--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It was all so meaningless when I looked…" description: "\"“It was all so meaningless when I looked at it that way. It was meaningless in the same way as when I stood up from a game and then looked down on the ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/618/robin-hobb-489_meaningless_it-was-all-so-meaningless-when-i-looked_2730150.jpg" --- # It was all so meaningless when I looked at it that way. It… ![“It was all so meaningless when I looked at it that way. It was meaningless in the same way as when I stood up from a game and then looked down on the scatter of playing pieces, and realized that they all were just bits of polished stone on a wooden board marked with squares. All the meaning they'd…” quote by Robin Hobb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/618/robin-hobb-489_meaningless_it-was-all-so-meaningless-when-i-looked_2730150.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/618/robin-hobb-489_meaningless_it-was-all-so-meaningless-when-i-looked_2730150.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/618/robin-hobb-489_meaningless_it-was-all-so-meaningless-when-i-looked_2730150.jpg) > ““It was all so meaningless when I looked at it that way. It was meaningless in the same way as when I stood up from a game and then looked down on the scatter of playing pieces, and realized that they all were just bits of polished stone on a wooden board marked with squares. All the meaning they'd had moments before when I'd been trying to win a game were meanings that I'd imbued them with. Of themselves, neither they nor the board had any significance.”” [Robin Hobb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-hobb/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Games and their pieces are meaningless without the meanings we project onto them; significance is a human construct. **In simple terms:** Objects lack inherent meaning; we assign it. Key Takeaway Recognize the power of personal interpretation. Themes meaning subjectivity games existentialism creation Mood contemplative philosophical introspective Type existential literary When to use this quote - board games - creative projects - writing - artistic endeavors Key Concepts construction of reality personal narrative philosophy of meaning Questions to Reflect On - What do you assign meaning to? - When might letting go of meaning help? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on meaning can cause paralysis in decision‑making. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Game Meanings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/game-meanings-2948803/) [Meaningless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meaningless/) [Meaningless Looked](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meaningless-looked-2948801/) [Meaningless Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meaningless-way-2948802/) [Meanings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meanings/) ## Related quotes > [“Like everything that's any good, it has about twenty different meanings.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-powell/like-everything-that-s-any-good-it-has-about-twenty-different-meanings/) [Anthony Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-powell/) > [Who said car names don't have meanings ? ? ? FORD: For Only Rough Drivers. HYUNDAI: Hope You Understand nothing's Driveable And Inexpensive... .…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/syed-ahh/who-said-car-names-don-t-have-meanings-ford-for-only-rough-drivers/) [Syed Ahh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/syed-ahh/) > [“We shouldn’t ask if life has a meaning, we should ask to whom life has what kinds of meanings”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-e-sever/we-shouldn-t-ask-if-life-has-a-meaning-we-should-ask-to-whom-life-has/) [S.E. SEVER](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-e-sever/) > [All meanings, we know, depend on the key of interpretation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/all-meanings-we-know-depend-on-the-key-of-interpretation/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“ Alpha can refer to the first of something," said Kai, "or the beginning of everything . It can be attributed to a particularly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marissa-meyer/alpha-can-refer-to-the-first-of-something-said-kai-or-the-beginning/) [Marissa Meyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marissa-meyer/) > [“A woman's situation, i.e those meanings derived from the total context in which she comes to maturity, disposes her to apprehend her body not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/a-woman-s-situation-i-e-those-meanings-derived-from-the-total-context/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [“But the greatest cause of verbicide is the fact that most people are obviously far more anxious to express their approval and disapproval of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/but-the-greatest-cause-of-verbicide-is-the-fact-that-most-people-are/) [C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/) > [“From my book, Care for the Carer, An Alzheimer's Memoir "Is there a cure?" Jane asked repeatedly. This simple sentence had several possible meanings:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-camhi/from-my-book-care-for-the-carer-an-alzheimer-s-memoir-is-there-a-cure/) [Jeff Camhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-camhi/) > [“Words in the head are sticky and social creatures – when you finally pull one out, you're liable to get lots of bits of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-carlson/words-in-the-head-are-sticky-and-social-creatures-when-you-finally/) [Greg Carlson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-carlson/) > [It's meanings that we need to coax into our lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/it-s-meanings-that-we-need-to-coax-into-our-lives/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [I'm a product of a military dictatorship. Under a dictatorship, you cannot trust information or dispense it freely because of censorship. So Brazilians become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vik-muniz/i-m-a-product-of-a-military-dictatorship-under-a-dictatorship-you/) [Vik Muniz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vik-muniz/) > [I'm not against asking the audience to work, but I think what you have now is a sort of gratuitous deconstruction as a result…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-miller/i-m-not-against-asking-the-audience-to-work-but-i-think-what-you-have/) [Jonathan Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-miller/) > [The word good has many meanings...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/the-word-good-has-many-meanings/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [“Tonight A friendly breeze Will agitate roots of meanings. Wonder will flap its wings. Deep in the night, an insect Will gnaw At the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sohrab-sepehri/tonight-a-friendly-breeze-will-agitate-roots-of-meanings-wonder-will/) [Sohrab Sepehri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sohrab-sepehri/) > [Not sense data or atoms or electrons or packets of energy, but purposes, interests, and meanings, constitute the underlying facts of human experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/not-sense-data-or-atoms-or-electrons-or-packets-of-energy-but/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) ## More by Robin Hobb > [Boredom is vastly underrated. Boredom means that nothing is trying to kill you every day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-hobb/boredom-is-vastly-underrated-boredom-means-that-nothing-is-trying-to/) [Robin Hobb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-hobb/) > [“But that is not true for all folk. Some folk are meant to argue with fate. And win.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-hobb/but-that-is-not-true-for-all-folk-some-folk-are-meant-to-argue-with/) [Robin Hobb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-hobb/) > [“I tried to leave you alone, Fitz. To find what peace you could, even if it excluded me from your life.” Ten years ago,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-hobb/i-tried-to-leave-you-alone-fitz-to-find-what-peace-you-could-even-if/) [Robin Hobb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-hobb/) > [“Do you think you're taking Etta out of here?" "Yes," Kennit called over his shoulder up the sairs. "What about all these dead men?"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-hobb/do-you-think-you-re-taking-etta-out-of-here-yes-kennit-called-over/) [Robin Hobb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-hobb/) > [“A way out is a way in. Then,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-hobb/a-way-out-is-a-way-in-then/) [Robin Hobb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-hobb/) > [“Die in your dreams, wake up insane.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-hobb/die-in-your-dreams-wake-up-insane/) [Robin Hobb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-hobb/) > [“I felt a familiar squeezing in what I thought must be my heart. I had heard of being "heartbroken" or "heavy-hearted" but I had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-hobb/i-felt-a-familiar-squeezing-in-what-i-thought-must-be-my-heart-i-had/) [Robin Hobb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-hobb/) > [“They spoke of a dream of a child who bore the heart of a wolf.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-hobb/they-spoke-of-a-dream-of-a-child-who-bore-the-heart-of-a-wolf/) [Robin Hobb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-hobb/) > [“We all perish in our last attempt to live.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-hobb/we-all-perish-in-our-last-attempt-to-live/) [Robin Hobb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-hobb/) > [“There is always power in holding a secret.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-hobb/there-is-always-power-in-holding-a-secret/) [Robin Hobb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-hobb/) > [“... finally realizing that life was to be lived, rather than hoarded against an unseen tomorrow.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-hobb/finally-realizing-that-life-was-to-be-lived-rather-than-hoarded/) [Robin Hobb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-hobb/) > [“Why, I suddenly wondered, had I wasted all those hours I could have spent with her? Why hadn’t I gone with them, to listen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-hobb/why-i-suddenly-wondered-had-i-wasted-all-those-hours-i-could-have/) [Robin Hobb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-hobb/) > [“I think I made a better boy than I do a man, I admitted ruefully to the wolf. Why not wait until you've been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-hobb/i-think-i-made-a-better-boy-than-i-do-a-man-i-admitted-ruefully-to/) [Robin Hobb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-hobb/) > [“So, with all the wide world to choose from, you didn't choose at all. You simply stopped wandering one day”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-hobb/so-with-all-the-wide-world-to-choose-from-you-didn-t-choose-at-all/) [Robin Hobb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-hobb/) > [“I don't think I can stand it much longer,” he warned her. “Something will have to give way. And I fear it will be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-hobb/i-don-t-think-i-can-stand-it-much-longer-he-warned-her-something-will/) [Robin Hobb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-hobb/) [Explore all 500 Robin Hobb quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-hobb/) ## More Meaningless quotes > [“The only thing that belongs to us is our LIFE. Yet, we waste it in the pursuit of meaningless things that will never belong…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rvm/the-only-thing-that-belongs-to-us-is-our-life-yet-we-waste-it-in-the/) [RVM](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rvm/) > [I don't feel I have to write deep and meaningful songs; they can be light and meaningless. It has to do with the place…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-diamond/i-don-t-feel-i-have-to-write-deep-and-meaningful-songs-they-can-be/) [Neil Diamond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-diamond/) > [Without food, man at most can live but a few weeks; without it all other components of social justice are meaningless.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-borlaug/without-food-man-at-most-can-live-but-a-few-weeks-without-it-all/) [Norman Borlaug](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-borlaug/) > [The future and the past are equally meaningless because they are nebulous entities, times that do not exist, containing events which have no echo…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-lebbon/the-future-and-the-past-are-equally-meaningless-because-they-are/) [Tim Lebbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-lebbon/) > [“The question 'What was there before creation?' is meaningless. Time is a property of creation, therefore before creation there was no before creation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-duncan/the-question-what-was-there-before-creation-is-meaningless-time-is-a/) [Glen Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-duncan/) > [“...anything I do is trivial and meaningless because I'm not in a relationship and I don't have children.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dolly-alderton/anything-i-do-is-trivial-and-meaningless-because-i-m-not-in-a/) [Dolly Alderton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dolly-alderton/) > [Life is meaningless, but worth living, provided you recognize it's meaningless.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/life-is-meaningless-but-worth-living-provided-you-recognize-it-s/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [“Within the grand scale of things, sitting in a classroom day after day is so utterly meaningless and pointless that it actually makes his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tabitha-suzuma/within-the-grand-scale-of-things-sitting-in-a-classroom-day-after-day/) [Tabitha Suzuma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tabitha-suzuma/) > [We are going to die, as is everyone we adore - I hate this! But the question is, how do we live as women…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/we-are-going-to-die-as-is-everyone-we-adore-i-hate-this-but-the/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [Music. A meaningless acceleration in the rhythm of celestial experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/music-a-meaningless-acceleration-in-the-rhythm-of-celestial-experience/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [A creative writing workshop will contain students whose ambitions and abilities, whose conceptions of literature itself, are so diverse that what they have in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-cusk/a-creative-writing-workshop-will-contain-students-whose-ambitions-and/) [Rachel Cusk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-cusk/) > [We live not only in a world of thoughts, but also in a world of things. Words without experience are meaningless.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/we-live-not-only-in-a-world-of-thoughts-but-also-in-a-world-of-things/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [“After a tragedy, a farce. Philosophy enters into her power, and the earth returns under one's feet.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lev-shestov/after-a-tragedy-a-farce-philosophy-enters-into-her-power-and-the/) [Lev Shestov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lev-shestov/) > [life is meaningless unless you bring meaning to it; ... it is up to us to create our own existence. Unless you do something,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-alda/life-is-meaningless-unless-you-bring-meaning-to-it-it-is-up-to-us-to/) [Alan Alda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-alda/) > [If you let your mind run the show, it will devise some horrible story behind something as meaningless as the time of day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/senoraroy/if-you-let-your-mind-run-the-show-it-will-devise-some-horrible-story/) [Senoraroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/senoraroy/) [Browse all 1,098 Meaningless quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meaningless/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It was all so meaningless when I looked at it that way. It was meaningless in the same way as when I stood up from a game and then looked down on the scatter of playing pieces, and realized that they all were just bits of polished stone on a wooden board marked with squares. 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