Beautiful things grow to a certain height and then they fail and fade off, breathing out memories as they decay.
Interpretation
Beauty is transient, and even the most beautiful things eventually fade and leave memories behind.
This quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald reflects on the ephemeral nature of beauty and existence. It suggests that beautiful things have a peak or pinnacle that they eventually reach before they decline and diminish, emphasizing the inevitability of change and the passage of time, while also highlighting the memories that remain as echoes of their former glory.
In practice
This quote perfectly encapsulates the nature of relationships at a graduation speech.
Don't be so anxious about it,' she laughed. 'I'm not used to being loved. I wouldn't know what to do; I never got the trick of it.' She looked down at him, shy and fatigued. 'So here we are. I told you years ago that I had the makings of Cinderella.' He took her hand; she drew it back instinctively and then replaced it in his. 'Beg your pardon. Not even used to being touched. But I'm not afraid of you, if you stay quiet and don't move suddenly.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
It was about then [1920] that I wrote a line which certain people will not let me forget: "She was a faded but still lovely woman of twenty-seven."
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
But you can love more than just one person, can't you?
A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.
The Revelation of Sonmi 451 To be is to be perceived, and so to know thyself is only possible through the eyes of the other. The nature of our immortal lives is in the consequences of our words and deeds, that go on and are pushing themselves throughout all time. - Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.
From silly devotions and from sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us.
Really I feel less keen about the Army every day. I think the Church would suit me better.
There will be no major solution to the suffering of humanity until we reach some understanding of who we are, what the purpose of creation was, what happens after death. Until those questions are resolved we are caught.
But the big feature of human-level intelligence is not what it does when it is works but what it does when it's stuck.
We want to be in control of our lives. Whether we are jungle fighters, craftsmen, company men, gamesmen, we want to be in control. And when the government erodes that control, we are not comfortable.
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