--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Superficial to understand the journal as…" description: "\"Superficial to understand the journal as just a receptable for one's private, secret thoughts - like a confidante who is deaf, dumb, and illiterate. In..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/603/susan-sontag-332_alas_superficial-to-understand-the-journal-as_430783.jpg" --- # Superficial to understand the journal as just a receptable… ![“Superficial to understand the journal as just a receptable for one's private, secret thoughts - like a confidante who is deaf, dumb, and illiterate. In the journal I do not just express myself more openly than I could to any person; I create myself. ... The journal is a vehicle for my sense of…” quote by Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/603/susan-sontag-332_alas_superficial-to-understand-the-journal-as_430783.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/603/susan-sontag-332_alas_superficial-to-understand-the-journal-as_430783.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/603/susan-sontag-332_alas_superficial-to-understand-the-journal-as_430783.jpg) > “Superficial to understand the journal as just a receptable for one's private, secret thoughts - like a confidante who is deaf, dumb, and illiterate. In the journal I do not just express myself more openly than I could to any person; I create myself. ... The journal is a vehicle for my sense of selfhood. It represents me as emotionally and spiritually independent. Therefore (alas) it does not simply record my actual, daily life but rather - in many cases - offers an alternative to it.” [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. Journaling acts as a reflective tool that shapes identity, not merely records experiences. **In simple terms:** Writing in a journal creates and defines self. Key Takeaway Use journaling to explore and construct personal identity. Themes identity self‑reflection creativity Mood introspective thoughtful Type reflective philosophical When to use this quote - personal growth - therapy - creative writing - self‑discovery Key Concepts psychology narrative identity Questions to Reflect On - How does journaling change your self‑perception? - What aspects of self are you most honest about? A Different Perspective Journals may reinforce self‑myths rather than truth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Alas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alas/) [Alternatives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alternatives/) [Cases](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cases/) [Create Journal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/create-journal-3797111/) [Daily life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/daily-life/) [Deaf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deaf/) [Doe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doe/) [Dumb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dumb/) [Express Myself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/express-myself/) [Illiterate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/illiterate/) [Illiterate Journal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/illiterate-journal-3797112/) [Independent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/independent/) [Journal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/journal/) [Journal Just](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/journal-just-1148939/) [Journaling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/journaling/) [Keeping a journal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/keeping-a-journal/) [Offers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/offers/) [Persons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/persons/) [Records](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/records/) [Secret](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/secret/) [Secret thoughts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/secret-thoughts/) [Sense of self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sense-of-self/) [Superficial](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/superficial/) [Understand Journal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understand-journal-3797110/) [Vehicle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vehicle/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [In the journal I do not just express myself more openly than I could to any person; I create myself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/in-the-journal-i-do-not-just-express-myself-more-openly-than-i-could/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [I fall back on this journal just as some other poor devil takes to drink.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/proverb/i-fall-back-on-this-journal-just-as-some-other-poor-devil-takes-to/) [Proverb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/proverb/) > [Writing in a journal is just a stall, a waiting game, a way to tell yourself that you're working when you're not, that you're…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-masello/writing-in-a-journal-is-just-a-stall-a-waiting-game-a-way-to-tell/) [Robert Masello](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-masello/) > [“It seems as if I can only thing if I write my journal, it just connects the part of my head that is busy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-e-turner/it-seems-as-if-i-can-only-thing-if-i-write-my-journal-it-just/) [Nancy E. Turner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nancy-e-turner/) > [For my 100-day project, I decided to keep a journal. It could be just one sentence. Often, it was just one word, occasionally the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suleika-jaouad/for-my-100-day-project-i-decided-to-keep-a-journal-it-could-be-just/) [Suleika Jaouad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suleika-jaouad/) > [My mom bought me an 'Anne of Green Gables' journal. And I just remember thinking it was so cool, and I could write anything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jurnee-smollett-bell/my-mom-bought-me-an-anne-of-green-gables-journal-and-i-just-remember/) [Jurnee Smollett-Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jurnee-smollett-bell/) > [I have a journal that I bought, a separate journal just to specifically write about my boyfriend. And in the very first page, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ethel-cain/i-have-a-journal-that-i-bought-a-separate-journal-just-to/) [Ethel Cain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ethel-cain/) > [I keep a journal and just kind of take notes. I don't really so much sit down and write songs - I just take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/courtney-barnett/i-keep-a-journal-and-just-kind-of-take-notes-i-don-t-really-so-much/) [Courtney Barnett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/courtney-barnett/) > [I have a little pocket journal. I just put the pen on the paper and just go.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tash-sultana/i-have-a-little-pocket-journal-i-just-put-the-pen-on-the-paper-and/) [Tash Sultana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tash-sultana/) > [In my head, I want to be that romantic songwriter that writes everything in a journal, but I just don't find it practical. When…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/griff/in-my-head-i-want-to-be-that-romantic-songwriter-that-writes/) [Griff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/griff/) > [When I write notes in my journal, I'm just trying to scribble down as much as possible. Later on, I decide whether to follow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natasha-trethewey/when-i-write-notes-in-my-journal-i-m-just-trying-to-scribble-down-as/) [Natasha Trethewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natasha-trethewey/) > [The secret thoughts of a man run over all things, holy, profane, clean, obscene, grave, and light, without shame or blame.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/the-secret-thoughts-of-a-man-run-over-all-things-holy-profane-clean/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/) > [“In a way, though, the boy was right. Every human being on the face of the earth has a steel plate in his head,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sue-monk-kidd/in-a-way-though-the-boy-was-right-every-human-being-on-the-face-of/) [Sue Monk Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sue-monk-kidd/) > [“Secret thoughts and an open countenance will take you safely the world over”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-chesterfield/secret-thoughts-and-an-open-countenance-will-take-you-safely-the/) [Lord Chesterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-chesterfield/) > [Take me with you - with you in your dreams Far till to the silver clouds, Reach me your hand And let us move…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fatima-fatimzahra/take-me-with-you-with-you-in-your-dreams-far-till-to-the-silver/) [Fatima Fatimzahra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fatima-fatimzahra/) ## 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 Alas quotes > [“Muchos de los ángeles de Dios no tienen alas...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jos-n-harris/muchos-de-los-ngeles-de-dios-no-tienen-alas/) [José N. Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jos-n-harris/) > [We are all potentially such sick men. The sanest and best of us are of one clay with lunatics and prison-inmates. And whenever we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/we-are-all-potentially-such-sick-men-the-sanest-and-best-of-us-are-of/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [Alas, you don't need monsters for monstrous deeds to be accomplished.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zygmunt-bauman/alas-you-don-t-need-monsters-for-monstrous-deeds-to-be-accomplished/) [Zygmunt Bauman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zygmunt-bauman/) > [Time, time - that is our greatest master! Alas, like Ugolino, time devours its own children.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hector-berlioz/time-time-that-is-our-greatest-master-alas-like-ugolino-time-devours/) [Hector Berlioz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hector-berlioz/) > [Removing prejudices is, alas! too often removing the boundary of a delightful near prospect in order to let in a shockingly extensive one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sir-fulke-greville/removing-prejudices-is-alas-too-often-removing-the-boundary-of-a/) [Sir Fulke Greville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sir-fulke-greville/) > [Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-pharcellus-church/yes-virginia-there-is-a-santa-claus-he-exists-as-certainly-as-love/) [Francis Pharcellus Church](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-pharcellus-church/) > [Alas, Postumus, the fleeting years slip by, nor will piety give any stay to wrinkles and pressing old age and untamable death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/alas-postumus-the-fleeting-years-slip-by-nor-will-piety-give-any-stay/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [Sensible Catholics have for generations been ignoring the views on contraception held by reactionary old men in the Vatican, but alas, since it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-c-grayling/sensible-catholics-have-for-generations-been-ignoring-the-views-on/) [A.C. Grayling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-c-grayling/) > [The flesh is sad, alas, and I have read all the books.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-phane-mallarm/the-flesh-is-sad-alas-and-i-have-read-all-the-books/) [Stephane Mallarme](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-phane-mallarm/) > [Alas! all music jars when the soul's out of tune.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-de-cervantes/alas-all-music-jars-when-the-soul-s-out-of-tune/) [Miguel de Cervantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel-de-cervantes/) > [In spite of the honestest efforts to annihilate my I-ity, or merge it in what the world doubtless considers my better half, I still…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-welsh-carlyle/in-spite-of-the-honestest-efforts-to-annihilate-my-i-ity-or-merge-it/) [Jane Welsh Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-welsh-carlyle/) > [The dumpling is indeed of more ancient institution, and of foreign origin; but alas, what were those dumplings? Nothing but a few lentils sodden…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-arbuthnot/the-dumpling-is-indeed-of-more-ancient-institution-and-of-foreign/) [John Arbuthnot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-arbuthnot/) > [“World is so beautiful, but alas! There are so many assholes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-f-moonzajer/world-is-so-beautiful-but-alas-there-are-so-many-assholes/) [M.F. Moonzajer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-f-moonzajer/) > [Ideally a painter (and, generally, an artist) should not become conscious of his insights: without taking the detour through his reflective processes, and incomprehensibly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/ideally-a-painter-and-generally-an-artist-should-not-become-conscious/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [Alas! we makeA ladder of our thoughts, where angels step,But sleep ourselves at the foot: our high resolvesLook down upon our slumbering acts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/letitia-elizabeth-landon/alas-we-makea-ladder-of-our-thoughts-where-angels-step-but-sleep/) [Letitia Elizabeth Landon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/letitia-elizabeth-landon/) [Browse all 453 Alas quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alas/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Superficial to understand the journal as just a receptable for one's private, secret thoughts - like a confidante who is deaf, dumb, and illiterate. 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