...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.
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the transient nature of life, suggesting that our past and future shape our existence.
Daphne Du Maurier's quote speaks to the idea that we are shaped by our past experiences and that our future is an uncertain, almost ghostly presence that influences our current state. It suggests that while the echoes of our past linger with us, the future is always just out of reach, presenting both hope and ambiguity regardless of our circumstances. The imagery of sunshine and shadow signifies the dual nature of human experience, where hope and fear coexist.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of learning from the past, one might quote this to illustrate how our histories influence our journeys.
More from Daphne Du Maurier
All quotes βhere 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.
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.
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
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
[The Bill of Rights is] designed to protect individuals and minorities against the tyranny of the majority, but it's also designed to protect the people against bureaucracy, against the government.
The knowledge of the cross brings a conflict of interest between God who has become man and man who wishes to become God.
History is a wheel, for the nature of man is fundamentally unchanging. What has happened before will perforce happen again.
It takes more than just a good looking body. You've got to have the heart and soul to go with it.
I was not leaving the south to forget the south, but so that some day I might understand it