--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: On the whole I consider the constant need…" description: "\"“On the whole I consider the constant need for delight and diversion in completely new things to be a sign of pettiness, lack of inner life, of estrang..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/13d/robert-walser-6307_inner-life_on-the-whole-i-consider-the-constant-nee_1966538.jpg" --- # On the whole I consider the constant need for delight and… ![“On the whole I consider the constant need for delight and diversion in completely new things to be a sign of pettiness, lack of inner life, of estrangement from nature, and of a mediocre or defective gift of understanding.” quote by Robert Walser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/13d/robert-walser-6307_inner-life_on-the-whole-i-consider-the-constant-nee_1966538.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/13d/robert-walser-6307_inner-life_on-the-whole-i-consider-the-constant-nee_1966538.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/13d/robert-walser-6307_inner-life_on-the-whole-i-consider-the-constant-nee_1966538.jpg) > ““On the whole I consider the constant need for delight and diversion in completely new things to be a sign of pettiness, lack of inner life, of estrangement from nature, and of a mediocre or defective gift of understanding.”” [Robert Walser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-walser/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Constant craving for novelty signals shallow inner life and disconnect from nature, indicating limited understanding. **In simple terms:** Seeking new things constantly shows shallow depth. Key Takeaway Cultivate deeper inner life. Themes self‑reflection authenticity nature Mood contemplative critical Type philosophical reflective When to use this quote - personal growth - creative work - mindfulness - education Key Concepts philosophy psychology existentialism Questions to Reflect On - How does novelty affect your sense of self? - What deeper practices can replace constant diversion? A Different Perspective May overlook the value of routine and mastery. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Inner life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inner-life/) [Joy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/joy/) [Learning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learning/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Materialism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/materialism/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [New things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new-things/) [Pettiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pettiness/) ## Related quotes > [We are all healers who can reach out and offer health, and we are all patients in constant need of help.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-nouwen/we-are-all-healers-who-can-reach-out-and-offer-health-and-we-are-all/) [Henri Nouwen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-nouwen/) > [John was in constant need of proof of love and security and he was constantly testing people for that proof.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-lennon/john-was-in-constant-need-of-proof-of-love-and-security-and-he-was/) [Cynthia Lennon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-lennon/) > [While analyzing so many people I realized the constant need of a mother, or a father, or a god (the same thing) is really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/while-analyzing-so-many-people-i-realized-the-constant-need-of-a/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [This constant need for dominance and strength, having walls up, this kind of silent broker cowboy who needs to have something that can be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rege-jean-page/this-constant-need-for-dominance-and-strength-having-walls-up-this/) [Rege-Jean Page](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rege-jean-page/) > [The constant need to move on, and to document progress, in normal schools means that education tends to be cut up into bite sized…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-claxton/the-constant-need-to-move-on-and-to-document-progress-in-normal/) [Guy Claxton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-claxton/) > [Imaginary pains are by far the most real we suffer, since we feel a constant need for them and invent them because there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-m-cioran/imaginary-pains-are-by-far-the-most-real-we-suffer-since-we-feel-a/) [Emile M. Cioran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-m-cioran/) > [“We have constant need of prayer, therefore, in the same way that we need air to breathe. Prayer holds the key to our true…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maurus-fitzgerald/we-have-constant-need-of-prayer-therefore-in-the-same-way-that-we/) Maurus Fitzgerald > [You can never get to a place of comfort in this business. As soon as you hit that little cushy spot, somebody's gonna kick…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlize-theron/you-can-never-get-to-a-place-of-comfort-in-this-business-as-soon-as/) [Charlize Theron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlize-theron/) > [“wonder: How much of what I feel as neglect has been fueled by the force of my constant need? How much can any person…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kiera-van-gelder/wonder-how-much-of-what-i-feel-as-neglect-has-been-fueled-by-the/) [Kiera Van Gelder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kiera-van-gelder/) > [“The constant need to make everyone else happy at the cost of your own happiness will destroy you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-winget/the-constant-need-to-make-everyone-else-happy-at-the-cost-of-your-own/) [Larry Winget](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-winget/) > [That constant need to do better and better is what drove me to start more and more companies - but it wasn't enough.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justin-kan/that-constant-need-to-do-better-and-better-is-what-drove-me-to-start/) [Justin Kan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justin-kan/) > [There is a constant need for new systems and new software.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marc-andreessen/there-is-a-constant-need-for-new-systems-and-new-software/) [Marc Andreessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marc-andreessen/) > [“Tranquility is a rare state in a society is impacted by the constant need for action or reaction.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-redhead/tranquility-is-a-rare-state-in-a-society-is-impacted-by-the-constant/) [Steven Redhead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-redhead/) > [I think you are a liar because you think you know what is true. You think you feel what is true. But you do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-croggon/i-think-you-are-a-liar-because-you-think-you-know-what-is-true-you/) [Alison Croggon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-croggon/) > [Pettiness is the tendency of people without large purposes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-will/pettiness-is-the-tendency-of-people-without-large-purposes/) [George Will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-will/) ## More by Robert Walser > [“My cheeks are red hot, my lip still trembles, because I sent my heart to speak; every word of it delusional and awkward, an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-walser/my-cheeks-are-red-hot-my-lip-still-trembles-because-i-sent-my-heart/) [Robert Walser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-walser/) > [“That's what's so miraculous about the city: each person's bearing and behavior vanish among these thousand sorts, observations are fleeting, judgements swift, and forgetting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-walser/that-s-what-s-so-miraculous-about-the-city-each-person-s-bearing-and/) [Robert Walser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-walser/) > [“What honest man was never in his life without sustenance? And what human being has ever seen as the years pass his hopes, plans,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-walser/what-honest-man-was-never-in-his-life-without-sustenance-and-what/) [Robert Walser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-walser/) > [“Siento que la vida exige emociones, no reflexiones.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-walser/siento-que-la-vida-exige-emociones-no-reflexiones/) [Robert Walser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-walser/) > [“Wherever poesie can be felt, all poetic touches are superfluous.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-walser/wherever-poesie-can-be-felt-all-poetic-touches-are-superfluous/) [Robert Walser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-walser/) > [“Perhaps there were a few repetitions here and there. But I would like to confess that I consider nature and human life to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-walser/perhaps-there-were-a-few-repetitions-here-and-there-but-i-would-like/) [Robert Walser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-walser/) > [Questions are usually more beautiful, more significant than their resolutions, which in fact never resolve them, are never sufficient to satisfy us, whereas from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-walser/questions-are-usually-more-beautiful-more-significant-than-their/) [Robert Walser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-walser/) > [How uninteresting interesting things can become.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-walser/how-uninteresting-interesting-things-can-become/) [Robert Walser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-walser/) > [Your very eyes. How they have always been for me the command to obey, the inviolable and beautiful commandment. No, no, I'm not telling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-walser/your-very-eyes-how-they-have-always-been-for-me-the-command-to-obey/) [Robert Walser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-walser/) > [I don't want a future, I want a present. To me this appears of greater value. You have a future only when you have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-walser/i-don-t-want-a-future-i-want-a-present-to-me-this-appears-of-greater/) [Robert Walser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-walser/) > [“They should not clench their fists, it’s my longing that’s drawing me near to them; they should not stand there full of rage, my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-walser/they-should-not-clench-their-fists-it-s-my-longing-that-s-drawing-me/) [Robert Walser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-walser/) > [ I am not here \[in the sanitarium\] to write, but to be mad. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-walser/i-am-not-here-in-the-sanitarium-to-write-but-to-be-mad/) [Robert Walser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-walser/) > [“Is it our calling to understand each other, or are we not, rather, called upon to misjudge one another, to prevent there being a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-walser/is-it-our-calling-to-understand-each-other-or-are-we-not-rather/) [Robert Walser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-walser/) > [“A park like this resembles a large, silent, isolated room. In fact it's always Sunday in a park, by the way, for it's always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-walser/a-park-like-this-resembles-a-large-silent-isolated-room-in-fact-it-s/) [Robert Walser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-walser/) > [“Money rules the world, and doubtless also, here and there, the bit of love within it, and when love turns to hate, one remembers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-walser/money-rules-the-world-and-doubtless-also-here-and-there-the-bit-of/) [Robert Walser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-walser/) [Explore all 83 Robert Walser quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-walser/) ## More Inner life quotes > [“if you act (and dress) as if you have a fascinating inner life, you may soon find that you actually do—and that you feel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pamela-druckerman/if-you-act-and-dress-as-if-you-have-a-fascinating-inner-life-you-may/) [Pamela Druckerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pamela-druckerman/) > [For me, psychology and art interact and overlap in so many ways. Psychology is the study of the inner life and creativity comes from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kelly-carlin-mccall/for-me-psychology-and-art-interact-and-overlap-in-so-many-ways/) [Kelly Carlin-McCall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kelly-carlin-mccall/) > [World power means nothing. Only the unsayable, jeweled inner life matters.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumi/world-power-means-nothing-only-the-unsayable-jeweled-inner-life/) [Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumi/) > [The problem of education is twofold: first to know, and then to utter. Everyone who lives any semblance of an inner life thinks more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-louis-stevenson/the-problem-of-education-is-twofold-first-to-know-and-then-to-utter/) [Robert Louis Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-louis-stevenson/) > [“A woman carries her inner life—lugs it around or holds it in like fumes that both poison and bless her—while nourishing another’s inner life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/durga-chew-bose/a-woman-carries-her-inner-life-lugs-it-around-or-holds-it-in-like/) [Durga Chew-Bose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/durga-chew-bose/) > [Music is our myth of the inner life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susanne-katherina-langer/music-is-our-myth-of-the-inner-life/) [Susanne Katherina Langer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susanne-katherina-langer/) > [ There were really funny characteristics about this guy \[Richard Nixon\], chief of which would be that he seemed to devote about 85 percent of… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-shearer/there-were-really-funny-characteristics-about-this-guy-richard-nixon/) [Harry Shearer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-shearer/) > [“We live in the most ‘connected’ time ever… yet loneliness is everywhere.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roche-uccello/we-live-in-the-most-connected-time-ever-yet-loneliness-is-everywhere/) [Roche Uccello](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roche-uccello/) > [There is not a place to which the Christian can withdraw from the world, whether it be outwardly or in the sphere of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/there-is-not-a-place-to-which-the-christian-can-withdraw-from-the/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) > [Teaching, like any truly human activity, emerges from one's inwardness, for better or worse. As I teach I project the condition of my soul…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/parker-j-palmer/teaching-like-any-truly-human-activity-emerges-from-one-s-inwardness/) [Parker J. Palmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/parker-j-palmer/) > [Art, when inspired with love, leads to higher realms. Love art and that art will open for you the inner life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meher-baba/art-when-inspired-with-love-leads-to-higher-realms-love-art-and-that/) [Meher Baba](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meher-baba/) > [I thought it would be really cool to show the world the inner life of someone like me, who doesn't have a huge personality,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lopez/i-thought-it-would-be-really-cool-to-show-the-world-the-inner-life-of/) [Robert Lopez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lopez/) > [“Here is a masterly study of the inner life by a heart thirsting after God, eager to grasp at least the outskirts of His…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-w-tozer/here-is-a-masterly-study-of-the-inner-life-by-a-heart-thirsting-after/) [A.W. Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-w-tozer/) > [One cannot be a good historian of the outward, visible world without giving some thought to the hidden, private life of ordinary people; and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/one-cannot-be-a-good-historian-of-the-outward-visible-world-without/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“All children in those small-town, unhurried days had a vast inner life going on in the movies. Children were allowed to go without chaperone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/all-children-in-those-small-town-unhurried-days-had-a-vast-inner-life/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) [Browse all 445 Inner life quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inner-life/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“On the whole I consider the constant need for delight and diversion in completely new things to be a sign of pettiness, lack of inner life, of estrangement from nature, and of a mediocre or defective gift of understanding.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Robert Walser" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-walser/on-the-whole-i-consider-the-constant-need-for-delight-and-diversion/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Inner life" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-walser/on-the-whole-i-consider-the-constant-need-for-delight-and-diversion/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/13d/robert-walser-6307_inner-life_on-the-whole-i-consider-the-constant-nee_1966538.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/13d/robert-walser-6307_inner-life_on-the-whole-i-consider-the-constant-nee_1966538.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/13d/robert-walser-6307_inner-life_on-the-whole-i-consider-the-constant-nee_1966538.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“On the whole I consider the constant need for delight and diversion in completely new things to be a sign of…” — Robert Walser", "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": "Robert Walser", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-walser/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“On the whole I consider the...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-walser/on-the-whole-i-consider-the-constant-need-for-delight-and-diversion/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-walser/on-the-whole-i-consider-the-constant-need-for-delight-and-diversion/#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 } } ] } ```