---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: He looked like a bored boy deciding…"
description: "\"“He looked like a bored boy deciding whether to poke a dead fish.”\" — R. Scott Bakker"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e47/r-scott-bakker-4344_bored_he-looked-like-a-bored-boy-deciding-whet_3088314.png"
---

#  He looked like a bored boy deciding whether to poke a dead…

![“He looked like a bored boy deciding whether to poke a dead fish.” quote by R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e47/r-scott-bakker-4344_bored_he-looked-like-a-bored-boy-deciding-whet_3088314.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e47/r-scott-bakker-4344_bored_he-looked-like-a-bored-boy-deciding-whet_3088314.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e47/r-scott-bakker-4344_bored_he-looked-like-a-bored-boy-deciding-whet_3088314.png)

> ““He looked like a bored boy deciding whether to poke a dead fish.””

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

## About This Quote

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

A vivid metaphor describing a detached, indifferent observer in a bleak situation.

**In simple terms:** Someone bored and detached.

Key Takeaway

Recognize and avoid emotional disengagement.

Themes

detachment observation indifference metaphor

Mood

cynical reflective

Type

literary descriptive

When to use this quote

- reading a novel
- watching a film
- analyzing character behavior

Key Concepts

psychology literary description

Questions to Reflect On

- How does detachment affect decision making?
- When does boredom become harmful?

A Different Perspective

May oversimplify complex emotions.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Bored](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bored/) [Bored Boy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bored-boy-5298910/) [Boy Deciding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/boy-deciding-5298911/) [Dead Fish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dead-fish-791031/) [Fish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fish/) [Like Bored](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/like-bored-581640/)

## Related quotes

> [I don't like to be bored.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kennedy/i-don-t-like-to-be-bored/)

[John Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-kennedy/)

> [“Only dead fishes go with the flow.. I guess that make me a dead fish!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shanai-campbell/only-dead-fishes-go-with-the-flow-i-guess-that-make-me-a-dead-fish/)

[Shanai Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shanai-campbell/)

> [“Remember, a dead fish can float down stream, it takes a live one to swim against the current. W. C. Fields”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-k-prescott/remember-a-dead-fish-can-float-down-stream-it-takes-a-live-one-to/)

[E.K. Prescott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-k-prescott/)

> [Even a dead fish can go with the flow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-hightower/even-a-dead-fish-can-go-with-the-flow/)

[Jim Hightower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-hightower/)

> [“Only dead fish go with the flow .. I'm not dead yet, and I'm not fish either.. !!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ahmad-el-esseily/only-dead-fish-go-with-the-flow-i-m-not-dead-yet-and-i-m-not-fish/)

[Ahmad El Esseily](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ahmad-el-esseily/)

> [“Nur tote Fische schwimmen mit dem Strom. Only dead fish go with the flow.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/nur-tote-fische-schwimmen-mit-dem-strom-only-dead-fish-go-with-the/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [People say 'go with the flow' but do you know what goes with the flow? Dead fish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roy-keane/people-say-go-with-the-flow-but-do-you-know-what-goes-with-the-flow/)

[Roy Keane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roy-keane/)

> [“--he stopped and eyed Bill Corso--"if you choose to just sit here like a bored jungle gorilla, you will have to write out this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-s-king/he-stopped-and-eyed-bill-corso-if-you-choose-to-just-sit-here-like-a/)

[A.S. King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-s-king/)

> [I want to confront myself. I challenge and doubt myself. Basically, what I don't like is to get bored.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miuccia-prada/i-want-to-confront-myself-i-challenge-and-doubt-myself-basically-what/)

[Miuccia Prada](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miuccia-prada/)

> [“People have seen too many common people like them, and they are bored by it. They need heroes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amit-kalantri/people-have-seen-too-many-common-people-like-them-and-they-are-bored/)

[Amit Kalantri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amit-kalantri/)

> [“Prue felt like someone had bored a hole in her stomach the size of a basketball”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-meloy/prue-felt-like-someone-had-bored-a-hole-in-her-stomach-the-size-of-a/)

[Colin Meloy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-meloy/)

> [I don't like to get bored and don't like to repeat myself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-plimpton/i-don-t-like-to-get-bored-and-don-t-like-to-repeat-myself/)

[Martha Plimpton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-plimpton/)

> [“Whats up, Q?" asked Gus. Oh, we're just scattering some dead fish about town, breaking some windows, photographing naked guys, hanging out in skyscraper…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/whats-up-q-asked-gus-oh-we-re-just-scattering-some-dead-fish-about/)

[John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/)

> [“Drifting on the black, rippling surface were fingers. Thumbs. Dozens of them. Hundreds, floating like dead fish in a dynamited pond. I saw part…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-hirshberg/drifting-on-the-black-rippling-surface-were-fingers-thumbs-dozens-of/)

[Glen Hirshberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-hirshberg/)

> [ In ten years \[i.e., 1980\] all important animal life in the sea will be extinct. Large areas of coastline will have to be evacuated… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-r-ehrlich/in-ten-years-i-e-1980-all-important-animal-life-in-the-sea-will-be/)

[Paul R. Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-r-ehrlich/)

## More by R. Scott Bakker

> [If soot stains your tunic, dye it black. This is vengeance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/if-soot-stains-your-tunic-dye-it-black-this-is-vengeance/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [Everyone thinks they've won the Magical Belief Lottery. Everyone thinks they more or less have a handle on things, that they, as opposed to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/everyone-thinks-they-ve-won-the-magical-belief-lottery-everyone/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [I tell you, guilt dwells nowhere but in the eyes of the accuser. This men know even as they deny it, which is why…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/i-tell-you-guilt-dwells-nowhere-but-in-the-eyes-of-the-accuser-this/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [“When a man possesses the innocence of a child, we call him a fool. When a child possesses the cunning of a man, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/when-a-man-possesses-the-innocence-of-a-child-we-call-him-a-fool-when/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [“I am a warrior of ages, Anasurimbor ... ages. I have dipped my nimil in a thousand hearts. I have ridden both against and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/i-am-a-warrior-of-ages-anasurimbor-ages-i-have-dipped-my-nimil-in-a/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [“The vulgar think the God by analogy to man and so worship Him in the form of the Gods. The learned think the God…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/the-vulgar-think-the-god-by-analogy-to-man-and-so-worship-him-in-the/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [There was such a difference, he thought, between the beauty that illuminated, and the beauty that was illuminated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/there-was-such-a-difference-he-thought-between-the-beauty-that/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [Complexity begets ambiguity, which yields in all ways to prejudice and avarice. Complication does not so much defeat Men as arm them with fancy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/complexity-begets-ambiguity-which-yields-in-all-ways-to-prejudice-and/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [“Sorweel: „Then how can we hope to resist him?“ Harweel: „With our swords and our shields. And when those fail us, with spit and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/sorweel-then-how-can-we-hope-to-resist-him-harweel-with-our-swords/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [“He struck his own fire, listened to the night wind roar through the trees. Sometimes, when he could see it, he stared at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/he-struck-his-own-fire-listened-to-the-night-wind-roar-through-the/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [“That hope is little more than the premonition of regret. This is the first lesson of history.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/that-hope-is-little-more-than-the-premonition-of-regret-this-is-the/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [“For all things there is a toll. We pay in breaths, and our purse is soon empty.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/for-all-things-there-is-a-toll-we-pay-in-breaths-and-our-purse-is/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [I wanted a literate, socially intricate, and cosmopolitan world - something I could have fun destroying.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/i-wanted-a-literate-socially-intricate-and-cosmopolitan-world/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [“Only madmen and historians, he said, believe their lies.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/only-madmen-and-historians-he-said-believe-their-lies/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [“Sleep, when deep enough, is indistinguishable from vigilance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/sleep-when-deep-enough-is-indistinguishable-from-vigilance/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

[Explore all 110 R. Scott Bakker quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

## More Bored quotes

> [Normal is so Boring!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/normal-is-so-boring/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [“If you're focused, you can't get bored.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alin-sav/if-you-re-focused-you-can-t-get-bored/)

[Alin Sav](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alin-sav/)

> [I am fairly tired--bored beyond endurance--by the world we live in, and its ideals, and am ready to say so, not violently, but kindly,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-adams/i-am-fairly-tired-bored-beyond-endurance-by-the-world-we-live-in-and/)

[Henry Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-adams/)

> [Being blonde, for me, means never having to say: 'I'll have the honey-striped half-head of highlights for £200,' to a bored colourist in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-johnson/being-blonde-for-me-means-never-having-to-say-i-ll-have-the-honey/)

[Rachel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-johnson/)

> [Someone else who liked what I did might turn around and say, "She's reworking and rethinking everything. She could just be making blankets now,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracey-emin/someone-else-who-liked-what-i-did-might-turn-around-and-say-she-s/)

[Tracey Emin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracey-emin/)

> [ There was another reason \[she\] took her books whenever they went away. They were her home when she was somewhere strange. They were familiar… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornelia-funke/there-was-another-reason-she-took-her-books-whenever-they-went-away/)

[Cornelia Funke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornelia-funke/)

> [I'm bored of being bored because being bored is very boring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sachithra/i-m-bored-of-being-bored-because-being-bored-is-very-boring/)

[Sachithra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sachithra/)

> [When I get bored I say fck the police](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/when-i-get-bored-i-say-fck-the-police/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [I always knew that I was kind of bored; the regular life of a child didn't fit me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christina-ricci/i-always-knew-that-i-was-kind-of-bored-the-regular-life-of-a-child/)

[Christina Ricci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christina-ricci/)

> [The only activity a cynic will find contagious is yawning, that is, with other people, at other people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/criss-jami/the-only-activity-a-cynic-will-find-contagious-is-yawning-that-is/)

[Criss Jami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/criss-jami/)

> [When people look in the mirror, sometimes they see are their shells in the mirror, nothing else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/when-people-look-in-the-mirror-sometimes-they-see-are-their-shells-in/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [I was taking all prints and I brought them to the Magnum meetings, trying the old Josef Koudelka trick: Give them to photographers, who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-van-agtmael/i-was-taking-all-prints-and-i-brought-them-to-the-magnum-meetings/)

[Peter van Agtmael](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-van-agtmael/)

> [“She wouldn't pick up a fight him just because she was bored.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainbow-rowell/she-wouldn-t-pick-up-a-fight-him-just-because-she-was-bored/)

[Rainbow Rowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainbow-rowell/)

> [...sometimes I get tired. Sometimes I get bored. And sometimes all I want, more than anything else in the world, is to go on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kiersten-white/sometimes-i-get-tired-sometimes-i-get-bored-and-sometimes-all-i-want/)

[Kiersten White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kiersten-white/)

> [I was sober for five years a long time ago and was just bored out of my tree.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-sheen/i-was-sober-for-five-years-a-long-time-ago-and-was-just-bored-out-of/)

[Charlie Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-sheen/)

[Browse all 2,067 Bored quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bored/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“He looked like a bored boy deciding whether to poke a dead fish.”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "R. Scott Bakker"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/he-looked-like-a-bored-boy-deciding-whether-to-poke-a-dead-fish/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Bored"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/he-looked-like-a-bored-boy-deciding-whether-to-poke-a-dead-fish/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e47/r-scott-bakker-4344_bored_he-looked-like-a-bored-boy-deciding-whet_3088314.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e47/r-scott-bakker-4344_bored_he-looked-like-a-bored-boy-deciding-whet_3088314.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e47/r-scott-bakker-4344_bored_he-looked-like-a-bored-boy-deciding-whet_3088314.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“He looked like a bored boy deciding whether to poke a dead fish.” — R. Scott Bakker",
                "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": "R. Scott Bakker",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "“He looked like a bored boy...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/he-looked-like-a-bored-boy-deciding-whether-to-poke-a-dead-fish/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/he-looked-like-a-bored-boy-deciding-whether-to-poke-a-dead-fish/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
