---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: My library is an archive of longings."
description: "\"My library is an archive of longings.\" — Susan Sontag"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ee/susan-sontag-332_archives_my-library-is-an-archive-of-longings-141_1416105.jpg"
---

#  My library is an archive of longings.

![“My library is an archive of longings.” quote by Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ee/susan-sontag-332_archives_my-library-is-an-archive-of-longings-141_1416105.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ee/susan-sontag-332_archives_my-library-is-an-archive-of-longings-141_1416105.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ee/susan-sontag-332_archives_my-library-is-an-archive-of-longings-141_1416105.jpg)

> “My library is an archive of longings.”

[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.

The library holds our deepest desires, preserved like artifacts of yearning.

**In simple terms:** Libraries store our longings.

Key Takeaway

Recognize and explore your hidden wishes.

Themes

memory desire preservation

Mood

nostalgic contemplative

Type

literary philosophical

When to use this quote

- personal reflection
- creative writing
- research
- emotional processing

Key Concepts

archival psychology

Questions to Reflect On

- What longing do you keep hidden?
- How does preserving desire shape identity?

A Different Perspective

May romanticize longing, overlooking practical needs.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Archive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/archive-10393/) [Archive Longings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/archive-longings-5003299/) [Archives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/archives/) [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Library](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/library/) [Library Archive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/library-archive-5003300/) [Longing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/longing/) [Longings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/longings/) [Nostalgia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nostalgia/) [Reading](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reading/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/)

## Related quotes

> [“People like to be shown around archives. I don’t know why. I’m in the business, but one row of shelves stuffed with manila files…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/v-t-davy/people-like-to-be-shown-around-archives-i-don-t-know-why-i-m-in-the/)

[V.T. Davy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/v-t-davy/)

> [if it's not in my email archive, I don't know it](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cory-doctorow/if-it-s-not-in-my-email-archive-i-don-t-know-it/)

[Cory Doctorow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cory-doctorow/)

> [Research material can turn up anywhere - in a dusty old letter in an archive, a journal or some old photographs you find in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-sheridan/research-material-can-turn-up-anywhere-in-a-dusty-old-letter-in-an/)

[Sara Sheridan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-sheridan/)

> [Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever archive greatly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hussein-nishah/only-those-who-dare-to-fail-greatly-can-ever-archive-greatly/)

[Hussein Nishah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hussein-nishah/)

> [“There are times when one is with their camera that beautiful and magical things will come into view. Do not let them slip by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-paul-flateau/there-are-times-when-one-is-with-their-camera-that-beautiful-and/)

[Christopher Paul Flateau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-paul-flateau/)

> [How terrible it is to have no cares, no longings. I do not fit. I feel too deeply and want too much. As cages…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/libba-bray/how-terrible-it-is-to-have-no-cares-no-longings-i-do-not-fit-i-feel/)

[Libba Bray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/libba-bray/)

> [One of the greatest human longings is to be close to someone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-r-fischer/one-of-the-greatest-human-longings-is-to-be-close-to-someone/)

[Kathleen R Fischer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-r-fischer/)

> [Never cut loose from your longings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amos-oz/never-cut-loose-from-your-longings/)

[Amos Oz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amos-oz/)

> [...all his longings came out as a kind of disdain for what he longed for.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-hollinghurst/all-his-longings-came-out-as-a-kind-of-disdain-for-what-he-longed-for/)

[Alan Hollinghurst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-hollinghurst/)

> [It is a time when one’s spirit is subdued and sad, one knows not why; when the past seems a storm-swept desolation, life a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/it-is-a-time-when-one-s-spirit-is-subdued-and-sad-one-knows-not-why/)

[Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/)

> [The life of woman is full of woe, Toiling on and on and on, With breaking heart, and tearful eyes, The secret longings that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/the-life-of-woman-is-full-of-woe-toiling-on-and-on-and-on-with/)

[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/)

> [Sometimes it has to do with other longings that are much more existential. Sometimes you go elsewhere not because you are not liking the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-perel/sometimes-it-has-to-do-with-other-longings-that-are-much-more/)

[Esther Perel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-perel/)

> [“This is what we do with books: we put our longings and our questions and our angst onto trading ships and send them out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-darius/this-is-what-we-do-with-books-we-put-our-longings-and-our-questions/)

[Julian Darius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-darius/)

> [ “\[She was\] a creature full of eager, passionate longings for all that was beautiful and glad; thirsty for all knowledge; with an ear straining… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/she-was-a-creature-full-of-eager-passionate-longings-for-all-that-was/)

[George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/)

> [“Out of infinite longings rise finite deeds like weak fountains, falling back just in time and trembling. And yet, what otherwise remains silent, our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/out-of-infinite-longings-rise-finite-deeds-like-weak-fountains/)

[Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/)

## 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. It is nowhere so durable as artistic or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/unfortunately-moral-beauty-in-art-like-physical-beauty-in-a-person-is/)

[Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/)

> [Like the collector, the photographer is animated by a passion that, even when it appears to be for the present, is linked to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/like-the-collector-the-photographer-is-animated-by-a-passion-that/)

[Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/)

> [ Anthropology has always struggled with an intense, fascinated repulsion towards its subject… \[The anthropologist\] submits himself to the exotic to confirm his own inner… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/anthropology-has-always-struggled-with-an-intense-fascinated/)

[Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/)

> [“Why not eliminate schooling between age 12-16? It’s biologically + psychologically too turbulent a time to be cooped up inside, made to sit all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/why-not-eliminate-schooling-between-age-12-16-it-s-biologically/)

[Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/)

> [To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them that they can never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/to-photograph-people-is-to-violate-them-by-seeing-them-as-they-never/)

[Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/)

> [One set of messages of the society we live in is: Consume. Grow. Do what you want. Amuse yourselves. 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 Archive quotes

> [Research material can turn up anywhere - in a dusty old letter in an archive, a journal or some old photographs you find in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-sheridan/research-material-can-turn-up-anywhere-in-a-dusty-old-letter-in-an/)

[Sara Sheridan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-sheridan/)

> [“There are times when one is with their camera that beautiful and magical things will come into view. Do not let them slip by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-paul-flateau/there-are-times-when-one-is-with-their-camera-that-beautiful-and/)

[Christopher Paul Flateau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-paul-flateau/)

> [if it's not in my email archive, I don't know it](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cory-doctorow/if-it-s-not-in-my-email-archive-i-don-t-know-it/)

[Cory Doctorow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cory-doctorow/)

> [Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever archive greatly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hussein-nishah/only-those-who-dare-to-fail-greatly-can-ever-archive-greatly/)

[Hussein Nishah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hussein-nishah/)

> [“People like to be shown around archives. I don’t know why. I’m in the business, but one row of shelves stuffed with manila files…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/v-t-davy/people-like-to-be-shown-around-archives-i-don-t-know-why-i-m-in-the/)

[V.T. Davy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/v-t-davy/)

[Browse all 6 Archive quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/archive-10393/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "My library is an archive of longings.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Susan Sontag"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/my-library-is-an-archive-of-longings/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Archive"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/my-library-is-an-archive-of-longings/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ee/susan-sontag-332_archives_my-library-is-an-archive-of-longings-141_1416105.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ee/susan-sontag-332_archives_my-library-is-an-archive-of-longings-141_1416105.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ee/susan-sontag-332_archives_my-library-is-an-archive-of-longings-141_1416105.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“My library is an archive of longings.” — Susan Sontag",
                "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": "Susan Sontag",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "My library is an archive of...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/my-library-is-an-archive-of-longings/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/my-library-is-an-archive-of-longings/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
