--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Three elements entered into the life…" description: "\"“Three elements entered into the life which offered itself to these children: behind them a past forever destroyed, still quivering on its ruins with a..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c4/alfred-de-musset-4813_life_three-elements-entered-into-the-life-whi_1251945.jpg" --- # Three elements entered into the life which offered itself… ![“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…” quote by Alfred De Musset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c4/alfred-de-musset-4813_life_three-elements-entered-into-the-life-whi_1251945.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c4/alfred-de-musset-4813_life_three-elements-entered-into-the-life-whi_1251945.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c4/alfred-de-musset-4813_life_three-elements-entered-into-the-life-whi_1251945.jpg) > ““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.”” [Alfred De Musset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-de-musset/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. 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. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Absolutism Aurora](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absolutism-aurora-3948749/) [Centuries Absolutism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/centuries-absolutism-3948748/) [Children Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children-past-298181/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Old world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-world/) [Past future](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past-future/) [Separates Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/separates-past-3948747/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [“During the wars of the Empire while husbands and brothers were in Germany, anxious mothers gave birth to an ardent, pale, and neurotic generation,”…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-downie/during-the-wars-of-the-empire-while-husbands-and-brothers-were-in-2/) [David Downie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-downie/) > [Children have neither past nor future; they enjoy the present, which very few of us do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-bruyere/children-have-neither-past-nor-future-they-enjoy-the-present-which/) [Jean de la Bruyere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-bruyere/) > [In that moment I know exactly what I want; I want to peel away all the layers of clothing between us, strip away everything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronica-roth/in-that-moment-i-know-exactly-what-i-want-i-want-to-peel-away-all-the/) [Veronica Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronica-roth/) > [Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/every-person-needs-to-take-one-day-away-a-day-in-which-one-2/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [Children have neither past nor future - they rejoice in the present.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-greenleaf-whittier/children-have-neither-past-nor-future-they-rejoice-in-the-present/) [John Greenleaf Whittier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-greenleaf-whittier/) > [Children have neither a past nor a future. Thus they enjoy the present, which seldom happens to us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-bruyere/children-have-neither-a-past-nor-a-future-thus-they-enjoy-the-present/) [Jean de la Bruyere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-bruyere/) > [Children have neither past nor future; and that which seldom happens to us, they rejoice in the present. \[Fr., Les enfants n'ont ni passe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-bruyere/children-have-neither-past-nor-future-and-that-which-seldom-happens/) [Jean de la Bruyere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-bruyere/) > [“Indeed we all try to raise our children as if our past experiences are important for their future, but they rarely are.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelson-demille/indeed-we-all-try-to-raise-our-children-as-if-our-past-experiences/) [Nelson DeMille](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-demille/) > [When a child speaks of a past life memory, the effects ripple far. 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But rarely, very rarely novel.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-de-la-mare/in-these-days-of-faith-cures-and-hypnotism-and-telepathy-and/) [Walter de la Mare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-de-la-mare/) > [What one thing does the world need most today-apart, that is, from the all-inclusive thing we call righteousness? Aren't you inclined to agree that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-c-forbes/what-one-thing-does-the-world-need-most-today-apart-that-is-from-the/) [B. C. Forbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-c-forbes/) > [“The mission is, not to replace old world mindlessness with new world mindlessness, but to put an end to all forms of brainless authoritarianism.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/the-mission-is-not-to-replace-old-world-mindlessness-with-new-world/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) ## More by Alfred De Musset > [Alas, everything that men say to one another is alike; the ideas they exchange are almost always the same, in their conversation. But inside…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-de-musset/alas-everything-that-men-say-to-one-another-is-alike-the-ideas-they/) [Alfred de Musset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-de-musset/) > [A lively retrospect summons back to us once more our youth, with vivid reflex of its early joys and unstained pleasures.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-de-musset/a-lively-retrospect-summons-back-to-us-once-more-our-youth-with-vivid/) [Alfred de Musset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-de-musset/) > [The mouth keeps silent to hear the heart speak.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-de-musset/the-mouth-keeps-silent-to-hear-the-heart-speak/) [Alfred de Musset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-de-musset/) > [The costliest women are the ones who cost nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-de-musset/the-costliest-women-are-the-ones-who-cost-nothing/) [Alfred de Musset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-de-musset/) > [“During the wars of the Empire, while husbands and brothers were in Germany, anxious mothers gave birth to an ardent, pale, and neurotic generation.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-de-musset/during-the-wars-of-the-empire-while-husbands-and-brothers-were-in/) [Alfred De Musset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-de-musset/) > [I don't know where my road is going, but I know that I walk better when I hold your hand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-de-musset/i-don-t-know-where-my-road-is-going-but-i-know-that-i-walk-better/) [Alfred de Musset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-de-musset/) > [“As soon as we entered I plunged into the giddy whirl of the waltz. 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Laurette ! Ah ! je me sens plus lâche qu’une femme. Mon désespoir me tue ; il faut que je pleure. ( RAZETTA )”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-de-musset/laurette-laurette-ah-je-me-sens-plus-l-che-qu-une-femme-mon-d-sespoir/) [Alfred de Musset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-de-musset/) > [Christianity ruined emperors, but saved peoples.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-de-musset/christianity-ruined-emperors-but-saved-peoples/) [Alfred de Musset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-de-musset/) > [life is a deep sleep of which love is the dream](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-de-musset/life-is-a-deep-sleep-of-which-love-is-the-dream/) [Alfred de Musset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-de-musset/) [Explore all 82 Alfred De Musset quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-de-musset/) ## More Life quotes > [Of all the people who have affected my life and influenced the choices I've made, none has been more important than my father. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teddy-atlas/of-all-the-people-who-have-affected-my-life-and-influenced-the/) [Teddy Atlas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teddy-atlas/) > [What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing differences and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/what-sets-worlds-in-motion-is-the-interplay-of-differences-their/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Life is full of change. That's how we learn and grow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/life-is-full-of-change-that-s-how-we-learn-and-grow/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Life works most perfectly when a reciprocal love relationship is in place between man and God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beth-moore/life-works-most-perfectly-when-a-reciprocal-love-relationship-is-in/) [Beth Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beth-moore/) > [I value the experiences that come with life too much to sit by and not put my full effort into them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-miller/i-value-the-experiences-that-come-with-life-too-much-to-sit-by-and/) [Jim Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-miller/) > [Entertainment is a sacred pursuit when done well. When done well, it raises the quality of human life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-chabon/entertainment-is-a-sacred-pursuit-when-done-well-when-done-well-it/) [Michael Chabon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-chabon/) > [“There's more to life than you can see. Your sight is limited.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tammy-kling/there-s-more-to-life-than-you-can-see-your-sight-is-limited/) [Tammy Kling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tammy-kling/) > [“I've spent much of my life calling my intuition "something wrong with me.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deanna-l-lawlis/i-ve-spent-much-of-my-life-calling-my-intuition-something-wrong-with/) [Deanna L. Lawlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deanna-l-lawlis/) > [When you do things they're absolutely right at that time for you and it can always teach you something about yourself. 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I mean, that's my life lesson.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwayne-johnson/the-one-thing-that-i-keep-learning-over-and-over-again-is-that-i-don/) [Dwayne Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwayne-johnson/) > [“THIS tale of my sore-troubled life I write,    To thank the God of nature, who conveyed    My soul to me, and with such care…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/this-tale-of-my-sore-troubled-life-i-write-to-thank-the-god-of-nature/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The future is only an indifferent void no one cares about, but the past is filled with life, and its countenance is irritating, repellent,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/the-future-is-only-an-indifferent-void-no-one-cares-about-but-the/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [Two things revolutionised life: moving to the countryside and falling in love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-love/two-things-revolutionised-life-moving-to-the-countryside-and-falling/) [Nick Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-love/) > [But just remember, life without me would be even more unbearable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/but-just-remember-life-without-me-would-be-even-more-unbearable/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) [Browse all 265,290 Life quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“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.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Alfred De Musset" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-de-musset/three-elements-entered-into-the-life-which-offered-itself-to-these/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Life" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-de-musset/three-elements-entered-into-the-life-which-offered-itself-to-these/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c4/alfred-de-musset-4813_life_three-elements-entered-into-the-life-whi_1251945.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c4/alfred-de-musset-4813_life_three-elements-entered-into-the-life-whi_1251945.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c4/alfred-de-musset-4813_life_three-elements-entered-into-the-life-whi_1251945.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Three elements entered into the life which offered itself to these children: behind them a past forever…” — Alfred De Musset", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Alfred De Musset", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-de-musset/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Three elements entered into the life...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-de-musset/three-elements-entered-into-the-life-which-offered-itself-to-these/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-de-musset/three-elements-entered-into-the-life-which-offered-itself-to-these/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```