--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We were two of a kind, the only…" description: "\"“We were two of a kind, the only difference being that he was reverential before all the traditional word magic, and I would steal it if I could. He ca..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c6/wallace-stegner-1352_pickpocket_we-were-two-of-a-kind-the-only-differenc_1674907.png" --- # We were two of a kind, the only difference being that he… ![“We were two of a kind, the only difference being that he was reverential before all the traditional word magic, and I would steal it if I could. He came to the tradition as a pilgrim, I as a pickpocket.” quote by Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c6/wallace-stegner-1352_pickpocket_we-were-two-of-a-kind-the-only-differenc_1674907.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c6/wallace-stegner-1352_pickpocket_we-were-two-of-a-kind-the-only-differenc_1674907.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c6/wallace-stegner-1352_pickpocket_we-were-two-of-a-kind-the-only-differenc_1674907.png) > ““We were two of a kind, the only difference being that he was reverential before all the traditional word magic, and I would steal it if I could. He came to the tradition as a pilgrim, I as a pickpocket.”” [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. Two people share a similar nature, but one respects tradition while the other steals it; both seek meaning. **In simple terms:** They are alike, differing in respect for tradition. Key Takeaway Balance reverence and innovation. Themes tradition rebellion identity Mood reflective literary Type philosophical cultural When to use this quote - creative writing - cultural preservation - personal identity Key Concepts cultural studies literature philosophy Questions to Reflect On - How do you honor tradition while innovating? - What drives you to appropriate or preserve? A Different Perspective Blind theft can erode cultural value. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Magic Steal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/magic-steal-896410/) [Pickpocket](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pickpocket/) [Pilgrim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pilgrim/) [Pilgrim Pickpocket](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pilgrim-pickpocket-896408/) [Reverence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reverence/) [Theft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theft/) [Tradition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tradition/) [Tradition Pilgrim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tradition-pilgrim-896409/) ## Related quotes > [“A pickpocket is obviously a champion of private enterprise. But it would perhaps be an exaggeration to say that a pickpocket is a champion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton/a-pickpocket-is-obviously-a-champion-of-private-enterprise-but-it/) [G.K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) > [She's all over us like maggots on garbage, just because I interfered with one pickpocket yesterday.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tamora-pierce/she-s-all-over-us-like-maggots-on-garbage-just-because-i-interfered/) [Tamora Pierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tamora-pierce/) > [The pickpocket is usually very well dressed and of prepossessing appearance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-houdini/the-pickpocket-is-usually-very-well-dressed-and-of-prepossessing/) [Harry Houdini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-houdini/) > [“Things hit a limit, though, when I was set upon by a pickpocket in a baker's shop. I didn't notice that I was being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-adams/things-hit-a-limit-though-when-i-was-set-upon-by-a-pickpocket-in-a/) [Douglas Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-adams/) > [I have been robbed a bunch of times. And now that I know how to pickpocket, I understand why I have been pickpocketed so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-robbie/i-have-been-robbed-a-bunch-of-times-and-now-that-i-know-how-to/) [Margot Robbie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-robbie/) > [“If one sides with pickpockets by saying, ‘what’s wrong with what he is doing? He doesn’t have any food so of course he’ll pick…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dada-bhagwan/if-one-sides-with-pickpockets-by-saying-what-s-wrong-with-what-he-is/) [Dada Bhagwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dada-bhagwan/) > [“Telling secrets to a writer is like embracing a pickpocket.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-grossman/telling-secrets-to-a-writer-is-like-embracing-a-pickpocket/) [David Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grossman/) > [I can't get too close to groupies In the club they pickpocket you for your room keys and show up at your hotel lobby.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-leslie/i-can-t-get-too-close-to-groupies-in-the-club-they-pickpocket-you-for/) [Ryan Leslie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-leslie/) > [“If we like a person, all his attributes will manifest within us. If we like a pickpocket, even his attributes will manifest within us.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dada-bhagwan/if-we-like-a-person-all-his-attributes-will-manifest-within-us-if-we/) [Dada Bhagwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dada-bhagwan/) > [I didn't notice I was being set upon by a pickpocket, which I am glad of, because I like to work only with professionals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-adams/i-didn-t-notice-i-was-being-set-upon-by-a-pickpocket-which-i-am-glad/) [Douglas Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-adams/) > [The difference between a politician and a pickpocket is that a pickpocket doesn't always get indignant when you tell him to keep his hands…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-sobran/the-difference-between-a-politician-and-a-pickpocket-is-that-a/) [Joseph Sobran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-sobran/) > [A common pickpocket trick is for the operator to carry a shawl or overcoat carelessly over the left arm, and to take a seat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-houdini/a-common-pickpocket-trick-is-for-the-operator-to-carry-a-shawl-or/) [Harry Houdini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-houdini/) > [I feel safe in Auckland but it's best to be careful in any city. There's the odd pickpocket like anywhere else but if you're…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/monica-galetti/i-feel-safe-in-auckland-but-it-s-best-to-be-careful-in-any-city-there/) [Monica Galetti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/monica-galetti/) > [“I should have been honored to have been part of the best pickpocket incident of the century, but instead I was just mad.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-bode/i-should-have-been-honored-to-have-been-part-of-the-best-pickpocket/) [Maya Bode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-bode/) > [“That man tried to picka my frienda’s pocketoni!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-sedaris/that-man-tried-to-picka-my-frienda-s-pocketoni/) [David Sedaris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-sedaris/) ## 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 Pickpocket quotes > [She's all over us like maggots on garbage, just because I interfered with one pickpocket yesterday.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tamora-pierce/she-s-all-over-us-like-maggots-on-garbage-just-because-i-interfered/) [Tamora Pierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tamora-pierce/) > [“I should have been honored to have been part of the best pickpocket incident of the century, but instead I was just mad.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-bode/i-should-have-been-honored-to-have-been-part-of-the-best-pickpocket/) [Maya Bode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-bode/) > [I feel safe in Auckland but it's best to be careful in any city. There's the odd pickpocket like anywhere else but if you're…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/monica-galetti/i-feel-safe-in-auckland-but-it-s-best-to-be-careful-in-any-city-there/) [Monica Galetti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/monica-galetti/) > [“A pickpocket is obviously a champion of private enterprise. But it would perhaps be an exaggeration to say that a pickpocket is a champion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton/a-pickpocket-is-obviously-a-champion-of-private-enterprise-but-it/) [G.K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) > [A common pickpocket trick is for the operator to carry a shawl or overcoat carelessly over the left arm, and to take a seat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-houdini/a-common-pickpocket-trick-is-for-the-operator-to-carry-a-shawl-or/) [Harry Houdini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-houdini/) > [The difference between a politician and a pickpocket is that a pickpocket doesn't always get indignant when you tell him to keep his hands…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-sobran/the-difference-between-a-politician-and-a-pickpocket-is-that-a/) [Joseph Sobran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-sobran/) > [I didn't notice I was being set upon by a pickpocket, which I am glad of, because I like to work only with professionals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-adams/i-didn-t-notice-i-was-being-set-upon-by-a-pickpocket-which-i-am-glad/) [Douglas Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-adams/) > [“If we like a person, all his attributes will manifest within us. If we like a pickpocket, even his attributes will manifest within us.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dada-bhagwan/if-we-like-a-person-all-his-attributes-will-manifest-within-us-if-we/) [Dada Bhagwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dada-bhagwan/) > [I can't get too close to groupies In the club they pickpocket you for your room keys and show up at your hotel lobby.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-leslie/i-can-t-get-too-close-to-groupies-in-the-club-they-pickpocket-you-for/) [Ryan Leslie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-leslie/) > [“Telling secrets to a writer is like embracing a pickpocket.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-grossman/telling-secrets-to-a-writer-is-like-embracing-a-pickpocket/) [David Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grossman/) > [“If one sides with pickpockets by saying, ‘what’s wrong with what he is doing? He doesn’t have any food so of course he’ll pick…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dada-bhagwan/if-one-sides-with-pickpockets-by-saying-what-s-wrong-with-what-he-is/) [Dada Bhagwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dada-bhagwan/) > [I have been robbed a bunch of times. And now that I know how to pickpocket, I understand why I have been pickpocketed so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-robbie/i-have-been-robbed-a-bunch-of-times-and-now-that-i-know-how-to/) [Margot Robbie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-robbie/) > [“Things hit a limit, though, when I was set upon by a pickpocket in a baker's shop. I didn't notice that I was being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-adams/things-hit-a-limit-though-when-i-was-set-upon-by-a-pickpocket-in-a/) [Douglas Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-adams/) > [The pickpocket is usually very well dressed and of prepossessing appearance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-houdini/the-pickpocket-is-usually-very-well-dressed-and-of-prepossessing/) [Harry Houdini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-houdini/) > [“That man tried to picka my frienda’s pocketoni!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-sedaris/that-man-tried-to-picka-my-frienda-s-pocketoni/) [David Sedaris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-sedaris/) [Browse all 26 Pickpocket quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pickpocket/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“We were two of a kind, the only difference being that he was reverential before all the traditional word magic, and I would steal it if I could. 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