--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If we don't know where we are, we don't…" description: "\"If we don't know where we are, we don't know who we are.\" — Wallace Stegner" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cf/wallace-stegner-1352_ifs_if-we-don-t-know-where-we-are-we-don-t-k_235100.png" --- # If we don't know where we are, we don't know who we are. ![“If we don't know where we are, we don't know who we are.” quote by Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cf/wallace-stegner-1352_ifs_if-we-don-t-know-where-we-are-we-don-t-k_235100.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cf/wallace-stegner-1352_ifs_if-we-don-t-know-where-we-are-we-don-t-k_235100.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cf/wallace-stegner-1352_ifs_if-we-don-t-know-where-we-are-we-don-t-k_235100.png) > “If we don't know where we are, we don't know who we are.” [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Self‑knowledge depends on understanding one’s current situation; without it, identity remains unclear. **In simple terms:** Know your place to know yourself. Key Takeaway Assess your context to discover identity. Themes identity self‑awareness place growth Mood reflective inquisitive Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - career planning - relocation decisions - personal crises - educational choices Key Concepts existentialism psychology situational analysis Questions to Reflect On - Where are you now in life? - How does your environment shape who you are? A Different Perspective Changing circumstances can alter self‑perception. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Don Know](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/don-know/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Know](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/know/) [Know Don](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/know-don/) [Knows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knows/) [Who we are](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/who-we-are/) ## Related quotes > [It won't do you a bit of good to know everything if you don't do anything with it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-fitzhugh/it-won-t-do-you-a-bit-of-good-to-know-everything-if-you-don-t-do/) [Louise Fitzhugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-fitzhugh/) > [“They say you don't know what you don't know until you know that you don't know it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-leckman/they-say-you-don-t-know-what-you-don-t-know-until-you-know-that-you/) [Neil Leckman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-leckman/) > [Quality... you know what it is, yet you don't know what it is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/quality-you-know-what-it-is-yet-you-don-t-know-what-it-is/) [Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/) > [We're in this together. I don't know you and you don't know me, but we're in this together.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danialla/we-re-in-this-together-i-don-t-know-you-and-you-don-t-know-me-but-we/) [DaniAlla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danialla/) > [If you're not my coach, I don't know you. Don't say anything to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/devin-booker/if-you-re-not-my-coach-i-don-t-know-you-don-t-say-anything-to-me/) [Devin Booker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/devin-booker/) > [“The more I know, the more I know I don't know.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-more-i-know-the-more-i-know-i-don-t-know/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“How can I know you if I don't know myself?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lujan-matus/how-can-i-know-you-if-i-don-t-know-myself/) [Lujan Matus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lujan-matus/) > [If you don't know me... please don't judge me. just let me be](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mercy-pheona/if-you-don-t-know-me-please-don-t-judge-me-just-let-me-be/) [Mercy Pheona](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mercy-pheona/) > [The more you know, the more you know you don't know and the more you know that you don't know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-byrne/the-more-you-know-the-more-you-know-you-don-t-know-and-the-more-you/) [David Byrne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-byrne/) > [What we know is something, what we don't know is everything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lim-king-lok/what-we-know-is-something-what-we-don-t-know-is-everything/) [Lim King Lok](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lim-king-lok/) > [If you don't know me, don't judge me. Nobody ever said you had to like me. \*](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-don-t-know-me-don-t-judge-me-nobody-ever-said-you-had-to-like/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'm a workaholic, and I know it. And I don't care to deal with it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dakin-matthews/i-m-a-workaholic-and-i-know-it-and-i-don-t-care-to-deal-with-it/) [Dakin Matthews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dakin-matthews/) > [“But one thing I do know, you don't screw with crazy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brandy-nacole/but-one-thing-i-do-know-you-don-t-screw-with-crazy/) [Brandy Nacole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brandy-nacole/) > [I know you better than you know yourself. So don't say I'm crazy, I know very well.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fefe-dobson/i-know-you-better-than-you-know-yourself-so-don-t-say-i-m-crazy-i/) [Fefe Dobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fefe-dobson/) > [I think there's a lot of power in admitting that you don't know everything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kit-williamson/i-think-there-s-a-lot-of-power-in-admitting-that-you-don-t-know/) [Kit Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kit-williamson/) ## More by Wallace Stegner > [“I have to blame myself for not finding any way of reaching him, but I can't feel that either Ruth or I had anything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/i-have-to-blame-myself-for-not-finding-any-way-of-reaching-him-but-i/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [No life goes past so swiftly as an eventless one, no clock spins like a clock whose days are all alike.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/no-life-goes-past-so-swiftly-as-an-eventless-one-no-clock-spins-like/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“within yourself, you became a grave for her as you were a grave for Chet, and you carried your dead unquietly within you. —”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/within-yourself-you-became-a-grave-for-her-as-you-were-a-grave-for/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [Towns are like people. Old ones often have character, the new ones are interchangeable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/towns-are-like-people-old-ones-often-have-character-the-new-ones-are/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [By his very profession, a serious fiction writer is a vendor of the sensuous particulars of life, a perceiver and handler of things. His…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/by-his-very-profession-a-serious-fiction-writer-is-a-vendor-of-the/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“The creative writer is compulsively concrete . . . . His fictional house should be haunted by ideas, not inhabited by them; they should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/the-creative-writer-is-compulsively-concrete-his-fictional-house/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [Hard writing makes easy reading.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/hard-writing-makes-easy-reading/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [You married me...but you didn't marry what you could make out of me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/you-married-me-but-you-didn-t-marry-what-you-could-make-out-of-me/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [Wisdom. . .is knowing what you have to accept.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/wisdom-is-knowing-what-you-have-to-accept/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“His mouth is full of ecology, his mind is full of fumes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/his-mouth-is-full-of-ecology-his-mind-is-full-of-fumes/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [I gave my heart to the mountains the minute I stood beside this river with its spray in my face and watched it thunder…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/i-gave-my-heart-to-the-mountains-the-minute-i-stood-beside-this-river/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“Poetry ought to be a by-product of living, and you can't have a by-product unless you've got a product first .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/poetry-ought-to-be-a-by-product-of-living-and-you-can-t-have-a-by/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed; if we permit the last…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/something-will-have-gone-out-of-us-as-a-people-if-we-ever-let-the/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“Some people, I am told, have memories like computers, nothing to do but punch the button and wait for the print-out. Mine is more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/some-people-i-am-told-have-memories-like-computers-nothing-to-do-but/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [ “\[Y\]ou were too alert to the figurative possibilities of words not to see the phrase \[angle of repose\] as descriptive of human as well… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/y-ou-were-too-alert-to-the-figurative-possibilities-of-words-not-to/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) [Explore all 251 Wallace Stegner quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) ## More Ifs quotes > [Women still, when they have breast cancer, go to work; they still lead their lives. They have to. I just did what I was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/monica-potter/women-still-when-they-have-breast-cancer-go-to-work-they-still-lead/) [Monica Potter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/monica-potter/) > [Most of us are convinced that we are our egos, which is who we think we are. The ego is part of our incarnation.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ram-dass/most-of-us-are-convinced-that-we-are-our-egos-which-is-who-we-think/) [Ram Dass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ram-dass/) > [Histories never conclude; they just pause their prose. Their stories are, if they are truthful, untidy affairs, resistant to windings-up and sortings-out. They beat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/histories-never-conclude-they-just-pause-their-prose-their-stories/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [If you ask an introvert a question, wait until she thinks about it. Introverts think before speaking, not through speaking. If you want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurie-helgoe/if-you-ask-an-introvert-a-question-wait-until-she-thinks-about-it/) [Laurie Helgoe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurie-helgoe/) > [Many individuals spend a considerable portion of their lifetimes in terror of one imagined catastrophe or another. The classic is that your immortal soul…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-neil-smith/many-individuals-spend-a-considerable-portion-of-their-lifetimes-in/) [L. Neil Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-neil-smith/) > [Obviously, if you don't love life, you can't enjoy an oyster.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-clark/obviously-if-you-don-t-love-life-you-can-t-enjoy-an-oyster/) [Eleanor Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-clark/) > [If I don't have pressure, I don't function.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferran-adria/if-i-don-t-have-pressure-i-don-t-function/) [Ferran Adria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ferran-adria/) > [If you restore a car, and you're making money, then you're doing it wrong.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-leno/if-you-restore-a-car-and-you-re-making-money-then-you-re-doing-it/) [Jay Leno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-leno/) > [I understand that it's the music that keeps me alive... That's my lifeblood. And to give that up for, like, the TV, the cars,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-springsteen/i-understand-that-it-s-the-music-that-keeps-me-alive-that-s-my/) [Bruce Springsteen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-springsteen/) > [If we gave up our freedom as the price of security, we would no longer be the great nation that we are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-bader-ginsburg/if-we-gave-up-our-freedom-as-the-price-of-security-we-would-no-longer/) [Ruth Bader Ginsburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-bader-ginsburg/) > [If my campaign is not in the debate, we will not be talking about how we really fix this problem of endless and expanding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jill-stein/if-my-campaign-is-not-in-the-debate-we-will-not-be-talking-about-how/) [Jill Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jill-stein/) > [Nothing is so powerful as an insight into human nature... what compulsions drive a man, what instincts dominate his action. If you know these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-bernbach/nothing-is-so-powerful-as-an-insight-into-human-nature-what/) [William Bernbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-bernbach/) > [But we are convinced that if we are to play a meaningful role nationally, and in the community of nations, we must be second…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikram-sarabhai/but-we-are-convinced-that-if-we-are-to-play-a-meaningful-role/) [Vikram Sarabhai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikram-sarabhai/) > [The thing about hitting kids is, think about if you were doing the same thing to another adult. Hitting your kid is really the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zach-braff/the-thing-about-hitting-kids-is-think-about-if-you-were-doing-the/) [Zach Braff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zach-braff/) > [Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/reader-if-you-are-gifted-with-nerves-like-mine-aspire-to-any/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) [Browse all 94,303 Ifs quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If we don't know where we are, we don't know who we are.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wallace Stegner" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/if-we-don-t-know-where-we-are-we-don-t-know-who-we-are/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Ifs" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/if-we-don-t-know-where-we-are-we-don-t-know-who-we-are/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cf/wallace-stegner-1352_ifs_if-we-don-t-know-where-we-are-we-don-t-k_235100.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cf/wallace-stegner-1352_ifs_if-we-don-t-know-where-we-are-we-don-t-k_235100.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6cf/wallace-stegner-1352_ifs_if-we-don-t-know-where-we-are-we-don-t-k_235100.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If we don't know where we are, we don't know who we are.” — Wallace Stegner", "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": "Wallace Stegner", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "If we don't know where we...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/if-we-don-t-know-where-we-are-we-don-t-know-who-we-are/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/if-we-don-t-know-where-we-are-we-don-t-know-who-we-are/#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 } } ] } ```