Do you ever wait for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always wait for the longest day of the year and then miss it!
Interpretation
This quote reflects the idea of anticipation and the disappointment of missed opportunities.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's quote captures the essence of human experiences surrounding expectation and regret. It speaks to the tendency we have to look forward to significant moments, such as the longest day of the year, only to find ourselves unprepared or distracted when they arrive. This repetition implies a cycle of hope and letdown, emphasizing the importance of being present and appreciating moments as they happen.
In practice
In a speech about living in the moment, one might say, 'Do you ever wait for the longest day of the year and then miss it?' to illustrate the importance of appreciating life as it unfolds.
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.
If I ask you, 'What do you want out of life?' and you say something like, 'I want to be happy and have a great family and a job I like,' it's so ubiquitous that it doesn't even mean anything. Everyone wants that.
The kindness that's been shown to me, by doctors as well as my family and my friends, it's really saved my life.
Your life feels different on you, once you greet death and understand your heart's position. You wear your life like a garment from the mission bundle sale ever after - lightly because you realize you never paid nothing for it, cherishing because you know you won't ever come by such a bargain again.
And what does it matter when light enters the room where a child sleeps and the waking mother, opening her eyes, wishes more than anything to be unwakened by what she cannot name?
Tain't no use in you cryin' . . . But folks is meant to cry 'bout somethin' or other. Better leave things de way dey is. Youse young yet. No tellin' whut mout happen befo' you die.
A long life may not be good enough, but a good life is long enough.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.