...the routine of life goes on, whatever happens, we do the same things, go through the little performance of eating, sleeping, washing. No crisis can break through the crust of habit.
She had to live in this bright, red gabled house with the nurse until it was time for her to die... I thought how little we know about the feelings of old people. Children we understand, their fears and hopes and make-believe.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the often overlooked emotions and experiences of elderly individuals compared to the more understood emotions of children.
Daphne Du Maurier expresses a poignant observation about aging and the isolation that can come with it. She highlights the disconnect between the perceptions of childhood, which are widely recognized and empathized with, and the complex feelings of old age, often neglected or misunderstood by younger generations. The imagery of living in a bright, red gabled house symbolizes the contrasting nature of life and death, where the vibrancy of the house belies the somber reality of approaching mortality.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about empathy in healthcare, this quote can highlight the importance of understanding the feelings of older patients.
More from Daphne Du Maurier
All quotes →here was a silence between them for a moment, and she wondered if all women, when in love, were torn between two impulses, a longing to throw modesty and reserve to the winds and confess everything, and an equal determination to conceal the love forever, to be cool, aloof, utterly detached, to die rather than admit a thing so personal, so intimate.
We are all ghosts of yesterday, and the phantom of tomorrow awaits us alike in sunshine or in shadow, dimly perceived at times, never entirely lost.
How pleasant,' Dona said, peeling her fruit; 'the rest of us can only run away from time to time, and however much we pretend to be free, we know it is only for a little while - our hands and our feet are tied.
A familiar name on its own, however, does not carry its bearer far unless the talent is there, and the will to work.
Here was the freedom I desired, long sought-for, not yet known Freedom to write, to walk, to wander, freedom to climb hills, to pull a boat, to be alone.
Similar quotes
Proofs are the last thing looked for by a truly religious mind which feels the imaginary fitness of its faith.
The older I get the more I'm convinced that it's the purpose of politicians and journalists to say the world is very simple, whereas it's the purpose of historians to say, 'No! It's very complicated.' _x000D_ _x000D_ The job of the historian is to help give people a sense of existence in time, without which we are really not fully human.
There is Auschwitz, and so there cannot be God.
It may seem bizarre, but in my opinion science offers a surer path to God than religion.
Who most benefits from keeping marijuana illegal? The greatest beneficiaries are the major criminal organizations in Mexico and elsewhere that earn billions of dollars annually from this illicit trade - and who would rapidly lose their competitive advantage if marijuana were a legal commodity.
If you tell a true story, you can't be wrong.