--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If I were dying when I should've, say in…" description: "\"“If I were dying when I should've, say in the late sixties, when I thought my head would explode with howling misery, when every time their father open..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b4/will-self-2296_letters_if-i-were-dying-when-i-should-ve-say-in_1011495.png" --- # If I were dying when I should've, say in the late sixties… ![“If I were dying when I should've, say in the late sixties, when I thought my head would explode with howling misery, when every time their father opened his fat mouth I thought I'd have to kill him, then – then I would've written the girls affectionate letters, telling them of my sadness, and how…” quote by Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b4/will-self-2296_letters_if-i-were-dying-when-i-should-ve-say-in_1011495.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b4/will-self-2296_letters_if-i-were-dying-when-i-should-ve-say-in_1011495.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b4/will-self-2296_letters_if-i-were-dying-when-i-should-ve-say-in_1011495.png) > ““If I were dying when I should've, say in the late sixties, when I thought my head would explode with howling misery, when every time their father opened his fat mouth I thought I'd have to kill him, then – then I would've written the girls affectionate letters, telling them of my sadness, and how much I loved them, and how sorry I was to be leaving them. Too late. They're here, they're grown-up, they're crap, and so we'll bicker towards oblivion.”” [Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A lament about missed chances to express love before death, reflecting regret and familial tension. **In simple terms:** Regret for not saying goodbye. Key Takeaway Cherish moments with loved ones now. Themes regret family mortality communication Mood melancholic reflective Type literary personal When to use this quote - parent-child relationships - end‑of‑life reflections - writing letters Key Concepts existentialism emotional honesty Questions to Reflect On - What words would you share with loved ones today? - How can you create lasting emotional connections? A Different Perspective Life’s brevity may limit opportunities to reconcile. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Parenting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parenting/) [Sadness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sadness/) [Too late](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/too-late/) ## Related quotes > [And I love the hate mail I get, the unsigned, misspelled letters I get telling me to go back to Russia or wherever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-rollins/and-i-love-the-hate-mail-i-get-the-unsigned-misspelled-letters-i-get/) [Henry Rollins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-rollins/) > [And my father left me a legacy of his handwriting through letters and a notebook. 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Helvetica is here to stay.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrian-frutiger/helvetica-is-the-jeans-and-univers-the-dinner-jacket-helvetica-is/) [Adrian Frutiger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrian-frutiger/) > [“Dear Beloved woman, Time… so much time has passed since my love wrote his last words for me. And yet I remember it as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/talon-p-s/dear-beloved-woman-time-so-much-time-has-passed-since-my-love-wrote/) [Talon P.S](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/talon-p-s/) > [In proportion as our inward life fails, we go more constantly and desperately to the post office. You may depend on it, that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/in-proportion-as-our-inward-life-fails-we-go-more-constantly-and/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [“Woe to you, my Princess, when I come. I will kiss you quite red and feed you till you are plump. And if you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/woe-to-you-my-princess-when-i-come-i-will-kiss-you-quite-red-and-feed/) [Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/) > [Harry Truman wrote scathing letters, but he almost never sent them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-dallek/harry-truman-wrote-scathing-letters-but-he-almost-never-sent-them/) [Robert Dallek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-dallek/) > [Another success is the post-office, with its educating energy augmented by cheapness and guarded by a certain religious sentimentin mankind; so that the power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/another-success-is-the-post-office-with-its-educating-energy/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [You cannot ... transmute some incoherent mixture of words into sense merely by introducing the three-letter word "God" to be its grammatical subject.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antony-flew/you-cannot-transmute-some-incoherent-mixture-of-words-into-sense/) [Antony Flew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antony-flew/) > [Memory revises me. 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I couldn't hear what she was saying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/as-my-voice-died-away-i-became-conscious-of-the-voice-of-another/) [Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/) > [That tertiary education is under a sustained assault by a political and - it often seems - social consensus that equates all education with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/that-tertiary-education-is-under-a-sustained-assault-by-a-political/) [Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/) > [I'm an anarchist. I'm implacably opposed to heirarchical systems of power and control. I also mistrust crowds, as they often operate according to their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/i-m-an-anarchist-i-m-implacably-opposed-to-heirarchical-systems-of/) [Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/) > [What fiction offers us is an intimacy shorn of the messy contingencies of human existence - gender, race, class or age. 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Even now a letter comes from a place I don’t know, from someone with my name and postmarked years ago, while…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/li-young-lee/memory-revises-me-even-now-a-letter-comes-from-a-place-i-don-t-know/) [Li-Young Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/li-young-lee/) > [You cannot ... transmute some incoherent mixture of words into sense merely by introducing the three-letter word "God" to be its grammatical subject.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antony-flew/you-cannot-transmute-some-incoherent-mixture-of-words-into-sense/) [Antony Flew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antony-flew/) > [Another success is the post-office, with its educating energy augmented by cheapness and guarded by a certain religious sentimentin mankind; so that the power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/another-success-is-the-post-office-with-its-educating-energy/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Harry Truman wrote scathing letters, but he almost never sent them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-dallek/harry-truman-wrote-scathing-letters-but-he-almost-never-sent-them/) [Robert Dallek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-dallek/) > [“Woe to you, my Princess, when I come. I will kiss you quite red and feed you till you are plump. And if you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/woe-to-you-my-princess-when-i-come-i-will-kiss-you-quite-red-and-feed/) [Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/) > [In proportion as our inward life fails, we go more constantly and desperately to the post office. You may depend on it, that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/in-proportion-as-our-inward-life-fails-we-go-more-constantly-and/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [“Dear Beloved woman, Time… so much time has passed since my love wrote his last words for me. And yet I remember it as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/talon-p-s/dear-beloved-woman-time-so-much-time-has-passed-since-my-love-wrote/) [Talon P.S](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/talon-p-s/) > [Helvetica is the jeans, and Univers the dinner jacket. Helvetica is here to stay.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrian-frutiger/helvetica-is-the-jeans-and-univers-the-dinner-jacket-helvetica-is/) [Adrian Frutiger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrian-frutiger/) > [Letter-writing on the part of a busy man or woman is the quintessence of generosity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-repplier/letter-writing-on-the-part-of-a-busy-man-or-woman-is-the-quintessence/) [Agnes Repplier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-repplier/) > [There is 1 thing 2 do 3 words 4 u I love u](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/there-is-1-thing-2-do-3-words-4-u-i-love-u/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Instruction does much, but encouragement everything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/instruction-does-much-but-encouragement-everything/) [Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [A hundred years ago Hester Prynne of The Scarlet Letter was given an A for adultery; today she would rate no better than a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-de-vries/a-hundred-years-ago-hester-prynne-of-the-scarlet-letter-was-given-an/) [Peter De Vries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-de-vries/) > [Mr Witwould: "Pray, madam, do you pin up your hair with all your letters? I find I must keep copies." Mrs Millamant: "Only with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-congreve/mr-witwould-pray-madam-do-you-pin-up-your-hair-with-all-your-letters/) [William Congreve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-congreve/) Browse all 3,058 Letters quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“If I were dying when I should've, say in the late sixties, when I thought my head would explode with howling misery, when every time their father opened his fat mouth I thought I'd have to kill him, then – then I would've written the girls affectionate letters, telling them of my sadness, and how much I loved them, and how sorry I was to be leaving them. Too late. 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