--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: One way to escape the universe in which…" description: "\"One way to escape the universe in which everything is a kind of media cartoon is to write about the part of your life that doesn't feel like a cartoon,..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/87b/robert-hass-3548_cartoon_one-way-to-escape-the-universe-in-which_1884591.png" --- # One way to escape the universe in which everything is a… ![“One way to escape the universe in which everything is a kind of media cartoon is to write about the part of your life that doesn't feel like a cartoon, and how the cartoon comes into it.” quote by Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/87b/robert-hass-3548_cartoon_one-way-to-escape-the-universe-in-which_1884591.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/87b/robert-hass-3548_cartoon_one-way-to-escape-the-universe-in-which_1884591.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/87b/robert-hass-3548_cartoon_one-way-to-escape-the-universe-in-which_1884591.png) > “One way to escape the universe in which everything is a kind of media cartoon is to write about the part of your life that doesn't feel like a cartoon, and how the cartoon comes into it.” [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote suggests that writing authentic, non‑cartoonish experiences can break the pervasive media‑driven narrative and reveal deeper truth. **In simple terms:** Write real life to escape media cartooniness. Key Takeaway Ground your writing in genuine moments. Themes authenticity media criticism self‑reflection Mood reflective critical introspective Type literary philosophical personal. When to use this quote - journalism - creative nonfiction - therapy - social media detox Key Concepts narrative truth cartoon metaphor personal voice Questions to Reflect On - How can you identify the “non‑cartoon” parts of your day? - What media habits reinforce the cartoon view? A Different Perspective Cartoon metaphor may oversimplify complex realities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Comic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/comic/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Media](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/media/) [Universe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/universe/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [Some of my favorite media is the still cartoon that you can sit and study. You can get amazing metaphors across really quickly. I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-peterson/some-of-my-favorite-media-is-the-still-cartoon-that-you-can-sit-and/) [Bob Peterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-peterson/) > [Everybody has a cartoon of themselves. Mine is: I write very fast, and I'm ruthlessly efficient with my time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-remnick/everybody-has-a-cartoon-of-themselves-mine-is-i-write-very-fast-and-i/) [David Remnick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-remnick/) > [B\*tch you're like a cartoon, fake as f\*ck.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angelina-adiza/b-tch-you-re-like-a-cartoon-fake-as-f-ck/) Angelina Adiza > [I'm like a cartoon! I'll look this way when I'm eighty. I can see it now, people will be rolling me around in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dolly-parton/i-m-like-a-cartoon-i-ll-look-this-way-when-i-m-eighty-i-can-see-it/) [Dolly Parton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dolly-parton/) > [Weird, but sometimes I feel more like my cartoon character than I do Lizzie because she's a little more edgy and snappy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-duff/weird-but-sometimes-i-feel-more-like-my-cartoon-character-than-i-do/) [Hilary Duff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-duff/) > [“What kind of name is Phineas? Sounds like a cartoon character.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-riordan/what-kind-of-name-is-phineas-sounds-like-a-cartoon-character/) [Rick Riordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-riordan/) > [I didn't want to start acting like a cartoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachael-leigh-cook/i-didn-t-want-to-start-acting-like-a-cartoon/) [Rachael Leigh Cook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachael-leigh-cook/) > [You work like hell to get yourself ahead in the business. You could go anywhere before, and suddenly you can't go anywhere. It's like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-redford/you-work-like-hell-to-get-yourself-ahead-in-the-business-you-could-go/) [Robert Redford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-redford/) > [Like a cartoon world, where the figures are flat and outlined in black, jerking through some kind of goofy story that might be real…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-kesey/like-a-cartoon-world-where-the-figures-are-flat-and-outlined-in-black/) [Ken Kesey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-kesey/) > [No health care for poor kids? You know, I thought something like that was only done by cartoon villains. You're (Pres. Bush) slowly going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-stewart/no-health-care-for-poor-kids-you-know-i-thought-something-like-that/) [Jon Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-stewart/) > [The rock-star thing became very destructive, like, wow. I didn't know what I was doing. I just kind of became that thing. The hair,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pamela-anderson/the-rock-star-thing-became-very-destructive-like-wow-i-didn-t-know/) [Pamela Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pamela-anderson/) > [I'm terrible about people wanting to take pictures with me. I'm a giant baby about it. They treat you like a cartoon. There's nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zach-galifianakis/i-m-terrible-about-people-wanting-to-take-pictures-with-me-i-m-a/) [Zach Galifianakis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zach-galifianakis/) > [You are in a strange world in pantomime, where you are allowed to step out and talk to the audience and do silly gags.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-allam/you-are-in-a-strange-world-in-pantomime-where-you-are-allowed-to-step/) [Roger Allam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-allam/) > [I'm a one-uniform kind of person; I like to establish the look of a character and just stick with that - like a cartoon.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chandra-wilson/i-m-a-one-uniform-kind-of-person-i-like-to-establish-the-look-of-a/) [Chandra Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chandra-wilson/) > [I think the nice thing about our show is that its not like a cartoon, where you hit somebody with a hammer and they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gillian-jacobs/i-think-the-nice-thing-about-our-show-is-that-its-not-like-a-cartoon/) [Gillian Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gillian-jacobs/) ## More by Robert Hass > [It's the same with this idea of a literate public, and also of a democracy in which people have access to and really read…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/it-s-the-same-with-this-idea-of-a-literate-public-and-also-of-a/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [All the new thinking is about loss. In this it resembles all the old thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/all-the-new-thinking-is-about-loss-in-this-it-resembles-all-the-old/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [Poetry, when it takes sides, when it proposes solutions, isn't any smarter than anybody else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/poetry-when-it-takes-sides-when-it-proposes-solutions-isn-t-any/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [When I was in college, I lost my scholarship one year. I had enough money for tuition, but not room and board. So I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/when-i-was-in-college-i-lost-my-scholarship-one-year-i-had-enough/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [As poet laureate, I was asked to be a spokesman for literature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/as-poet-laureate-i-was-asked-to-be-a-spokesman-for-literature/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [After Pope, in the beginning of Romanticism, people developed the idea that imagination rather than reason was a special form of knowledge and its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/after-pope-in-the-beginning-of-romanticism-people-developed-the-idea/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [They are the kinds of things that make us a community: attachment to place, attachment to local arts traditions, the ability to read literature,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/they-are-the-kinds-of-things-that-make-us-a-community-attachment-to/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [I think that were I in the middle of an obsession to write about, say, sudden oak death in California or my grandchildren or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/i-think-that-were-i-in-the-middle-of-an-obsession-to-write-about-say/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [I suppose there's something to be said for the sheer reinforcement of our beliefs, but really I think poetry is more useful as disenchantment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/i-suppose-there-s-something-to-be-said-for-the-sheer-reinforcement-of/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [If you were making poetry out of convictions - trying to convince other people - you were in the territory of rhetoric, and that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/if-you-were-making-poetry-out-of-convictions-trying-to-convince-other/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [Milton was the first person who really experimented with putting politics into sonnets.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/milton-was-the-first-person-who-really-experimented-with-putting/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [When I came into the job, funding for the humanities at the federal level was being drastically cut. This was the high tide of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/when-i-came-into-the-job-funding-for-the-humanities-at-the-federal/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [One may prefer spring and summer to autumn and winter, but preference is hardly to the point. The earth turns, and we live in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/one-may-prefer-spring-and-summer-to-autumn-and-winter-but-preference/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [“ A Faint Music by Robert Hass Maybe you need to write a poem about grace. When everything broken is broken, and everything dead…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/a-faint-music-by-robert-hass-maybe-you-need-to-write-a-poem-about/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [“When everything broken is broken, and everything dead is dead, and the hero has looked into the mirror with complete contempt, and the heroine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/when-everything-broken-is-broken-and-everything-dead-is-dead-and-the/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) [Explore all 128 Robert Hass quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) ## More Cartoon quotes > [I was always into cartoons and animation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nonito-donaire/i-was-always-into-cartoons-and-animation/) [Nonito Donaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nonito-donaire/) > [Somebody once told me that if you laugh at a George Bush joke, or you send an email cartoon to your friends that makes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-ramis/somebody-once-told-me-that-if-you-laugh-at-a-george-bush-joke-or-you/) [Harold Ramis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-ramis/) > [In Roslyn, Pennsylvania, we started our real-life family circus. They provided the inspiration for my cartoons. I provided the perspiration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bil-keane/in-roslyn-pennsylvania-we-started-our-real-life-family-circus-they/) [Bil Keane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bil-keane/) > [I just watched cartoons for three years, and that had a strong affect on me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johnny-depp/i-just-watched-cartoons-for-three-years-and-that-had-a-strong-affect/) [Johnny Depp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johnny-depp/) > [I enjoy the fact that we have these mobile comics now, which are sort of a cross between a comic book and an animated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stan-lee/i-enjoy-the-fact-that-we-have-these-mobile-comics-now-which-are-sort/) [Stan Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stan-lee/) > [I was invited to join the MGM cartoon department. But if I'd started work in animation I'd have had to take a cut in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-nicholson/i-was-invited-to-join-the-mgm-cartoon-department-but-if-i-d-started/) [Jack Nicholson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-nicholson/) > [It's not like we have a formula, but I think one of the reasons this show has survived is that it has a big…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trey-parker/it-s-not-like-we-have-a-formula-but-i-think-one-of-the-reasons-this/) [Trey Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trey-parker/) > [I always liked to draw, and when I was a kid, the Internet wasn't big at all, so I would go to Internet cafes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rich-brian/i-always-liked-to-draw-and-when-i-was-a-kid-the-internet-wasn-t-big/) [Rich Brian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rich-brian/) > [The thing that was interesting to me about Relationshapes - as opposed to most of the other cartoons I've ever made - was I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-rees/the-thing-that-was-interesting-to-me-about-relationshapes-as-opposed/) [David Rees](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-rees/) > [If you were to look at an old 'Betty Boop' cartoon or an 'Out of the Ink Well' animation, there are many things about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-seibert/if-you-were-to-look-at-an-old-betty-boop-cartoon-or-an-out-of-the-ink/) [Fred Seibert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fred-seibert/) > [I seem to thrive by destroying the last thing I did, in a kind of cartoon Nietzsche way. 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