--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Largeness is a lifelong matter…" description: "\"Largeness is a lifelong matter - sometimes a conscious goal, sometimes not. You enlarge yourself because that is the kind of individual you are. You gr..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a7/wallace-stegner-1352_conscious_largeness-is-a-lifelong-matter-sometimes_639939.png" --- # Largeness is a lifelong matter - sometimes a conscious… ![“Largeness is a lifelong matter - sometimes a conscious goal, sometimes not. You enlarge yourself because that is the kind of individual you are. You grow because you are not content not to.” quote by Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a7/wallace-stegner-1352_conscious_largeness-is-a-lifelong-matter-sometimes_639939.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a7/wallace-stegner-1352_conscious_largeness-is-a-lifelong-matter-sometimes_639939.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a7/wallace-stegner-1352_conscious_largeness-is-a-lifelong-matter-sometimes_639939.png) > “Largeness is a lifelong matter - sometimes a conscious goal, sometimes not. You enlarge yourself because that is the kind of individual you are. You grow because you are not content not to.” [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. Personal growth is both a deliberate pursuit and an unconscious outcome of one's character. **In simple terms:** Growth can be intentional or natural. Key Takeaway Cultivate self‑awareness and purposeful development. Themes self‑development identity purpose growth Mood reflective motivational Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - career advancement - creative projects - relationship building - habit formation Key Concepts psychology humanism existentialism Questions to Reflect On - What aspects of yourself are you actively expanding? - How do unconscious habits shape your identity? A Different Perspective Neglecting introspection can stall progress. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Enlarge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enlarge/) [Goal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/goal/) [Goals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/goals/) [Individual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individual/) ## Related quotes > [“Largeness is a lifelong matter,” he wrote. “. . . You grow because you are not content not to. You are like a beaver…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/largeness-is-a-lifelong-matter-he-wrote-you-grow-because-you-are-not/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“We must be equal to the largeness of things.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/we-must-be-equal-to-the-largeness-of-things/) [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) > [Greatness is not always largeness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maud-lindsay/greatness-is-not-always-largeness/) [Maud Lindsay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maud-lindsay/) > [“His largeness lorded over his chair like a giant unripened pumpkin rolling onto an egg cup.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-flanagan/his-largeness-lorded-over-his-chair-like-a-giant-unripened-pumpkin/) Jack Flanagan > [To enlarge or illustrate this power and effect of love is to set a candle in the sun.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-burton/to-enlarge-or-illustrate-this-power-and-effect-of-love-is-to-set-a/) [Robert Burton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-burton/) > [“the general effect of attempting things beyond us, even though we fail, is to enlarge and liberalize the mind.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-shen/the-general-effect-of-attempting-things-beyond-us-even-though-we-fail/) [Ann Shen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-shen/) > [Enlarge not thy destiny, said the oracle: endeavor not to do more than is given thee in charge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/enlarge-not-thy-destiny-said-the-oracle-endeavor-not-to-do-more-than/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“Fear is my mind painstakingly creating the worse-case scenario and then putting it on steroids.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-d-lounsbrough/fear-is-my-mind-painstakingly-creating-the-worse-case-scenario-and/) [Craig D. Lounsbrough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-d-lounsbrough/) > [What some people invent the rest enlarge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/what-some-people-invent-the-rest-enlarge/) [Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/) > [Let God enlarge you when you are going through distress. He can do it. You can't do it, and others can't do it for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warren-w-wiersbe/let-god-enlarge-you-when-you-are-going-through-distress-he-can-do-it/) [Warren W. Wiersbe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warren-w-wiersbe/) > [If a problem cannot be solved, enlarge it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwight-d-eisenhower/if-a-problem-cannot-be-solved-enlarge-it/) [Dwight D. Eisenhower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwight-d-eisenhower/) > [O, God of wonder, enlarge my capacity to be amazed at what is amazing, and end my attraction to the insignificant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-piper/o-god-of-wonder-enlarge-my-capacity-to-be-amazed-at-what-is-amazing/) [John Piper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-piper/) > [The iPad is great because you can enlarge the print on it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brenda-fricker/the-ipad-is-great-because-you-can-enlarge-the-print-on-it/) [Brenda Fricker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brenda-fricker/) > [You must constantly strive to enlarge your awareness. Naturally, if you do, you will have an uncommonly fine and happy life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/you-must-constantly-strive-to-enlarge-your-awareness-naturally-if-you/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [If you want to enlarge your life, you must first enlarge your thought of it and of yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orison-swett-marden/if-you-want-to-enlarge-your-life-you-must-first-enlarge-your-thought/) [Orison Swett Marden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orison-swett-marden/) ## 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 Conscious quotes > [Ye youths and virgins, when your generous blood Has drunk the warmth of fifteen summers, now The loves invite; now to new rapture wakes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-armstrong/ye-youths-and-virgins-when-your-generous-blood-has-drunk-the-warmth/) [John Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-armstrong/) > [Woman, in short, has an unconscious life, man a conscious life, and the genius the most conscious life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/otto-weininger/woman-in-short-has-an-unconscious-life-man-a-conscious-life-and-the/) [Otto Weininger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/otto-weininger/) > [By making conscious choices in our behavior and where we focus our attention, we can transform our experience of our body, decrease our biological…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/by-making-conscious-choices-in-our-behavior-and-where-we-focus-our/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [“What does it mean to be a self-conscious animal? The idea is ludicrous, if it is not monstrous. It means to know that one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-becker/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-self-conscious-animal-the-idea-is-ludicrous/) [Ernest Becker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-becker/) > [Whatever your conscious mind assumes and believes to be true, your subconscious mind will accept and bring to pass. Believe in good fortune, divine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-murphy/whatever-your-conscious-mind-assumes-and-believes-to-be-true-your/) [Joseph Murphy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-murphy/) > [To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/to-be-a-negro-in-this-country-and-to-be-relatively-conscious-is-to-be/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Just as everybody has the vote including women, I think children should, because as a child is conscious of itself then it has to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/just-as-everybody-has-the-vote-including-women-i-think-children/) [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) > [If you are not conscious of all of the different parts of yourself, the part of yourself that is the strongest will win out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-zukav/if-you-are-not-conscious-of-all-of-the-different-parts-of-yourself/) [Gary Zukav](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-zukav/) > [One of the noblest words in our language is "grace," defined as "unearned blessing." We live by grace far more than by anything else.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-elton-trueblood/one-of-the-noblest-words-in-our-language-is-grace-defined-as-unearned/) [D. Elton Trueblood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-elton-trueblood/) > [Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability To lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maynard-james-keenan/repugnant-is-a-creature-who-would-squander-the-ability-to-lift-an-eye/) [Maynard James Keenan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maynard-james-keenan/) > [The goal of the Creator is for each entity to make a conscious choice to again seek Oneness, out of our own free will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-wilcock/the-goal-of-the-creator-is-for-each-entity-to-make-a-conscious-choice/) [David Wilcock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-wilcock/) > [I know one thing: that you can do a lot of things but if you don't educate people into conscious anarchism it gets frittered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/murray-bookchin/i-know-one-thing-that-you-can-do-a-lot-of-things-but-if-you-don-t/) [Murray Bookchin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/murray-bookchin/) > [All black people who are even minimally conscious, black people who have ever experienced Europe's technological power crusading in the vanguard of a civilizing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-nkosi/all-black-people-who-are-even-minimally-conscious-black-people-who/) [Lewis Nkosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-nkosi/) > [ A mind conscious of right laughs at the falsehoods of rumour. \[Lat., Conscia mens recti famae mendacia risit.\] ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ovid/a-mind-conscious-of-right-laughs-at-the-falsehoods-of-rumour-lat/) [Ovid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ovid/) > [I don't think my paintings are self-conscious but you feel the consciousness of them. Without them being self-conscious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-schnabel/i-don-t-think-my-paintings-are-self-conscious-but-you-feel-the/) [Julian Schnabel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-schnabel/) Browse all 3,716 Conscious quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Largeness is a lifelong matter - sometimes a conscious goal, sometimes not. You enlarge yourself because that is the kind of individual you are. 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