--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Dissimulation, secretiveness, appear a…" description: "\"Dissimulation, secretiveness, appear a necessity to the melancholic. He has complex, often veiled relations with others. These feelings of superiority,..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d1/susan-sontag-332_able_dissimulation-secretiveness-appear-a-nec_1497654.jpg" --- # Dissimulation, secretiveness, appear a necessity to the… ![“Dissimulation, secretiveness, appear a necessity to the melancholic. He has complex, often veiled relations with others. These feelings of superiority, of inadequacy, of baffled feeling, of not being able to get what one wants, or even name it properly (or consistently) to oneself — these can be…” quote by Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d1/susan-sontag-332_able_dissimulation-secretiveness-appear-a-nec_1497654.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d1/susan-sontag-332_able_dissimulation-secretiveness-appear-a-nec_1497654.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d1/susan-sontag-332_able_dissimulation-secretiveness-appear-a-nec_1497654.jpg) > “Dissimulation, secretiveness, appear a necessity to the melancholic. He has complex, often veiled relations with others. These feelings of superiority, of inadequacy, of baffled feeling, of not being able to get what one wants, or even name it properly (or consistently) to oneself — these can be, it is felt they ought to be, masked by friendliness, or the most scrupulous manipulation.” [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People often hide true feelings behind friendliness, creating complex, veiled relationships and feeling both superior and inadequate. **In simple terms:** Masking true emotions leads to hidden, complicated interactions. Key Takeaway Recognize and address hidden emotions. Themes identity relationship self‑perception manipulation melancholy Mood reflective somber Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - personal relationships - therapy - workplace interactions Key Concepts psychology social dynamics self‑esteem Questions to Reflect On - What emotions are you masking? - How does hidden superiority affect your relationships? A Different Perspective Friendliness can conceal deeper issues, hindering authentic connection. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Able](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/able/) [Baffled](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/baffled/) [Consistently](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/consistently/) [Dissimulation Secretiveness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dissimulation-secretiveness-5482922/) [Feelings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feelings/) [Friendliness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friendliness/) [Inadequacy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inadequacy/) [Manipulation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/manipulation/) [Melancholic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/melancholic/) [Names](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/names/) [Necessity Melancholic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/necessity-melancholic-5482921/) [Oneself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/oneself/) [Relation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/relation/) [Secretiveness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/secretiveness-326188/) [Secretiveness Appear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/secretiveness-appear-5482923/) [Superiority](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/superiority/) [Want](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/want/) ## Related quotes > [Beware of the danger signals that flag problems: silence, secretiveness, or sudden outburst.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-porter/beware-of-the-danger-signals-that-flag-problems-silence-secretiveness/) [Sylvia Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-porter/) > [“In his secretiveness he didn’t merely resemble Newton, but actively exceeded him.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/in-his-secretiveness-he-didn-t-merely-resemble-newton-but-actively/) [Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) > [The origins of poetry are clearly rooted in obscurity, in secretiveness, in incantation, in spells that must at once invoke and protect, tell the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-ruefle/the-origins-of-poetry-are-clearly-rooted-in-obscurity-in/) [Mary Ruefle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-ruefle/) > [The secretiveness. The stealth. Those were obviously the aspects of cocaine use I was addicted to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-carlin/the-secretiveness-the-stealth-those-were-obviously-the-aspects-of/) [George Carlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-carlin/) > [It's almost as if the Swedes have two different personalities: one for winter and one for summer. 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When you lose your mother at 20 and then your father soon after, melancholia is part…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-kaas/i-am-not-sad-but-i-am-melancholic-when-you-lose-your-mother-at-20-and/) [Patricia Kaas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-kaas/) > [In Physic, things of melancholic hue and quality are used against melancholy, sour against sour, salt to remove salt humors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-milton/in-physic-things-of-melancholic-hue-and-quality-are-used-against/) [John Milton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-milton/) > [“Traits of melancholic type: talented, creative, analytical, idealistic, pessimistic, masochistic, critical and uncertain.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoe-mckey/traits-of-melancholic-type-talented-creative-analytical-idealistic/) [Zoe McKey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoe-mckey/) > [I know that New York is big - there are huge buildings - but, in fact, it's quite small and contained... I like it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-clementine/i-know-that-new-york-is-big-there-are-huge-buildings-but-in-fact-it-s/) [Benjamin Clementine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-clementine/) ## More by Susan Sontag > [the appetite for thinking must be regulated, as all sensible people know, for it may stifle one's life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-appetite-for-thinking-must-be-regulated-as-all-sensible-people/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [We are ruled by quotations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/we-are-ruled-by-quotations/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Unfortunately, moral beauty in art - like physical beauty in a person - is extremely perishable. 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The very working of this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/one-set-of-messages-of-the-society-we-live-in-is-consume-grow-do-what/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Currently intellectuals in Western Europe and North America are extremely demoralized and shaken by the rise of a virulent conservative tendency (which some have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/currently-intellectuals-in-western-europe-and-north-america-are/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [With the modern diseases (once TB, now cancer) the romantic idea that the disease expresses the character is invariably extended to assert that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/with-the-modern-diseases-once-tb-now-cancer-the-romantic-idea-that/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [As objects of contemplation, images of the atrocious can answer to several different needs. To steel oneself against weakness. To make oneself more numb.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/as-objects-of-contemplation-images-of-the-atrocious-can-answer-to/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The creative phase of an idea coincides with the period during which it insists, cantankerously, on its boundaries, on what makes it different; but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-creative-phase-of-an-idea-coincides-with-the-period-during-which/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Photographs objectify: they turn an event or a person into something that can be possessed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/photographs-objectify-they-turn-an-event-or-a-person-into-something/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [I'm not interested in giving aid and comfort to the neo­-Conservatives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/i-m-not-interested-in-giving-aid-and-comfort-to-the-neo-conservatives/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The feminist movement has been important to me because it's made me feel less odd and also because it has made me understand some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-feminist-movement-has-been-important-to-me-because-it-s-made-me/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) [Explore all 644 Susan Sontag quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## More Able quotes > [I am certain that children always know more than they are able to tell, and that makes the big difference between them and adults,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-lusseyran/i-am-certain-that-children-always-know-more-than-they-are-able-to/) [Jacques Lusseyran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-lusseyran/) > [I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/i-have-observed-this-in-my-experience-of-slavery-that-whenever-my/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [There is something about the South that accepts the supernatural. 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