--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If they turned their back on something…" description: "\"“If they turned their back on something frightening behind them and tried to get really interested in the stones and how they fitted together, or the l..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc5/philip-pullman-525_stones_if-they-turned-their-back-on-something-f_2482220.png" --- # If they turned their back on something frightening behind… ![“If they turned their back on something frightening behind them and tried to get really interested in the stones and how they fitted together, or the leaves on the bush, like if only they could make themselves find that really important, they’d be safe.” quote by Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc5/philip-pullman-525_stones_if-they-turned-their-back-on-something-f_2482220.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc5/philip-pullman-525_stones_if-they-turned-their-back-on-something-f_2482220.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc5/philip-pullman-525_stones_if-they-turned-their-back-on-something-f_2482220.png) > ““If they turned their back on something frightening behind them and tried to get really interested in the stones and how they fitted together, or the leaves on the bush, like if only they could make themselves find that really important, they’d be safe.”” [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Facing fear by focusing on details and curiosity can transform danger into safety, encouraging engagement with the unknown. **In simple terms:** Attention to detail and curiosity can make scary things safe. Key Takeaway Observe closely and stay curious in risky situations. Themes courage curiosity detail orientation danger management Mood thoughtful cautious Type philosophical advisory When to use this quote - adventure - problem solving - learning new skills - research Key Concepts mindfulness risk assessment exploration Questions to Reflect On - When does curiosity become reckless? - How can detail focus reduce fear? A Different Perspective Curiosity may not always mitigate real threats. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Frightening Tried](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/frightening-tried-876664/) [Interested Stones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interested-stones-876663/) [Stones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stones/) [Stones Fitted](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stones-fitted-876665/) [Turned Frightening](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/turned-frightening-876666/) ## Related quotes > [“I’m talking about the kind of indignity that changes you as a person, makes you withdraw, hide from the world because suddenly it’s turned…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-walden/i-m-talking-about-the-kind-of-indignity-that-changes-you-as-a-person/) [S. 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Clary stared with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/clary-screamed-out-loud-as-he-fell-like-a-stone-and-landed-lightly-on/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [Self-respect,--the corner-stone of all virtue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-herschel/self-respect-the-corner-stone-of-all-virtue/) [John Herschel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-herschel/) > [If it was wrong to seek God in a stone, how was it right to seek Him in a book called the Gita, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/if-it-was-wrong-to-seek-god-in-a-stone-how-was-it-right-to-seek-him/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [There was only the broad square with the scattered dim moons of the street lamps and with the monumental stone arch which receded into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-maria-remarque/there-was-only-the-broad-square-with-the-scattered-dim-moons-of-the/) [Erich Maria Remarque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-maria-remarque/) > [My dad used to love Steely Dan, the Stones, Jethro Tull and all that. There was always Steely Dan going in my dad's car,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-vincent/my-dad-used-to-love-steely-dan-the-stones-jethro-tull-and-all-that/) [St. Vincent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-vincent/) > [What greater weakness can there be than not to know what is the source of one's being, of one's life, of one's senses, of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-bruyere/what-greater-weakness-can-there-be-than-not-to-know-what-is-the/) [Jean de la Bruyere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-bruyere/) > [As if she had summoned them, a flurry of stones flew out of the darkness, striking his mail, pinging off his helm. One hit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilari-bell/as-if-she-had-summoned-them-a-flurry-of-stones-flew-out-of-the/) [Hilari Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilari-bell/) > [I would have touched it like a child But knew my finger could but have touched Cold stone and water. I grew wild, Even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/i-would-have-touched-it-like-a-child-but-knew-my-finger-could-but/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [ Leave a cavity behind the \[wall\] facings, and on the inside build walls two feet thick, made of red dimension stone or burnt brick… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-vitruvius-pollio/leave-a-cavity-behind-the-wall-facings-and-on-the-inside-build-walls/) [Marcus Vitruvius Pollio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-vitruvius-pollio/) > [Dawn's faint breath breathes with your mouth at the ends of empty streets. Gray light your eyes, sweet drops of dawn on dark hills.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-pavese/dawn-s-faint-breath-breathes-with-your-mouth-at-the-ends-of-empty/) [Cesare Pavese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-pavese/) > [FABLEHAVEN: None who enter will leave unchanged. Trespassers will be turned to stone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brandon-mull/fablehaven-none-who-enter-will-leave-unchanged-trespassers-will-be/) [Brandon Mull](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brandon-mull/) > [“First I loved women, then animals, and now I love stones. They're just as amusing as women and animals and they're much less trecherous.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/first-i-loved-women-then-animals-and-now-i-love-stones-they-re-just/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khalil-gibran/your-pain-is-the-breaking-of-the-shell-that-encloses-your/) [Khalil Gibran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khalil-gibran/) ## More by Philip Pullman > [The state of mind which I put myself when I tell a story is one in which superstition flourishes very easily. And I welcome…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/the-state-of-mind-which-i-put-myself-when-i-tell-a-story-is-one-in/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [Religion grants its adherents malign, intoxicating and morally corrosive sensations. Destroying intellectual freedom is always evil, but only religion makes doing evil feel quite…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/religion-grants-its-adherents-malign-intoxicating-and-morally/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [We don't need lists of rights and wrongs, tables of do's and don'ts: we need books, time, and silence. 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He…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/all-the-stories-of-the-bible-that-i-know-came-to-me-first-from-my/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [What I do say is that I can write verse, and that the writing of verse in strict form is the best possible training…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/what-i-do-say-is-that-i-can-write-verse-and-that-the-writing-of-verse/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [Writing is tyranny ... but reading is democracy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/writing-is-tyranny-but-reading-is-democracy/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [“Middlemarch is a novel that is diminished by being put on the screen. It can't help but be, because so much of what we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/middlemarch-is-a-novel-that-is-diminished-by-being-put-on-the-screen/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [I have maintained a passionate interest in education, which leads me occasionally to make foolish and ill-considered remarks alleging that not everything is well…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/i-have-maintained-a-passionate-interest-in-education-which-leads-me/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [And think what worrying does: has anyone ever added a single hour to the length of his life by worrying about it?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/and-think-what-worrying-does-has-anyone-ever-added-a-single-hour-to/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [“The question authors get asked more than any other is "Where do you get your ideas from?" And we all find a way of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/the-question-authors-get-asked-more-than-any-other-is-where-do-you/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [“We are all subject to the fates. But we must all act as if we are not,” said the witch, “or die of despair.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/we-are-all-subject-to-the-fates-but-we-must-all-act-as-if-we-are-not/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [Lonely? I don't know. They tell me this is cold. I don't know what cold is, because I don't freeze. So I don't know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/lonely-i-don-t-know-they-tell-me-this-is-cold-i-don-t-know-what-cold/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [Just finished 'Secrecy' - truly enthralling both as a love story and as a tale of suspense - but much more than both.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/just-finished-secrecy-truly-enthralling-both-as-a-love-story-and-as-a/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [“As Auden is believed to have said, no poem saved a single Jew from the gas chambers. Never mind. Write the poems anyway. Play…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/as-auden-is-believed-to-have-said-no-poem-saved-a-single-jew-from-the/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) [Explore all 479 Philip Pullman quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) ## More Stones quotes > [Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khalil-gibran/your-pain-is-the-breaking-of-the-shell-that-encloses-your/) [Khalil Gibran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khalil-gibran/) > [“First I loved women, then animals, and now I love stones. They're just as amusing as women and animals and they're much less trecherous.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/first-i-loved-women-then-animals-and-now-i-love-stones-they-re-just/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [FABLEHAVEN: None who enter will leave unchanged. Trespassers will be turned to stone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brandon-mull/fablehaven-none-who-enter-will-leave-unchanged-trespassers-will-be/) [Brandon Mull](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brandon-mull/) > [Dawn's faint breath breathes with your mouth at the ends of empty streets. Gray light your eyes, sweet drops of dawn on dark hills.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-pavese/dawn-s-faint-breath-breathes-with-your-mouth-at-the-ends-of-empty/) [Cesare Pavese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-pavese/) > [ Leave a cavity behind the \[wall\] facings, and on the inside build walls two feet thick, made of red dimension stone or burnt brick… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-vitruvius-pollio/leave-a-cavity-behind-the-wall-facings-and-on-the-inside-build-walls/) [Marcus Vitruvius Pollio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-vitruvius-pollio/) > [I would have touched it like a child But knew my finger could but have touched Cold stone and water. I grew wild, Even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/i-would-have-touched-it-like-a-child-but-knew-my-finger-could-but/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [As if she had summoned them, a flurry of stones flew out of the darkness, striking his mail, pinging off his helm. One hit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilari-bell/as-if-she-had-summoned-them-a-flurry-of-stones-flew-out-of-the/) [Hilari Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilari-bell/) > [What greater weakness can there be than not to know what is the source of one's being, of one's life, of one's senses, of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-bruyere/what-greater-weakness-can-there-be-than-not-to-know-what-is-the/) [Jean de la Bruyere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-bruyere/) > [My dad used to love Steely Dan, the Stones, Jethro Tull and all that. There was always Steely Dan going in my dad's car,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-vincent/my-dad-used-to-love-steely-dan-the-stones-jethro-tull-and-all-that/) [St. Vincent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-vincent/) > [There was only the broad square with the scattered dim moons of the street lamps and with the monumental stone arch which receded into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-maria-remarque/there-was-only-the-broad-square-with-the-scattered-dim-moons-of-the/) [Erich Maria Remarque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-maria-remarque/) > [If it was wrong to seek God in a stone, how was it right to seek Him in a book called the Gita, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/if-it-was-wrong-to-seek-god-in-a-stone-how-was-it-right-to-seek-him/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Self-respect,--the corner-stone of all virtue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-herschel/self-respect-the-corner-stone-of-all-virtue/) [John Herschel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-herschel/) > [Clary screamed out loud as he fell like a stone- And landed lightly on his feet just in front of her. Clary stared with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/clary-screamed-out-loud-as-he-fell-like-a-stone-and-landed-lightly-on/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [I would rather sit still in a state of peace on a stone than ride in the motor-car of a multi-millionaire and feel the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-would-rather-sit-still-in-a-state-of-peace-on-a-stone-than-ride-in/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“I've decided that has been the great achievement of our age: to so thoroughly flood the planet with megabits that every image and fact…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-lightman/i-ve-decided-that-has-been-the-great-achievement-of-our-age-to-so/) [Alan Lightman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-lightman/) [Browse all 3,187 Stones quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stones/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“If they turned their back on something frightening behind them and tried to get really interested in the stones and how they fitted together, or the leaves on the bush, like if only they could make themselves find that really important, they’d be safe.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Philip Pullman" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/if-they-turned-their-back-on-something-frightening-behind-them-and/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Stones" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/if-they-turned-their-back-on-something-frightening-behind-them-and/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc5/philip-pullman-525_stones_if-they-turned-their-back-on-something-f_2482220.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc5/philip-pullman-525_stones_if-they-turned-their-back-on-something-f_2482220.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc5/philip-pullman-525_stones_if-they-turned-their-back-on-something-f_2482220.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If they turned their back on something frightening behind them and tried to get really interested in the…” — Philip Pullman", "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 Pullman", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“If they turned their back on...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/if-they-turned-their-back-on-something-frightening-behind-them-and/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/if-they-turned-their-back-on-something-frightening-behind-them-and/#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 } } ] } ```