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Adrift Quotes

Finding footing when nothing feels solid.

These adrift quotes explore losing a sense of family after loss, alongside historical explorers literally cast adrift on unfamiliar waters. See related reflections in our Beginning quotes collection.

Losing my parents really set me adrift in more ways than one. It's not just losing them. It's losing the possibility of family.

Quotes by Walter Mosley

I always felt culturally adrift as a child because I'm mixed race. I've had to deal with that since I was little. Who am I? What makeup do I have? What are the black and the white?

Quotes by Rhiannon Giddens

I did projects on Champlain coming up the St. Lawrence River and on Henry Hudson cast adrift in the bay that now bears his name. And I read dozens of historical novels: Rosemary Sutcliff on Roman Britain and G. A....

Quotes by Margaret MacMillan

My mum used to work in New York in Spike Lee's shop; she did the outfits for the video for P.M. Dawn's 'Set Adrift on Memory Bliss.'

Quotes by King Krule

Aim Quotes

Some people think we're adrift without any guidelines. I don't. I think we've had instruction on how to live.

Quotes by Jon Voight

I think we're programmed for hardship. In my experience, human beings are happiest when they're working themselves to the bone. People are more likely to feel adrift and unsatisfied when they have too much leisure time. Obstacles are good.

Quotes by Jeff Carlson

The swimmer adrift on the open seas measures his strength, and strives with all his muscles to keep himself afloat. But what is he to do when there is no land on the horizon, and none beyond it?

Quotes by Georges Duhamel

A sign that a peace association is going adrift is its exclusion of other political parties, with whom it could collaborate effectively on most of the problems besetting the cause of peace.

Quotes by Fredrik Bajer

To an intellectual who is adrift in politics, a theory is an aim; to a true politician his theory is a boundary.

Quotes by Francis Parker Yockey

Always Quotes

In this case it appealed to me partly because it felt close to me in some ways. This is about a confused, bewildered middle class Englishman adrift in smalltown America and that has definitely been me.

Quotes by Colin Firth

Every movie, I find myself adrift at the beginning of the movie, and then I find my way through the dark forest.

Quotes by Brad Bird

I live in a Moomin house in East London which I fill with blankets and nice crockery and get people round for dinner. When you travel a lot, you feel rootless and adrift - this is my sanctuary, where I...

Quotes by Bat for Lashes

Frequently Asked Questions

What experiences cause people to feel "adrift" in these quotes?
Losing parents, lacking clear guidelines, and having too much comfort with too little purpose are all cited as causes.
Is feeling adrift always tied to hardship?
Not necessarily - one quote argues people are more likely to feel adrift when they have too much ease, not too little.
Are there historical references to being adrift?
Yes, one recalls reading about explorers like Henry Hudson, who was literally cast adrift by his own crew, alongside other historical adventure stories.
Does everyone agree that people lack direction today?
No - one speaker pushes back, arguing that people do have instructions on how to live and aren't as directionless as assumed. See Beginning quotes for related reflections on starting over.
What's the deeper lesson behind feeling adrift?
That purpose, not just circumstance, determines whether someone feels grounded or lost, a theme also explored in Aim quotes.

Sometimes feeling adrift comes not from hardship but from too much ease and too little purpose. Continue with Aim quotes and America quotes.