--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Things happened, as soon as they had they…" description: "\"“Things happened, as soon as they had they were in the past, once they were, there was nothing you could do. Days and nights followed in a seamless pha..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0bf/alan-judd-56492_another-life_things-happened-as-soon-as-they-had-they_2425356.png" --- # Things happened, as soon as they had they were in the… ![“Things happened, as soon as they had they were in the past, once they were, there was nothing you could do. Days and nights followed in a seamless phantasmagoria of action and inaction, of weariness, privation, duty, routine and waiting, always so much waiting. What had happened yesterday might…” quote by Alan Judd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0bf/alan-judd-56492_another-life_things-happened-as-soon-as-they-had-they_2425356.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0bf/alan-judd-56492_another-life_things-happened-as-soon-as-they-had-they_2425356.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0bf/alan-judd-56492_another-life_things-happened-as-soon-as-they-had-they_2425356.png) > ““Things happened, as soon as they had they were in the past, once they were, there was nothing you could do. Days and nights followed in a seamless phantasmagoria of action and inaction, of weariness, privation, duty, routine and waiting, always so much waiting. What had happened yesterday might have been in another life, as remote from today as the unknowable events of tomorrow.”” [Alan Judd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-judd/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Time passes, actions become past, and waiting dominates life, blurring past, future, and present. **In simple terms:** Life is a cycle of action, waiting, and uncertainty. Key Takeaway Live fully in each moment. Themes time routine waiting existence Mood melancholic contemplative Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - daily work - military service - personal reflection Key Concepts temporal perception nihilism Questions to Reflect On - How does waiting shape identity? - What breaks the endless cycle? A Different Perspective May induce paralysis by over‑analysis. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Another life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/another-life/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Yesterday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/yesterday/) ## Related quotes > [At the stair-foot Hephaistion was waiting. He happened to be there, as he happened to have a ball handy if Alexander wanted a game,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-renault/at-the-stair-foot-hephaistion-was-waiting-he-happened-to-be-there-as/) [Mary Renault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-renault/) > [Last night there seemed to be a chance. Anything was possible last night. That was the trouble with last nights. They were always followed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/last-night-there-seemed-to-be-a-chance-anything-was-possible-last/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [“That was the trouble with last nights. They were always followed by this mornings.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/that-was-the-trouble-with-last-nights-they-were-always-followed-by/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [Everyday we are given the chance to make our life better; what we did yesterday has already made our life better today and tomorrow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nghi-lam/everyday-we-are-given-the-chance-to-make-our-life-better-what-we-did/) [Nghi Lam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nghi-lam/) > [Your life today is a result of your thinking yesterday. Your life tomorrow will be determined by what you think today.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-c-maxwell/your-life-today-is-a-result-of-your-thinking-yesterday-your-life/) [John C. Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-c-maxwell/) > [We can't always keep running after yesterday. Life moves forward. And so we must.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/we-can-t-always-keep-running-after-yesterday-life-moves-forward-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [One day you are 18,and you start planing for some day...some day is today and some day is yesterday,and this your life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/one-day-you-are-18-and-you-start-planing-for-some-day-some-day-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Never regret yesterday. Life is in you today and you make your tomorrow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-ron-hubbard/never-regret-yesterday-life-is-in-you-today-and-you-make-your-tomorrow/) [L. Ron Hubbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-ron-hubbard/) > [“People and birds were alike. Things happened that hurt them or made their lives harder. All the time. But losing someone or something important…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-goldsmith/people-and-birds-were-alike-things-happened-that-hurt-them-or-made/) Suzanne Goldsmith > [At any given moment in our lives, there are certain things that could have happened but didn't. The magic moments go unrecognized, and then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/at-any-given-moment-in-our-lives-there-are-certain-things-that-could/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [Certain things happened in the early church. Women who had never had any freedom suddenly have the ability to stand up and speak and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-campolo/certain-things-happened-in-the-early-church-women-who-had-never-had/) [Tony Campolo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-campolo/) > [Memory is the diary that chronicles things that never happened or couldn't possibly have happened.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/memory-is-the-diary-that-chronicles-things-that-never-happened-or/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [“Because sometimes Lucky wanted to change everything, all the bad things that had happened, and sometimes she wanted everything to stay the same forever.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-patron/because-sometimes-lucky-wanted-to-change-everything-all-the-bad/) [Susan Patron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-patron/) > [Steve, all those things that happened to us, everything that went before, we'll forget it. You'll see. I'll make you forget it. After it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-fuchs/steve-all-those-things-that-happened-to-us-everything-that-went/) Daniel Fuchs > [Getting married is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. It's fantastic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amanda-redman/getting-married-is-one-of-the-best-things-that-has-ever-happened-to/) [Amanda Redman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amanda-redman/) ## More by Alan Judd > [“When you are young you do not understand how different then and now are because you have lived only in now and it feels…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-judd/when-you-are-young-you-do-not-understand-how-different-then-and-now/) [Alan Judd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-judd/) > [I hear better with a pen in my hand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-judd/i-hear-better-with-a-pen-in-my-hand/) [Alan Judd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-judd/) > [Too much philosophy makes men mad.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-judd/too-much-philosophy-makes-men-mad/) [Alan Judd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-judd/) > [ Brings \[O'Brian's\] achievement to a new height…Such is O'Brian's power to possess the imagination that I found I was living in his world as… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-judd/brings-o-brian-s-achievement-to-a-new-height-such-is-o-brian-s-power/) [Alan Judd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-judd/) > [Sublime Philosophy! Thou art the patriarch's ladder, reaching heaven; And bright with beckoning angels—but alas! We see thee, like the patriarch, but in dreams,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-judd/sublime-philosophy-thou-art-the-patriarch-s-ladder-reaching-heaven/) [Alan Judd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-judd/) [Explore all 6 Alan Judd quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-judd/) ## More Another life quotes > [“Small memories of another life flutter through my head like moths — all grey images and tearstains”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-r-kahler/small-memories-of-another-life-flutter-through-my-head-like-moths-all/) A.R. Kahler > [When you chopped logs with the ax and they split open they smelled beautiful, like Christmas. But when you split someone's head open it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-atkinson/when-you-chopped-logs-with-the-ax-and-they-split-open-they-smelled/) [Kate Atkinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-atkinson/) > [“I love the dark hours of my being. My mind deepens into them. There I can find, as in old letters, the days of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/i-love-the-dark-hours-of-my-being-my-mind-deepens-into-them-there-i/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [In another life, I would be your girl. Capable of making promises. We would rule the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katy-perry/in-another-life-i-would-be-your-girl-capable-of-making-promises-we/) [Katy Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katy-perry/) > [I couldn't even think about wanting to be something else; I wouldn't let myself visualize another life. But I wrote because I couldn't stop.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-z/i-couldn-t-even-think-about-wanting-to-be-something-else-i-wouldn-t/) [Jay-Z](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-z/) > [And whatever my life had been up to that day, it was another life after that. And that is the gospel truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastian-barry/and-whatever-my-life-had-been-up-to-that-day-it-was-another-life/) [Sebastian Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-barry/) > [Literature duplicates the experience of living in a way that nothing else can, drawing you so fully into another life that you temporarily forget…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-kingsolver/literature-duplicates-the-experience-of-living-in-a-way-that-nothing/) [Barbara Kingsolver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-kingsolver/) > [Whatever you have received more than others-in health, in talents, in ability, in success, in a pleasant childhood, in harmonious conditions of home life-all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-schweitzer/whatever-you-have-received-more-than-others-in-health-in-talents-in/) [Albert Schweitzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-schweitzer/) > [“Let me give you a bit of advice.' the girl said bitterly, 'from one working girl to another; life isn't easy, no matter where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-j-maas/let-me-give-you-a-bit-of-advice-the-girl-said-bitterly-from-one/) [Sarah J. Maas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-j-maas/) > [“The vibrations he felt in his sleep had nothing to do with his soul easing out of his body as he dreamily thought; they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author-poet-aberjhani/the-vibrations-he-felt-in-his-sleep-had-nothing-to-do-with-his-soul/) Author-Poet Aberjhani > [I wasn't born with a tie or with Mark Shields stapled to my left hip. I have another life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-brooks/i-wasn-t-born-with-a-tie-or-with-mark-shields-stapled-to-my-left-hip/) [David Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-brooks/) > [For many observers, a child who has known nothing but war, a child for whom the Kalashnikov is the only way to make a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ishmael-beah/for-many-observers-a-child-who-has-known-nothing-but-war-a-child-for/) [Ishmael Beah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ishmael-beah/) > [I mean, is there a chance for me? To have another life after this, a better one?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/i-mean-is-there-a-chance-for-me-to-have-another-life-after-this-a/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [We, all who live, have A life that is lived And another life that is thought, And the only life we have It's the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/we-all-who-live-have-a-life-that-is-lived-and-another-life-that-is/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [The death-change comes. Death is another life. We bow our heads At going out, we think, and enter straight Another golden chamber of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-james-bailey/the-death-change-comes-death-is-another-life-we-bow-our-heads-at/) [Philip James Bailey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-james-bailey/) [Browse all 433 Another life quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/another-life/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Things happened, as soon as they had they were in the past, once they were, there was nothing you could do. Days and nights followed in a seamless phantasmagoria of action and inaction, of weariness, privation, duty, routine and waiting, always so much waiting. 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