--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: ... the advantages of being a postman…" description: "\"... the advantages of being a postman seemed more and more dubious. It is not a congenial profession for anyone who is at all sensitive, for people vis..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/630/sylvia-townsend-warner-7063_advantage_the-advantages-of-being-a-postman-seemed_925216.jpg" --- # ... the advantages of being a postman seemed more and more… ![“... the advantages of being a postman seemed more and more dubious. It is not a congenial profession for anyone who is at all sensitive, for people visit upon the postman all their first annoyance at receiving a couple of bills when they looked for a love-letter, and if a packet is insufficiently…” quote by Sylvia Townsend Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/630/sylvia-townsend-warner-7063_advantage_the-advantages-of-being-a-postman-seemed_925216.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/630/sylvia-townsend-warner-7063_advantage_the-advantages-of-being-a-postman-seemed_925216.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/630/sylvia-townsend-warner-7063_advantage_the-advantages-of-being-a-postman-seemed_925216.jpg) > “... the advantages of being a postman seemed more and more dubious. It is not a congenial profession for anyone who is at all sensitive, for people visit upon the postman all their first annoyance at receiving a couple of bills when they looked for a love-letter, and if a packet is insufficiently stamped they hand over the pennies as though to a despicable bandit, too outrageous to be denied, too groveling to be feared.” [Sylvia Townsend Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-townsend-warner/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The narrator finds the postal job increasingly unpleasant because it exposes personal vulnerabilities and societal irritations, making the work feel demeaning. **In simple terms:** Being a postman reveals personal annoyances and feels demeaning. Key Takeaway Consider if a job aligns with personal values. Themes work societal expectations personal sensitivity Mood reflective melancholic critical Type literary social commentary ironic When to use this quote - daily errands - customer service - handling complaints - receiving mail - managing expectations Key Concepts class critique irony social observation Questions to Reflect On - Do you stay in a role that conflicts with your values? - How can you find meaning in routine work? A Different Perspective The perspective may overlook the dignity and community role of postal workers. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Advantage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/advantage/) [Annoyance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/annoyance/) [Couple](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/couple/) [Love letter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love-letter/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Postman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/postman/) [Profession](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/profession/) ## Related quotes > [A letter is an unannounced visit, the postman the agent of rude surprises. One ought to reserve an hour a week for receiving letters…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/a-letter-is-an-unannounced-visit-the-postman-the-agent-of-rude/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [When other helpers fail and comforts flee, when the senses decay and the mind moves in a narrower and narrower circle, when the grasshopper…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-townsend-warner/when-other-helpers-fail-and-comforts-flee-when-the-senses-decay-and/) [Sylvia Townsend Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-townsend-warner/) > [True humility is not an abject, groveling, self-despising spirit; it is but a right estimate of ourselves as God sees us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tryon-edwards/true-humility-is-not-an-abject-groveling-self-despising-spirit-it-is/) [Tryon Edwards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tryon-edwards/) > [Many of us understand giving, but some of us may still be confused about the meaning of forgiveness. Some people may go through life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-templeton/many-of-us-understand-giving-but-some-of-us-may-still-be-confused/) [John Templeton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-templeton/) > [It is impossible for men engaged in low and groveling pursuits to have noble and generous sentiments. A man's thought must always follow his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/demosthenes/it-is-impossible-for-men-engaged-in-low-and-groveling-pursuits-to/) [Demosthenes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/demosthenes/) > [Groveling for connection from someone who compares you to Hitler is not good for a person's self-esteem.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-dickinson/groveling-for-connection-from-someone-who-compares-you-to-hitler-is/) [Amy Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-dickinson/) > [By avarice and selfishness, and a groveling habit, from which none of us is free, of regarding the soil as property, or the means…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/by-avarice-and-selfishness-and-a-groveling-habit-from-which-none-of/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [I'm just a no-good, scum sucking, nose picking, boot licking, sniveling, groveling, worthless hunk of slime.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-m-just-a-no-good-scum-sucking-nose-picking-boot-licking-sniveling/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I am very good at groveling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/megan-whalen-turner/i-am-very-good-at-groveling/) [Megan Whalen Turner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/megan-whalen-turner/) > [“Forget the garden rake. Remember that time you dived over the desk at that guy in moot court? Had him by the throat in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-stanton/forget-the-garden-rake-remember-that-time-you-dived-over-the-desk-at/) Mary Stanton > [What I got in Sunday school ... was simply a firm conviction that the Christian faith was full of palpable absurdities, and the Christian…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/what-i-got-in-sunday-school-was-simply-a-firm-conviction-that-the/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [But whereas a puppy will cringe away or roll on its back, groveling, a little boy may cover his shyness with nonchalance, with bravado,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/but-whereas-a-puppy-will-cringe-away-or-roll-on-its-back-groveling-a/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“Once we begin our journey, it would be appropriate if you show a groveling desire to please your employer.” Juliet raised her eyebrows loftily.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-jo-putney/once-we-begin-our-journey-it-would-be-appropriate-if-you-show-a/) [Mary Jo Putney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-jo-putney/) > [ We should try to learn the nature of \[the spirit of revelation\]. . . . This is the grand means that the Lord has… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorenzo-snow/we-should-try-to-learn-the-nature-of-the-spirit-of-revelation-this-is/) [Lorenzo Snow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorenzo-snow/) > [We have a very robust online business, but convincing luxury houses to join us on the website has involved a lot of groveling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-katz/we-have-a-very-robust-online-business-but-convincing-luxury-houses-to/) [Karen Katz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-katz/) ## More by Sylvia Townsend Warner > [One reason why my memory decays is that I have three cats, all so loving and insistent that they play cat's-cradle with every train…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-townsend-warner/one-reason-why-my-memory-decays-is-that-i-have-three-cats-all-so/) [Sylvia Townsend Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-townsend-warner/) > [Happiness is an immunity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-townsend-warner/happiness-is-an-immunity/) [Sylvia Townsend Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-townsend-warner/) > [I feel domesticity just slipping off me. It is a choice. Either one can let it go or one can intensify it. The people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-townsend-warner/i-feel-domesticity-just-slipping-off-me-it-is-a-choice-either-one-can/) [Sylvia Townsend Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-townsend-warner/) > [ \[On an anarchist acquaintance:\] Everything in appearance the most alarmist aunt could wish. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-townsend-warner/on-an-anarchist-acquaintance-everything-in-appearance-the-most/) [Sylvia Townsend Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-townsend-warner/) > [Spring is strictly sentimental, self-regarding; but I burn more careless in the autumn bonfire.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-townsend-warner/spring-is-strictly-sentimental-self-regarding-but-i-burn-more/) [Sylvia Townsend Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-townsend-warner/) > [“It is,” answered Laura with almost violent agreement. “If you are a were-wolf, and very likely you may be, for lots of people are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-townsend-warner/it-is-answered-laura-with-almost-violent-agreement-if-you-are-a-were/) [Sylvia Townsend Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-townsend-warner/) > [I have an idea that conscience impedes quite as many merits as faults, is a sort of alloy, a nickel which may prevent silver…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-townsend-warner/i-have-an-idea-that-conscience-impedes-quite-as-many-merits-as-faults/) [Sylvia Townsend Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-townsend-warner/) > [There is a period in one's life - perhaps not longer than six months - when one lives in two worlds at once ...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-townsend-warner/there-is-a-period-in-one-s-life-perhaps-not-longer-than-six-months/) [Sylvia Townsend Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-townsend-warner/) > [Love is the only real patriation, and without one's dear one sits in a dreary and boring exile.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-townsend-warner/love-is-the-only-real-patriation-and-without-one-s-dear-one-sits-in-a/) [Sylvia Townsend Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-townsend-warner/) > [when the German propaganda tries to be winsome it is like a clown with homicidal mania - ludicrous and terrifying both at once.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-townsend-warner/when-the-german-propaganda-tries-to-be-winsome-it-is-like-a-clown/) [Sylvia Townsend Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-townsend-warner/) > [It is best as one grows older to strip oneself of possessions, to shed oneself downward like a tree, to be almost wholly earth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-townsend-warner/it-is-best-as-one-grows-older-to-strip-oneself-of-possessions-to-shed/) [Sylvia Townsend Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-townsend-warner/) > [Elizabeth ... had the prerogative of the rich that she could be generous with large sums and niggardly over small ones.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-townsend-warner/elizabeth-had-the-prerogative-of-the-rich-that-she-could-be-generous/) [Sylvia Townsend Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-townsend-warner/) > [Inflation is the senility of democracies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-townsend-warner/inflation-is-the-senility-of-democracies/) [Sylvia Townsend Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-townsend-warner/) > [Total grief is like a minefield. No knowing when one will touch the tripwire.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-townsend-warner/total-grief-is-like-a-minefield-no-knowing-when-one-will-touch-the/) [Sylvia Townsend Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-townsend-warner/) > [How dreadful it is that because of our wills we can never love anything without messing it around! We couldn’t even love a tree,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-townsend-warner/how-dreadful-it-is-that-because-of-our-wills-we-can-never-love/) [Sylvia Townsend Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-townsend-warner/) [Explore all 95 Sylvia Townsend Warner quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-townsend-warner/) ## More Advantage quotes > [Dogmatists have one advantage: they are poor listeners.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frans-de-waal/dogmatists-have-one-advantage-they-are-poor-listeners/) [Frans de Waal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frans-de-waal/) > [ Next came the Patent laws. 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I think it's just ingrained in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kelly-blatz/for-some-reason-when-i-decide-to-pursue-something-i-never-have-any/) [Kelly Blatz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kelly-blatz/) > [I think I have good hands, so I try to use them to my advantage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bianca-andreescu/i-think-i-have-good-hands-so-i-try-to-use-them-to-my-advantage/) [Bianca Andreescu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bianca-andreescu/) > [My influences are jazz, blues, European classical music; they are rock music and pop music. So many kinds of music. 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