--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I think perhaps we want a more…" description: "\"“I think perhaps we want a more conscientious life. We're tired of drudging and sleeping and dying. We're tired of always deferring hope to the next ge..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d5d/sinclair-lewis-1945_hinduism_i-think-perhaps-we-want-a-more-conscient_139541.png" --- # I think perhaps we want a more conscientious life. We're… ![“I think perhaps we want a more conscientious life. We're tired of drudging and sleeping and dying. We're tired of always deferring hope to the next generation. We're tired of hearing the politicians and priests and cautious reformers (and the husbands!) coax us, 'Be calm! Be patient! Wait! We have…” quote by Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d5d/sinclair-lewis-1945_hinduism_i-think-perhaps-we-want-a-more-conscient_139541.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d5d/sinclair-lewis-1945_hinduism_i-think-perhaps-we-want-a-more-conscient_139541.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d5d/sinclair-lewis-1945_hinduism_i-think-perhaps-we-want-a-more-conscient_139541.png) > ““I think perhaps we want a more conscientious life. We're tired of drudging and sleeping and dying. We're tired of always deferring hope to the next generation. We're tired of hearing the politicians and priests and cautious reformers (and the husbands!) coax us, 'Be calm! Be patient! Wait! We have plans for a Utopia already made; just give us a bit more time and we'll produce it; trust us; we're wiser than you.' For ten thousand years they've said that. We want our Utopia now - and we're going to try our hands at it. All we want is - everything for all of us! For every housewife and every longshoreman and every Hindu nationalist and every teacher. We want everything. We sha'n't get it. So we sha'n't ever be content -”” [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People demand immediate utopia, rejecting endless promises of future perfection, leading to perpetual discontent. **In simple terms:** We want a perfect world now, not later. Key Takeaway Demand action now, not empty promises. Themes politics social change hope discontent Mood determined critical Type political philosophical When to use this quote - protest movements - policy reform - community organizing - public discourse Key Concepts utopianism activism generational justice Questions to Reflect On - What concrete steps can create a better future? - How do you balance hope with realism? A Different Perspective Idealism can overlook practical constraints. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Hinduism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hinduism/) [Hope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hope/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Next generation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/next-generation/) [Thousand years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thousand-years/) ## Related quotes > [I think perhaps we want a more conscious life. We're tired of drudging and sleeping and dying. 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Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) > [The Next Generation Space Telescope, which will be located much further away from the Earth than the Hubble Space Telescope presently is, will also…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-nicollier/the-next-generation-space-telescope-which-will-be-located-much/) [Claude Nicollier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-nicollier/) > [“Did you think of anyone else?” Enid had asked the folk of this household. “Did you think of the next generation that’ll have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carrie-vaughn/did-you-think-of-anyone-else-enid-had-asked-the-folk-of-this/) [Carrie Vaughn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carrie-vaughn/) > [I think leading by example is important, as I know the next generation is watching us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-skolnik/i-think-leading-by-example-is-important-as-i-know-the-next-generation/) [Michael Skolnik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-skolnik/) ## More by Sinclair Lewis > [“She found beauty in the children.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/she-found-beauty-in-the-children/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [What is Love? Listen! It is the rainbow that stands out, in all its glorious many-colored hues, illuminating and making glad again the dark…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/what-is-love-listen-it-is-the-rainbow-that-stands-out-in-all-its/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [When you think that most of us are doomed by divine grace to roast in hell, to say nothing of mortgages and hail and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/when-you-think-that-most-of-us-are-doomed-by-divine-grace-to-roast-in/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [He loved the people just as much as he feared and detested persons.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/he-loved-the-people-just-as-much-as-he-feared-and-detested-persons/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [“He had expected that traditionally Republican Vermont would give him too drearily easy a task in preaching Trowbridge. 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'What?' flatly.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/she-continued-it-to-hugh-darling-do-you-know-what-mother-and-you-are/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [Is it possible that nobody has ever known that there never has been a completely civilized man, and won't be for another thousand years?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/is-it-possible-that-nobody-has-ever-known-that-there-never-has-been-a/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [It might be the doing of Satan, in whom Aaron anxiously believed with all of his being except, perhaps, his mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/it-might-be-the-doing-of-satan-in-whom-aaron-anxiously-believed-with/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [“The author says one character's definition of a classic is any book he'd heard of before he was thirty.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/the-author-says-one-character-s-definition-of-a-classic-is-any-book/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [“Like all males, he hated to confess ignorance by asking directions,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/like-all-males-he-hated-to-confess-ignorance-by-asking-directions/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [Winter is not a season, it's an occupation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/winter-is-not-a-season-it-s-an-occupation/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [“Author sees the "congested idealism" of the generally discontent as reservoir that will support centralized power even while disagreeing with many specific provisions.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/author-sees-the-congested-idealism-of-the-generally-discontent-as/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [“The poor we have always with us, and the purpose of the Lord in providing the poor is to enable us of the better…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/the-poor-we-have-always-with-us-and-the-purpose-of-the-lord-in/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [Writing is just work-there's no secret. If you dictate or use a pen or type or write with your toes-it's still just work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/writing-is-just-work-there-s-no-secret-if-you-dictate-or-use-a-pen-or/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) [Explore all 196 Sinclair Lewis quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) ## More Hinduism quotes > [The Hindus have a peculiar slovenliness in business matters, not being sufficiently methodical and strict in keeping accounts etc.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/the-hindus-have-a-peculiar-slovenliness-in-business-matters-not-being/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [As our domestic fowls are said to have their original in the wild pheasant of India, so our domestic thoughts have their prototypes in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/as-our-domestic-fowls-are-said-to-have-their-original-in-the-wild/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [“Never praise oneself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bhagwan-swaminarayan/never-praise-oneself/) Bhagwan Swaminarayan > [By education I am an Englishman, by views an internationalist, by culture a Muslim and a Hindu only by accident of birth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jawaharlal-nehru/by-education-i-am-an-englishman-by-views-an-internationalist-by/) [Jawaharlal Nehru](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jawaharlal-nehru/) > [I don't look at anything. 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We've never seen ourselves as Hindus or Muslims or Christians or Buddhists.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/azim-premji/we-ve-always-seen-ourselves-as-indian-we-ve-never-seen-ourselves-as/) [Azim Premji](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/azim-premji/) > [Hinduism... gave itself no name, because it set itself no sectarian limits; it claimed no universal adhesion, asserted no sole infallible dogma, set up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sri-aurobindo/hinduism-gave-itself-no-name-because-it-set-itself-no-sectarian/) [Sri Aurobindo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sri-aurobindo/) > [Hinduism is not just a faith. 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