip Larkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-larkin/) [Explore all 206 Philip Larkin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-larkin/) ## More Ambition quotes > [Ambition drives you on, ability certainly helps, but the fickle finger of fate and luck are great things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fergus-henderson/ambition-drives-you-on-ability-certainly-helps-but-the-fickle-finger/) [Fergus Henderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fergus-henderson/) > [One needs more than ambition and talent to make a success of anything, really. There must be love and a vocation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessye-norman/one-needs-more-than-ambition-and-talent-to-make-a-success-of-anything/) [Jessye Norman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessye-norman/) > [I just think my own ambition would not allow me to sit on the gifts that my creator had given me. And so that's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janelle-monae/i-just-think-my-own-ambition-would-not-allow-me-to-sit-on-the-gifts/) [Janelle Monae](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janelle-monae/) > [A man's worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-man-s-worth-is-no-greater-than-the-worth-of-his-ambitions/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'm hungry and ambitious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julen-lopetegui/i-m-hungry-and-ambitious/) [Julen Lopetegui](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julen-lopetegui/) > [“I was ambitious and desperate to direct my first film, so I capitulated and blew it. Never again. Never fucking again.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-ferguson/i-was-ambitious-and-desperate-to-direct-my-first-film-so-i/) [Craig Ferguson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-ferguson/) > [I was always attracted most to joining City, and I am pleased to be at such a good club with such a big ambition…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edin-dzeko/i-was-always-attracted-most-to-joining-city-and-i-am-pleased-to-be-at/) [Edin Dzeko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edin-dzeko/) > [Work towards your goal and dont watch the post size,its either they hate,or like you.there is no room for both sides.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-buabeng/work-towards-your-goal-and-dont-watch-the-post-size-its-either-they/) [Isaac Buabeng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-buabeng/) > [“But young men have not only this frivolous ambition of being thought masters of execution, inciting them on the one hand, but also their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/but-young-men-have-not-only-this-frivolous-ambition-of-being-thought/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I almost never have a plan for myself... I'm not ambitious in that way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-plimpton/i-almost-never-have-a-plan-for-myself-i-m-not-ambitious-in-that-way/) [Martha Plimpton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-plimpton/) > [I play for high stakes and given an audience - there is no act too daring or too noble.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/i-play-for-high-stakes-and-given-an-audience-there-is-no-act-too/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [There's nothing worse than a leader who lacks ambition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/there-s-nothing-worse-than-a-leader-who-lacks-ambition/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If i can't even protect my captain's dream, then whatever ambition i have is nothing but talk..](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoro/if-i-can-t-even-protect-my-captain-s-dream-then-whatever-ambition-i/) [Zoro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoro/) > [It may seem unattainable but if you put actions, your heart and your mind into it, you will prevail.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/london-mond/it-may-seem-unattainable-but-if-you-put-actions-your-heart-and-your/) [London Mond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/london-mond/) > [Obligation is what's leading us to toward successful, and what keeps us moving towards the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wazim-shaw/obligation-is-what-s-leading-us-to-toward-successful-and-what-keeps/) [Wazim Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wazim-shaw/) [Browse all 4,601 Ambition quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambition/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Birthdays are a time when one stock takes, which means, I suppose, a good spineless mope: I scan my horizon and can discern no sail of hope along my own particular ambition. I tell you what it is: I'm quite in accord with the people who enquire 'What is the matter with the man?' because I don't seem to be producing anything as the years pass but rank self indulgence. You know that my sole ambition, officially at any rate, was to write poems & novels, an activity I never found any difficulty fulfilling between the (dangerous) ages of 17-24: I can't very well ignore the fact that this seems to have died a natural death. On the other hand I feel regretful that what talents I have in this direction are not being used. Then again, if I am not going to produce anything in the literary line, the justification for my selfish life is removed - but since I go on living it, the suspicion arises that the writing existed to produce the life, & not vice versa. And as a life it has very little to recommend it: I spend my days footling in a job I care nothing about, a curate among lady-clerks; I evade all responsibility, familial, professional, emotional, social, not even saving much money or helping my mother. I look around me & I see people getting on, or doing things, or bringing up children - and here I am in a kind of vacuum. If I were writing, I would even risk the fearful old age of the Henry-James hero: not fearful in circumstance but in realisation: because to me to catch, render, preserve, pickle, distil or otherwise secure life-as-it-seemed for the future seems to me infinitely worth doing; but as I'm not the entire morality of it collapses. And when I ask why I'm not, well, I'm not because I don't want to: every novel I attempt stops at a point where I awake from the impulse as one might awake from a particularly-sickening nightmare - I don't want to 'create character', I don't want to be vivid or memorable or precise, I neither wish to bathe each scene in the lambency of the 'love that accepts' or be excoriatingly cruel, smart, vicious, 'penetrating' (ugh), or any of the other recoil qualities. In fact, like the man in St Mawr, I want nothing. Nothing, I want. And so it becomes quite impossible for me to carry on. This failure of impulse seems to me suspiciously like a failure of sexual impulse: people conceive novels and dash away at them & finish them in the same way as they fall in love & will not be satisfied till they're married - another point on which I seem to be out of step. There's something cold & heavy sitting on me somewhere, & until something budges it I am no good.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Philip Larkin" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-larkin/birthdays-are-a-time-when-one-stock-takes-which-means-i-suppose-a/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Ambition" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-larkin/birthdays-are-a-time-when-one-stock-takes-which-means-i-suppose-a/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9f/philip-larkin-1822_ambition_birthdays-are-a-time-when-one-stock-take_2656868.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9f/philip-larkin-1822_ambition_birthdays-are-a-time-when-one-stock-take_2656868.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9f/philip-larkin-1822_ambition_birthdays-are-a-time-when-one-stock-take_2656868.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Birthdays are a time when one stock takes, which means, I suppose, a good spineless mope: I scan my horizon…” — Philip Larkin", "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": "Philip Larkin", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-larkin/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Birthdays are a time when one...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-larkin/birthdays-are-a-time-when-one-stock-takes-which-means-i-suppose-a/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-larkin/birthdays-are-a-time-when-one-stock-takes-which-means-i-suppose-a/#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 } } ] } ```