--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Before, I wandered as a diversion. Now I…" description: "\"Before, I wandered as a diversion. Now I wander seriously and sit and read as a diversion.\" — Walker Percy" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d04/walker-percy-1958_diversion_before-i-wandered-as-a-diversion-now-i-w_3040825.png" --- # Before, I wandered as a diversion. Now I wander seriously… ![“Before, I wandered as a diversion. Now I wander seriously and sit and read as a diversion.” quote by Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d04/walker-percy-1958_diversion_before-i-wandered-as-a-diversion-now-i-w_3040825.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d04/walker-percy-1958_diversion_before-i-wandered-as-a-diversion-now-i-w_3040825.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d04/walker-percy-1958_diversion_before-i-wandered-as-a-diversion-now-i-w_3040825.png) > “Before, I wandered as a diversion. Now I wander seriously and sit and read as a diversion.” [Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He shifts from idle wandering to purposeful reading as a meaningful diversion. **In simple terms:** He finds purpose in thoughtful reading. Key Takeaway Seek depth in everyday activities. Themes purpose reflection leisure Mood contemplative quiet Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - personal development - educational hobbies - mindful routines Key Concepts Existentialism literary analysis Questions to Reflect On - What activities give your life meaning? - How does reading shape your worldview? A Different Perspective Reading alone may not fulfill all needs. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Diversion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/diversion/) [Diversion Wander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/diversion-wander-5010803/) [Read Diversion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/read-diversion-5010802/) [Wander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wander/) [Wander Seriously](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wander-seriously-5010805/) [Wandered](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wandered/) [Wandered Diversion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wandered-diversion-5010804/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [My loneliness...still comes over me sometimes...It's a liminal, lost sensation of having wandered wide, endless boulevards, among rows of orange trees, winter butterflies, seasons…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marco-roth/my-loneliness-still-comes-over-me-sometimes-it-s-a-liminal-lost/) [Marco Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marco-roth/) > [I am an expert in loneliness and have wandered around a great deal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sterling-hayden/i-am-an-expert-in-loneliness-and-have-wandered-around-a-great-deal/) [Sterling Hayden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sterling-hayden/) > [Israel is slightly smaller than New Jersey. Moses in effect led the tribes of Israel out of the District of Columbia, parted Chesapeake Bay…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-j-o-rourke/israel-is-slightly-smaller-than-new-jersey-moses-in-effect-led-the/) [P. J. O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/p-j-o-rourke/) > [I wandered around not knowing what I was doing in The Great Waldo Pepper and feeling pretty lost, and they rightly cut my part…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-kidder/i-wandered-around-not-knowing-what-i-was-doing-in-the-great-waldo/) [Margot Kidder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-kidder/) > [“Sleeping and waking, the notion of being lost, of having wandered out of the right life, kept turning up in different guises. She imagined…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-stone/sleeping-and-waking-the-notion-of-being-lost-of-having-wandered-out/) [Robert Stone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-stone/) > [“You were the stray cat who wandered into my verses and finally found your way home—dumpster diving deep within yourself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/curtis-tyrone-jones/you-were-the-stray-cat-who-wandered-into-my-verses-and-finally-found/) [Curtis Tyrone Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/curtis-tyrone-jones/) > [“Midway along the journey of our life I woke to find myself in a dark wood, for I had wandered off from the straight…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dante-alighieri/midway-along-the-journey-of-our-life-i-woke-to-find-myself-in-a-dark/) [Dante Alighieri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dante-alighieri/) > [When I was growing up, if there was a Young Adult section of my town's library, I missed it. I wandered right from 'The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erin-morgenstern/when-i-was-growing-up-if-there-was-a-young-adult-section-of-my-town-s/) [Erin Morgenstern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erin-morgenstern/) > [“Then Darkness took me, and I strayed out of thought and time, and I wandered far on roads that I will not tell.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-r-r-tolkien-gandalf-the-white/then-darkness-took-me-and-i-strayed-out-of-thought-and-time-and-i/) [J.R.R. Tolkien Gandalf the White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-r-r-tolkien-gandalf-the-white/) > [I didn't like writing just articles and things. So then I wandered around. I tried my hand at film and television and that was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-greene/i-didn-t-like-writing-just-articles-and-things-so-then-i-wandered/) [Robert Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-greene/) > [“When had it happened? When had (she) stolen all the warm, tender places inside me for herself? And the rough, barbaric ones, too? It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-canterbary/when-had-it-happened-when-had-she-stolen-all-the-warm-tender-places/) [Kate Canterbary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-canterbary/) > [So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bible/so-two-or-three-cities-wandered-unto-one-city-to-drink-water-but-they/) [Bible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bible/) > [“I wandered around for hours, dodging falling poo in alleyways”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-collins/i-wandered-around-for-hours-dodging-falling-poo-in-alleyways/) [Tim Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-collins/) > [“Yet there was always in me, even when I was very small, the sense that I ought to be somewhere else. And wander I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/yet-there-was-always-in-me-even-when-i-was-very-small-the-sense-that/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [“I wandered out like a haggard ghost, and there she was, Frisco - long, bleak streets with trolley wires all shrouded in fog and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-kerouac/i-wandered-out-like-a-haggard-ghost-and-there-she-was-frisco-long/) [Jack Kerouac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-kerouac/) ## More by Walker Percy > [“Do you know what he told me after lying under a cliff for thirty six hours with two inches of his femur sticking out?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/do-you-know-what-he-told-me-after-lying-under-a-cliff-for-thirty-six/) [Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/) > [Americans are the nicest, most generous, and sentimental people on earth. Yet Americans have killed more unborn children than any nation in history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/americans-are-the-nicest-most-generous-and-sentimental-people-on/) [Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/) > [“The real wonder is not that the Cosmos is now seen as wonderful but that it is not. Despite its inconceivable vastness, it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/the-real-wonder-is-not-that-the-cosmos-is-now-seen-as-wonderful-but/) [Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/) > [“Ours is the only civilization in history which has enshrined mediocrity as its national ideal. Others have been corrupt, but leave it to us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/ours-is-the-only-civilization-in-history-which-has-enshrined/) [Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/) > [ \[In art\] you are telling the reader or the listener or the viewer something he already knows but which he doesn't quite know that… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/in-art-you-are-telling-the-reader-or-the-listener-or-the-viewer/) [Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/) > [“People usually told him the same joke two or three times.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/people-usually-told-him-the-same-joke-two-or-three-times/) [Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/) > [For the world is broken, sundered, busted down the middle, self ripped from self and man pasted back together as mythical monster, half angel,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/for-the-world-is-broken-sundered-busted-down-the-middle-self-ripped/) [Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/) > [Nobody but a Southerner knows the wrenching rinsing sadness of the cities of the North.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/nobody-but-a-southerner-knows-the-wrenching-rinsing-sadness-of-the/) [Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/) > [“For me, all signifiers fit me, one as well as another. I am rascal, hero, craven, brave, treacherous, loyal, at once the secret hero…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/for-me-all-signifiers-fit-me-one-as-well-as-another-i-am-rascal-hero/) [Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/) > [“But the expectation of the self, to be informed in its nothingness--if only I can get out of this old place and into the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/but-the-expectation-of-the-self-to-be-informed-in-its-nothingness-if/) [Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/) > [Nothing remains but desire, and desire comes howling down Elysian Fields like a mistral.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/nothing-remains-but-desire-and-desire-comes-howling-down-elysian/) [Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/) > [“A variant of the amnesic-plot device is the inadvertent return of the amnesiac to home territory, where he is welcomed by a lovely woman,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/a-variant-of-the-amnesic-plot-device-is-the-inadvertent-return-of-the/) [Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/) > [A novel is what you call something that won't sell if you call it poems or short stories.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/a-novel-is-what-you-call-something-that-won-t-sell-if-you-call-it/) [Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/) > [The search is what anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life. To become aware of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/the-search-is-what-anyone-would-undertake-if-he-were-not-sunk-in-the/) [Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/) > [“Am I, in my search, a hundred miles ahead of my fellow Americans or a hundred miles behind them? That is to say: Have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/am-i-in-my-search-a-hundred-miles-ahead-of-my-fellow-americans-or-a/) [Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/) [Explore all 194 Walker Percy quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/) ## More Diversion quotes > [People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/people-of-the-same-trade-seldom-meet-together-even-for-merriment-and/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-smith/) > [“Diversion consoles us - in trivial ways - in the face of our miseries or perplexities; yet, paradoxically, it becomes the worst of our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-groothuis/diversion-consoles-us-in-trivial-ways-in-the-face-of-our-miseries-or/) [Douglas Groothuis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-groothuis/) > [In many ways, my entire graphic novel career was a long diversion. Originally, all I wanted to do was to be an underground cartoonist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/in-many-ways-my-entire-graphic-novel-career-was-a-long-diversion/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [I believe certain members of the U.S. Congress have aided in the oppression and diversion of critical information that could have revealed a fullness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bo-gritz/i-believe-certain-members-of-the-u-s-congress-have-aided-in-the/) [Bo Gritz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bo-gritz/) > [And with iPods and iPads, and Xboxes and PlayStations - none of which I know how to work - information becomes a distraction, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/and-with-ipods-and-ipads-and-xboxes-and-playstations-none-of-which-i/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [A really hard laugh is like sex-one of the ultimate diversions of existence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-seinfeld/a-really-hard-laugh-is-like-sex-one-of-the-ultimate-diversions-of/) [Jerry Seinfeld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-seinfeld/) > [There's a diversion between economic reality - integration, global village, everybody depending on everybody else - and cultural reality, which is people feeling invaded,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/duncan-green/there-s-a-diversion-between-economic-reality-integration-global/) [Duncan Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/duncan-green/) > [“Soon enough, we are all going to leave this earth for good. The thought of this alone should make us love deeply, and live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/soon-enough-we-are-all-going-to-leave-this-earth-for-good-the-thought/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) > [The constitution has broken down. We have no enemies except the ones we select and direct towards the nearest nuclear bombs. They need an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/the-constitution-has-broken-down-we-have-no-enemies-except-the-ones/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [Now, how do you explain Obama's claim, that he can kill American citizens without due process? Well, he has his attorney general get up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-mcgovern/now-how-do-you-explain-obama-s-claim-that-he-can-kill-american/) [Ray McGovern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-mcgovern/) > [This whole phenomenon of the diversion of organizations from their purposes and ideals does not seem very serious when the scum rise to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-shea/this-whole-phenomenon-of-the-diversion-of-organizations-from-their/) [Robert Shea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-shea/) > [Violence is not a catalyst but a diversion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/violence-is-not-a-catalyst-but-a-diversion/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [Amusement is a way of boredom-avoidance through external stimulation that fails to exercise our minds. It's mere diversion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-ortberg/amusement-is-a-way-of-boredom-avoidance-through-external-stimulation/) [John Ortberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-ortberg/) > [I was never jailed. The fact is that I was arrested, but I went into a diversion programme, and by that time I'd already…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-soul/i-was-never-jailed-the-fact-is-that-i-was-arrested-but-i-went-into-a/) [David Soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-soul/) > [“The only thing that consoles us for our miseries is diversion. And yet it is the greatest of our miseries. For it is that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blaise-pascal/the-only-thing-that-consoles-us-for-our-miseries-is-diversion-and-yet/) [Blaise Pascal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blaise-pascal/) [Browse all 188 Diversion quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/diversion/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Before, I wandered as a diversion. 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