Life Quote by Alfred De Musset
““Three elements entered into the life which offered itself to these children: behind them a past forever destroyed, still quivering on its ruins with all the fossils of centuries of absolutism; before them the aurora of an immense horizon, the first gleams of the future; and between these two worlds--like the ocean which separates the Old World from the New--something vague and floating, a troubled sea filled with wreckage, traversed from time to time by some distant sail or some ship trailing thick clouds of smoke; the present, in a word, which separates the past from the future, which is neither the one nor the other, which resembles both, and where one can not know whether, at each step, one treads on living matter or on dead refuse.””
About This Quote
Source Play: La Confession, 1835
The present is a fragile bridge between a destroyed past and an uncertain future, filled with remnants of both life and decay.
In simple terms: Life exists between past ruins and future horizons.
Key Takeaway
Navigate the present with awareness.
Themes
history
future
present tension
existentialism
Mood
thoughtful
poetic
Type
literary
philosophical
When to use this quote
- personal reflection
- historical analysis
- creative writing
Key Concepts
Philosophy
literature
temporal perception
Questions to Reflect On
- How does the past influence your present choices?
- What future hopes guide you today?
A Different Perspective
The metaphor may oversimplify complex temporal experiences.
![“The stream of Time, irresistible, ever moving, carries off and bears away all things that come to birth and plunges them into utter darkness, both deeds of no account and deeds which are mighty and worthy of commemoration; as the playwright [Sophocles] says, it 'brings to light that which was…” quote by Anna Comnena](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/50d/anna-comnena-70382_history_the-stream-of-time-irresistible-ever-mov_1332809.jpg)
