Life never presents us with anything which may not be looked upon as a fresh starting point, no less than as a termination.
Andre GideRead
I am lost if I attempt to take count of chronology. When I think over the past, I am like a person whose eyes cannot properly measure distances and is liable to think things extremely remote which on examination prove to be quite near.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the subjective nature of time and memory, suggesting that our perception of the past can be distorted.
Andre Gide uses this quote to illustrate how our recollections of the past can be misleading, akin to a person misjudging distances. It highlights the complexity of memory and time perception, emphasizing that what seems far away in our minds may actually be quite close when examined closely. This speaks to the human experience of grappling with memory and the interpretation of our life experiences.
Themes
MemoryPerceptionTimePastSubjectivity
In practice
Example use cases
In a reflective speech about personal growth, one might say, 'As Andre Gide pointed out, I often find myself lost in the memories of my past, misjudging how far I've actually come.'
More from Andre Gide
All quotes →Do not do what someone else could do as well as you. Do not say, do not write what someone else could say, could write as well as you. Care for nothing in yourself but what you feel exists nowhere else. And, out of yourself create, impatiently or patiently, the most irreplaceable of beings.
Andre GideRead
Old hands soil, it seems, whatever they caress, but they too have their beauty when they are joined in prayer. Young hands were made for caresses and the sheathing of love. It is a pity to make them join too soon.
Andre GideRead
Through fear of resembling one another, through horror of having to submit, through uncertainty as well, through skepticism and complexity, there is a multitude of individual little beliefs for the triumph of strange little individuals.
Andre GideRead
It is the special quality of love not to be able to remain stationary, to be obliged to increase under pain of diminishing.
Andre GideRead
It is with noble sentiments that bad literature gets written.
Andre GideRead
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