--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: She has had no role in my life except to…" description: "\"“She has had no role in my life except to keep me sane, fed, housed, amused, and protected from unwanted telephone calls, also to restrain me fairly fr..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b19/wallace-stegner-1352_books_she-has-had-no-role-in-my-life-except-to_2598972.png" --- # She has had no role in my life except to keep me sane… ![“She has had no role in my life except to keep me sane, fed, housed, amused, and protected from unwanted telephone calls, also to restrain me fairly frequently from making a horse's ass of myself in public, to force me to attend to books and ideas from which she knows I will learn something; also…” quote by Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b19/wallace-stegner-1352_books_she-has-had-no-role-in-my-life-except-to_2598972.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b19/wallace-stegner-1352_books_she-has-had-no-role-in-my-life-except-to_2598972.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b19/wallace-stegner-1352_books_she-has-had-no-role-in-my-life-except-to_2598972.png) > ““She has had no role in my life except to keep me sane, fed, housed, amused, and protected from unwanted telephone calls, also to restrain me fairly frequently from making a horse's ass of myself in public, to force me to attend to books and ideas from which she knows I will learn something; also to mend my wounds when I am misused by the world, to implant ideas in my head and stir the soil around them, to keep me from falling into a comfortable torpor, to agitate my sleeping hours with problems that I would not otherwise attend to; also to remind me constantly (not by precept but by example) how fortunate I have been to live for fifty-three years with a woman that bright, alert, charming, and supportive.”” [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. A partner provides support, challenge, and growth, pushing one toward learning and self‑improvement. **In simple terms:** A spouse helps you grow and stay grounded. Key Takeaway Value partners who challenge you. Themes relationships growth support Mood thoughtful appreciative Type personal philosophical When to use this quote - marriage - collaborative projects - personal development Key Concepts mutual development emotional labor Questions to Reflect On - Do you balance support with independence? - How do you reciprocate growth? A Different Perspective May overlook individual autonomy. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Telephone Calls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/telephone-calls/) [Woman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/woman/) ## Related quotes > [Figure out WHY you're doing what you're doing and remind yourself of it constantly. Every day, every hour. Hold onto that for dear life.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-park/figure-out-why-you-re-doing-what-you-re-doing-and-remind-yourself-of/) [Jane Park](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-park/) > [I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things in a different way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-stand-upon-my-desk-to-remind-myself-that-we-must-constantly-look-at/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Like a lot of overcommitted, overworked Americans, I do not have much time to exercise. Plain and simple. Instead of merely accepting this sad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-ruhle/like-a-lot-of-overcommitted-overworked-americans-i-do-not-have-much/) [Stephanie Ruhle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-ruhle/) > [If I didn't have my camera to remind me constantly, I am here to do this, I would eventually have slipped away, I think.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-leibovitz/if-i-didn-t-have-my-camera-to-remind-me-constantly-i-am-here-to-do/) [Annie Leibovitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-leibovitz/) > [At thirty years a woman asks her lover to give her back the esteem she has forfeited for his sake; she lives only for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/at-thirty-years-a-woman-asks-her-lover-to-give-her-back-the-esteem/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [I had the great advantage of a mother who used to tell me the most beautiful years of a woman's life are ages 35 to 45.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-grant/i-had-the-great-advantage-of-a-mother-who-used-to-tell-me-the-most/) [Amy Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-grant/) > [It takes about 35 years for a woman to reach their sexual peak. For a man it takes about 5 to 10 mins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/green-monk/it-takes-about-35-years-for-a-woman-to-reach-their-sexual-peak-for-a/) [Green Monk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/green-monk/) > [It takes years as a woman to unlearn what you have been taught to be sorry for.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-poehler/it-takes-years-as-a-woman-to-unlearn-what-you-have-been-taught-to-be/) [Amy Poehler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-poehler/) > [Careful grooming may take twenty years off a woman's age, but you can't fool a flight of stairs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marlene-dietrich/careful-grooming-may-take-twenty-years-off-a-woman-s-age-but-you-can/) [Marlene Dietrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marlene-dietrich/) > [“These few days with you have meant more to me than years with any other woman ever could.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cara-mckenna/these-few-days-with-you-have-meant-more-to-me-than-years-with-any/) [Cara McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cara-mckenna/) > [A reporter asked the couple, How did you manage to stay together for 65 years?. The woman replied we were born in a time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shadawcatt/a-reporter-asked-the-couple-how-did-you-manage-to-stay-together-for/) Shadawcatt > [The years that a woman subtracts from her age are not lost. They are added to other women's.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-de-poitiers/the-years-that-a-woman-subtracts-from-her-age-are-not-lost-they-are/) [Diane de Poitiers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-de-poitiers/) > [I think that audio and video over the internet in the sense of teleconferencing and telephone calls. Maybe we'll actually have picture phone through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-postel/i-think-that-audio-and-video-over-the-internet-in-the-sense-of/) [Jon Postel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-postel/) > [I think Gore does have to worry. He is tied to Bill Clinton. We know that there were telephone calls that he made from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-olson/i-think-gore-does-have-to-worry-he-is-tied-to-bill-clinton-we-know/) [Barbara Olson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-olson/) > [Nobody is listening to your telephone calls.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/nobody-is-listening-to-your-telephone-calls/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) ## 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 Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) Christopher K. Krebs > [“Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/take-some-books-and-read-that-s-an-immense-help-and-books-are-always/) [Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/) > [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/) > [I have many who keep me going, I am very fortunate in this sense. There is nothing like a child who knows more about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/floyd-cooper/i-have-many-who-keep-me-going-i-am-very-fortunate-in-this-sense-there/) [Floyd Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/floyd-cooper/) > [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [It's like the query letter problem that I just mentioned, magnified a hundredfold. You might be good at telling a story, but that doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/it-s-like-the-query-letter-problem-that-i-just-mentioned-magnified-a/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [“Be careful about reading health books. Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-herz/be-careful-about-reading-health-books-some-fine-day-you-ll-die-of-a/) Markus Herz > [But editors are still the world's readers. And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) [Browse all 59,485 Books quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“She has had no role in my life except to keep me sane, fed, housed, amused, and protected from unwanted telephone calls, also to restrain me fairly frequently from making a horse's ass of myself in public, to force me to attend to books and ideas from which she knows I will learn something; also to mend my wounds when I am misused by the world, to implant ideas in my head and stir the soil around them, to keep me from falling into a comfortable torpor, to agitate my sleeping hours with problems that I would not otherwise attend to; also to remind me constantly (not by precept but by example) how fortunate I have been to live for fifty-three years with a woman that bright, alert, charming, and supportive.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wallace Stegner" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/she-has-had-no-role-in-my-life-except-to-keep-me-sane-fed-housed/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Books" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/she-has-had-no-role-in-my-life-except-to-keep-me-sane-fed-housed/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b19/wallace-stegner-1352_books_she-has-had-no-role-in-my-life-except-to_2598972.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b19/wallace-stegner-1352_books_she-has-had-no-role-in-my-life-except-to_2598972.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b19/wallace-stegner-1352_books_she-has-had-no-role-in-my-life-except-to_2598972.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“She has had no role in my life except to keep me sane, fed, housed, amused, and protected from unwanted…” — 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": "“She has had no role in...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/she-has-had-no-role-in-my-life-except-to-keep-me-sane-fed-housed/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/she-has-had-no-role-in-my-life-except-to-keep-me-sane-fed-housed/#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 } } ] } ```