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Time & Perspective Quote by Jeanne Moreau

"I don't like going where I've already been. Life is a myriad of territories to discover. I don't want to waste time with what I already know"

About this Quote

Restlessness can be a brand, but in Jeanne Moreau’s hands it reads like a philosophy of craft. “I don’t like going where I’ve already been” isn’t just about travel or novelty; it’s a refusal of repetition as comfort. An actress lives under constant pressure to become a fixed idea of herself: the face audiences want, the typecasting industry needs, the familiar mannerisms that guarantee applause. Moreau pushes back with a simple, almost brusque ethic: don’t rehearse your own legend.

The line works because it smuggles discipline into what sounds like appetite. “Life is a myriad of territories to discover” frames experience as geography, suggesting that identity is made by movement, not by roots. And then she lands the harder truth: “I don’t want to waste time with what I already know.” Time is the real currency here. She’s not chasing novelty for novelty’s sake; she’s guarding the finite hours that could become new roles, new conversations, new risks. Subtext: familiarity is seductive, and for artists it can be a quiet career killer.

Context matters. Moreau emerged with the French New Wave, a cultural moment allergic to safe formulas and old hierarchies. Her screen presence wasn’t “relatable” in the cozy sense; it was intelligent, opaque, adult. This quote matches that persona: a woman insisting on forward motion in a world that rewards women for staying legible. It’s a manifesto against nostalgia, but also against self-imitation - the most flattering trap of all.

Quote Details

TopicWanderlust
SourceHelp us find the source
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Moreau, Jeanne. (2026, January 17). I don't like going where I've already been. Life is a myriad of territories to discover. I don't want to waste time with what I already know. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-dont-like-going-where-ive-already-been-life-is-60637/

Chicago Style
Moreau, Jeanne. "I don't like going where I've already been. Life is a myriad of territories to discover. I don't want to waste time with what I already know." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-dont-like-going-where-ive-already-been-life-is-60637/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I don't like going where I've already been. Life is a myriad of territories to discover. I don't want to waste time with what I already know." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-dont-like-going-where-ive-already-been-life-is-60637/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.

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About the Author

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Jeanne Moreau (born January 23, 1928) is a Actress from France.

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