--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: What sort of diary should I like mine to…" description: "\"“What sort of diary should I like mine to be? Something loose-knit and yet not slovenly, so elastic that it will embrace anything, solemn, slight or be..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eae/virginia-woolf-49_quote_what-sort-of-diary-should-i-like-mine-to_1993851.jpg" --- # What sort of diary should I like mine to be? Something… ![“What sort of diary should I like mine to be? Something loose-knit and yet not slovenly, so elastic that it will embrace anything, solemn, slight or beautiful, that comes into my mind. I should like it to resemble some deep old desk or capacious hold-all, in which one flings a mass of odds and ends…” quote by Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eae/virginia-woolf-49_quote_what-sort-of-diary-should-i-like-mine-to_1993851.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eae/virginia-woolf-49_quote_what-sort-of-diary-should-i-like-mine-to_1993851.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eae/virginia-woolf-49_quote_what-sort-of-diary-should-i-like-mine-to_1993851.jpg) > ““What sort of diary should I like mine to be? Something loose-knit and yet not slovenly, so elastic that it will embrace anything, solemn, slight or beautiful, that comes into my mind. I should like it to resemble some deep old desk or capacious hold-all, in which one flings a mass of odds and ends without looking them through. I should like to come back, after a year or two, and find that the collection had sorted itself and refined itself and coalesced, as such deposits so mysteriously do, into a mould, transparent enough to reflect the light of our life, and yet steady, tranquil compounds with the aloofness of a work of art. The main requisite, I think, on reading my old volumes, is not to play the part of a censor, but to write as the mood comes or of anything whatever; since I was curious to find how I went for things put in haphazard, and found the significance to lie where I never saw it at the time.”” [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A diary should be flexible, gathering varied thoughts without strict order, later revealing hidden patterns and meaning through reflection. **In simple terms:** A diary gathers thoughts loosely, later showing hidden order. Key Takeaway Embrace spontaneous writing and revisit later for insight. Themes creativity reflection self‑discovery Mood contemplative introspective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - personal journaling - creative writing - self‑analysis - memory work Key Concepts literary modernism stream of consciousness Questions to Reflect On - What unnoticed patterns emerge when you reread old entries? - How does spontaneity affect the depth of insight? A Different Perspective May become chaotic without later reflection; may miss immediate clarity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Diary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/diary/) ## Related quotes > [Keeping a diary is like closing your bedroom door and refusing to come out until dinnertime: it is a declaration of self.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caitlin-flanagan/keeping-a-diary-is-like-closing-your-bedroom-door-and-refusing-to/) [Caitlin Flanagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caitlin-flanagan/) > [I don't have to keep a diary. It seems like for the last 40 years my life has been lived in the press, so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dolly-parton/i-don-t-have-to-keep-a-diary-it-seems-like-for-the-last-40-years-my/) [Dolly Parton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dolly-parton/) > [I keep a diary when I have time to. 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I widen my landscape.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/i-use-my-friends-rather-as-giglamps-there-s-another-field-i-see-by/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [I got out this diary, & read as one always does read one's own writing, with a kind of guilty intensity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/i-got-out-this-diary-read-as-one-always-does-read-one-s-own-writing/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) ## More by Virginia Woolf > [Fatigue is the safest sleeping draught.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/fatigue-is-the-safest-sleeping-draught/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“The train slows and lengthens, as we approach London, the centre, and my heart draws out too, in fear, in exaltation. 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It's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aerin-lauder/i-m-never-without-my-personalised-anya-hindmarch-diary-i-keep-my/) [Aerin Lauder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aerin-lauder/) > [I keep a diary - one for each film and foreign land I travel to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-mcconaughey/i-keep-a-diary-one-for-each-film-and-foreign-land-i-travel-to/) [Matthew McConaughey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-mcconaughey/) > [Don't read my diary when I'm gone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-cobain/don-t-read-my-diary-when-i-m-gone/) [Kurt Cobain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-cobain/) > [I keep a diary because I love this writer, David Sedaris, and he writes a lot about his diary, and he inspired me to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-hawke/i-keep-a-diary-because-i-love-this-writer-david-sedaris-and-he-writes/) [Maya Hawke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-hawke/) > [Memory is the diary that chronicles things that never happened or couldn't possibly have happened.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/memory-is-the-diary-that-chronicles-things-that-never-happened-or/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [“What will become of me? 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When I travel, I routinely find a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orhan-pamuk/i-need-a-moment-of-time-for-myself-every-day-like-a-child-playing/) [Orhan Pamuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orhan-pamuk/) [Browse all 453 Diary quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/diary/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“What sort of diary should I like mine to be? Something loose-knit and yet not slovenly, so elastic that it will embrace anything, solemn, slight or beautiful, that comes into my mind. I should like it to resemble some deep old desk or capacious hold-all, in which one flings a mass of odds and ends without looking them through. I should like to come back, after a year or two, and find that the collection had sorted itself and refined itself and coalesced, as such deposits so mysteriously do, into a mould, transparent enough to reflect the light of our life, and yet steady, tranquil compounds with the aloofness of a work of art. 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