--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is a positive and active anguish, a…" description: "\"“It is a positive and active anguish, a sort of psychical neuralgia wholly unknown to normal life.”\" — William Styron" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55d/william-styron-3859_anguish_it-is-a-positive-and-active-anguish-a-so_2793680.png" --- # It is a positive and active anguish, a sort of psychical… ![“It is a positive and active anguish, a sort of psychical neuralgia wholly unknown to normal life.” quote by William Styron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55d/william-styron-3859_anguish_it-is-a-positive-and-active-anguish-a-so_2793680.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55d/william-styron-3859_anguish_it-is-a-positive-and-active-anguish-a-so_2793680.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55d/william-styron-3859_anguish_it-is-a-positive-and-active-anguish-a-so_2793680.png) > ““It is a positive and active anguish, a sort of psychical neuralgia wholly unknown to normal life.”” [William Styron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-styron/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A deep, unsettling mental pain that is not part of everyday experience. **In simple terms:** Intense inner suffering. Key Takeaway Acknowledge and seek help for hidden anguish. Themes mental health pain awareness Mood somber reflective Type psychological literary When to use this quote - therapy sessions - personal crisis - creative blocks - relationship strain Key Concepts psychological distress neuralgia Questions to Reflect On - How do you recognize hidden mental pain? - What steps can you take to address it? A Different Perspective Such anguish may be hard to articulate and can be dismissed by others. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Active Anguish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/active-anguish-3399175/) [Anguish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anguish/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Neuralgia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/neuralgia-3399174/) [Neuralgia Wholly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/neuralgia-wholly-3399173/) [Normal life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/normal-life/) [Psychical Neuralgia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychical-neuralgia-3399172/) [Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering/) ## Related quotes > [“The pain of severe depression is quite unimaginable to those who have not suffered it, and it kills in many instances because its anguish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-styron/the-pain-of-severe-depression-is-quite-unimaginable-to-those-who-have-2/) [William Styron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-styron/) > [So silently, peacefully, without hurry, without any tension, without any anguish, move into yourself instantly. It is urgent. Unless meditation becomes urgent to you,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/so-silently-peacefully-without-hurry-without-any-tension-without-any/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [I have designed my style pantomimes as white ink drawings on black backgrounds, so that man's destiny appears as a thread lost in an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-marceau/i-have-designed-my-style-pantomimes-as-white-ink-drawings-on-black/) [Marcel Marceau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-marceau/) > [One realizes that human relationships are the tragic necessity of human life; that they can never be wholly satisfactory, that every ego is half…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/one-realizes-that-human-relationships-are-the-tragic-necessity-of/) [Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/) > [I have discovered in my long life that there are many words and phrases which have more power than any spell of magick. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-gemmell/i-have-discovered-in-my-long-life-that-there-are-many-words-and/) [David Gemmell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-gemmell/) > [Journalism is an extraordinary and terrible privilege. Not by chance, if you are aware of it, does it consume you with a hundred feelings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oriana-fallaci/journalism-is-an-extraordinary-and-terrible-privilege-not-by-chance/) [Oriana Fallaci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oriana-fallaci/) > [Every last cast is actually a first cast. The first cast and first chance to catch the next fish. The next time you anguish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-bishop/every-last-cast-is-actually-a-first-cast-the-first-cast-and-first/) [Tony Bishop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-bishop/) > [I saw my parents as gods whose every wish must be obeyed or I would suffer the penalty of anguish and guilt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie-wood/i-saw-my-parents-as-gods-whose-every-wish-must-be-obeyed-or-i-would/) [Natalie Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie-wood/) > [The intellectuals' chief cause of anguish are one another's works. Jacques Barzun, 1959 all ignorance toboggans into know and trudges up to ignorance again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/the-intellectuals-chief-cause-of-anguish-are-one-another-s-works/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [Being human, we would expel from our lives physical pain and mental anguish and assure ourselves of continual ease and comfort, but if we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-w-kimball/being-human-we-would-expel-from-our-lives-physical-pain-and-mental/) [Spencer W. Kimball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-w-kimball/) > [Our religion is itself profoundly sad - a religion of universal anguish, and one which, because of its very catholicity, grants full liberty to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/our-religion-is-itself-profoundly-sad-a-religion-of-universal-anguish/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Memory, with its fugitive adjustments, is the merciful veil to the grim enactments of the first law. It hides the anguish in the human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stacy-aumonier/memory-with-its-fugitive-adjustments-is-the-merciful-veil-to-the-grim/) [Stacy Aumonier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stacy-aumonier/) > [pg.9 "In my heart there's a peaceful anguish, and my calm is made of resignation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/pg-9-in-my-heart-there-s-a-peaceful-anguish-and-my-calm-is-made-of/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [Knowledge gives a wider choice and more anguish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-florman/knowledge-gives-a-wider-choice-and-more-anguish/) [Samuel Florman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-florman/) > [“He put his forehead against hers. “Alannah, my heart is yours.” He said softly. “And yet, I must hand it over to someone else…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-c-morin/he-put-his-forehead-against-hers-alannah-my-heart-is-yours-he-said/) [B.C. Morin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-c-morin/) ## More by William Styron > [“Perhaps, he thought, if I only think of this second, this moment, the train won't come at all. Think of the water, think of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-styron/perhaps-he-thought-if-i-only-think-of-this-second-this-moment-the/) [William Styron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-styron/) > [“Until that moment, although I’d had some trouble with his personality, I had not thought him totally lacking in perspicacity; now I was not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-styron/until-that-moment-although-i-d-had-some-trouble-with-his-personality/) [William Styron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-styron/) > [ Every writer since the beginning of time, just like other people, has been afflicted by what \[a\] friend of mine calls "the fleas of… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-styron/every-writer-since-the-beginning-of-time-just-like-other-people-has/) [William Styron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-styron/) > [“Are there, as science fiction and Gnostic speculation imply, different species of time in the same world, 'good time' and enveloping folds of inhuman…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-styron/are-there-as-science-fiction-and-gnostic-speculation-imply-different/) [William Styron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-styron/) > [I felt the exultancy of a man just released from slavery and ready to set the universe on fire.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-styron/i-felt-the-exultancy-of-a-man-just-released-from-slavery-and-ready-to/) [William Styron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-styron/) > [“date of the award approached, I would not have accepted at all. Depression is a disorder of mood, so mysteriously painful and elusive in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-styron/date-of-the-award-approached-i-would-not-have-accepted-at-all/) [William Styron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-styron/) > [“I actually shivered at the insincerity that gripped me as I spoke these words: their falseness was shameful. I was sure my coolness would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-styron/i-actually-shivered-at-the-insincerity-that-gripped-me-as-i-spoke/) [William Styron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-styron/) > [Writing is a form of self-flagellation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-styron/writing-is-a-form-of-self-flagellation/) [William Styron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-styron/) > [It's fine therapy for people who are perpetually scared of nameless threats as I am most of the time — for jittery people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-styron/it-s-fine-therapy-for-people-who-are-perpetually-scared-of-nameless/) [William Styron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-styron/) > [“He was made uneasy by unbraked hilarity and by extremes of sorrow alike, especially the latter; he preferred life to sail along pleasantly and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-styron/he-was-made-uneasy-by-unbraked-hilarity-and-by-extremes-of-sorrow/) [William Styron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-styron/) > [“One of the century’s most famous intellectual pronouncements comes at the beginning of The Myth of Sisyphus: “There is but one truly serious philosophical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-styron/one-of-the-century-s-most-famous-intellectual-pronouncements-comes-at/) [William Styron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-styron/) > [“The good writing of any age has always been the product of someone's neurosis, and we'd have mighty dull literature if all the writers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-styron/the-good-writing-of-any-age-has-always-been-the-product-of-someone-s/) [William Styron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-styron/) > [“E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-styron/e-quindi-uscimmo-a-riveder-le-stelle/) [William Styron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-styron/) > [“Writing for me is the hardest thing in the world, but also a thing which, once completed, is the most satisfying. ... I am…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-styron/writing-for-me-is-the-hardest-thing-in-the-world-but-also-a-thing/) [William Styron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-styron/) > [A disruption of the circadian cycle—the metabolic and glandular rhythms that are central to our workaday life—seems to be involved in many, if not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-styron/a-disruption-of-the-circadian-cycle-the-metabolic-and-glandular/) [William Styron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-styron/) [Explore all 118 William Styron quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-styron/) ## More Anguish quotes > [“He put his forehead against hers. “Alannah, my heart is yours.” He said softly. “And yet, I must hand it over to someone else…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-c-morin/he-put-his-forehead-against-hers-alannah-my-heart-is-yours-he-said/) [B.C. Morin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-c-morin/) > [Knowledge gives a wider choice and more anguish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-florman/knowledge-gives-a-wider-choice-and-more-anguish/) [Samuel Florman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-florman/) > [pg.9 "In my heart there's a peaceful anguish, and my calm is made of resignation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/pg-9-in-my-heart-there-s-a-peaceful-anguish-and-my-calm-is-made-of/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [Memory, with its fugitive adjustments, is the merciful veil to the grim enactments of the first law. It hides the anguish in the human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stacy-aumonier/memory-with-its-fugitive-adjustments-is-the-merciful-veil-to-the-grim/) [Stacy Aumonier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stacy-aumonier/) > [Our religion is itself profoundly sad - a religion of universal anguish, and one which, because of its very catholicity, grants full liberty to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/our-religion-is-itself-profoundly-sad-a-religion-of-universal-anguish/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Being human, we would expel from our lives physical pain and mental anguish and assure ourselves of continual ease and comfort, but if we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-w-kimball/being-human-we-would-expel-from-our-lives-physical-pain-and-mental/) [Spencer W. Kimball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-w-kimball/) > [The intellectuals' chief cause of anguish are one another's works. Jacques Barzun, 1959 all ignorance toboggans into know and trudges up to ignorance again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/the-intellectuals-chief-cause-of-anguish-are-one-another-s-works/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [I saw my parents as gods whose every wish must be obeyed or I would suffer the penalty of anguish and guilt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie-wood/i-saw-my-parents-as-gods-whose-every-wish-must-be-obeyed-or-i-would/) [Natalie Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie-wood/) > [Every last cast is actually a first cast. The first cast and first chance to catch the next fish. The next time you anguish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-bishop/every-last-cast-is-actually-a-first-cast-the-first-cast-and-first/) [Tony Bishop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-bishop/) > [Journalism is an extraordinary and terrible privilege. Not by chance, if you are aware of it, does it consume you with a hundred feelings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oriana-fallaci/journalism-is-an-extraordinary-and-terrible-privilege-not-by-chance/) [Oriana Fallaci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oriana-fallaci/) > [I have discovered in my long life that there are many words and phrases which have more power than any spell of magick. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-gemmell/i-have-discovered-in-my-long-life-that-there-are-many-words-and/) [David Gemmell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-gemmell/) > [One realizes that human relationships are the tragic necessity of human life; that they can never be wholly satisfactory, that every ego is half…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/one-realizes-that-human-relationships-are-the-tragic-necessity-of/) [Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/) > [I have designed my style pantomimes as white ink drawings on black backgrounds, so that man's destiny appears as a thread lost in an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-marceau/i-have-designed-my-style-pantomimes-as-white-ink-drawings-on-black/) [Marcel Marceau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-marceau/) > [So silently, peacefully, without hurry, without any tension, without any anguish, move into yourself instantly. It is urgent. Unless meditation becomes urgent to you,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/so-silently-peacefully-without-hurry-without-any-tension-without-any/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [It breaks my heart to think about a family weeping over the loss of a loved one. I understand the anguish that some feel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-p-bush/it-breaks-my-heart-to-think-about-a-family-weeping-over-the-loss-of-a/) [George P. Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-p-bush/) [Browse all 570 Anguish quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anguish/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It is a positive and active anguish, a sort of psychical neuralgia wholly unknown to normal life.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "William Styron" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-styron/it-is-a-positive-and-active-anguish-a-sort-of-psychical-neuralgia/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Anguish" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-styron/it-is-a-positive-and-active-anguish-a-sort-of-psychical-neuralgia/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55d/william-styron-3859_anguish_it-is-a-positive-and-active-anguish-a-so_2793680.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55d/william-styron-3859_anguish_it-is-a-positive-and-active-anguish-a-so_2793680.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55d/william-styron-3859_anguish_it-is-a-positive-and-active-anguish-a-so_2793680.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is a positive and active anguish, a sort of psychical neuralgia wholly unknown to normal life.” — William Styron", "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": "William Styron", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-styron/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“It is a positive and active...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-styron/it-is-a-positive-and-active-anguish-a-sort-of-psychical-neuralgia/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-styron/it-is-a-positive-and-active-anguish-a-sort-of-psychical-neuralgia/#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 } } ] } ```