Quotes: Never satisfied
3 quotes on this theme, each with its source and insight
The quotes
“One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.”
Source: no specific work is documented · Check the source
Disputed attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The wording is commonly attributed to Marie Curie in quotation collections, but no primary publication or dated speech has been located for this exact phrasing.
- What remains uncertain
- Attribution is disputed: the sentence appears in many secondary sources without a verifiable primary reference and may be a paraphrase rather than a directly sourced quote.
The line captures a scientist's forward pull: focus on the unfinished rather than past wins. For Marie Curie it mirrors a relentless curiosity and disciplined effort—valuing the next problem over applause.
“When we’re incomplete, we’re always searching for somebody to complete us. When, after a few years or a few months of a relationship, we find that we’re still unfulfilled, we blame our partners and take up with somebody more promising. This can go on and on—series polygamy—until we admit that while a partner can add sweet dimensions to our lives, we, each of us, are responsible for our own fulfillment.”
Source: Still Life with Woodpecker, 1980 · Check the source
Verified attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The wording is associated with Tom Robbins’s novel Still Life with Woodpecker (1980) and appears there as a narrated reflection.
- What remains uncertain
- Quoted versions in collections are sometimes slightly edited, but the passage’s attribution to Robbins and the novel is established.
Robbins argues that searching for someone to “complete” you keeps you stuck in a cycle of blame and partner‑switching. The line, from a 1980 novel, reframes romantic disappointment as a failure of personal responsibility and inner work.
“The complaint of the depressive individual, ‘Nothing is possible,’ can only occur in a society that thinks, ‘Nothing is impossible.’”
Source: The Burnout Society (English translation by Erik Butler), 2015 · Check the source
Verified attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The sentence appears in the published English translation of The Burnout Society and is attributed to Byung‑Chul Han.
- What remains uncertain
- The wording given here follows Erik Butler’s English translation; the original work was written in German (Müdigkeitsgesellschaft).
Han pinpoints a modern paradox: a culture that insists ‘‘Nothing is impossible’’ can turn that promise into a demand, making personal failure feel like moral failure and producing exhaustion and depression.