--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: And now, when I have summed up all my…" description: "\"And now, when I have summed up all my store, Thinking (so I myself deceive) So rich a chaplet thence to weave As never yet the King of Glory wore, Alas..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1be/andrew-marvell-11672_alas_and-now-when-i-have-summed-up-all-my-sto_564103.png" --- # And now, when I have summed up all my store, Thinking (so… ![“And now, when I have summed up all my store, Thinking (so I myself deceive) So rich a chaplet thence to weave As never yet the King of Glory wore, Alas! I find the serpent old, That, twining in his speckled breast, About the flowers disguised does fold With wreaths of fame and interest.” quote by Andrew Marvell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1be/andrew-marvell-11672_alas_and-now-when-i-have-summed-up-all-my-sto_564103.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1be/andrew-marvell-11672_alas_and-now-when-i-have-summed-up-all-my-sto_564103.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1be/andrew-marvell-11672_alas_and-now-when-i-have-summed-up-all-my-sto_564103.png) > “And now, when I have summed up all my store, Thinking (so I myself deceive) So rich a chaplet thence to weave As never yet the King of Glory wore, Alas! I find the serpent old, That, twining in his speckled breast, About the flowers disguised does fold With wreaths of fame and interest.” [Andrew Marvell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-marvell/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker reflects on life's fleeting nature, noting how time reveals hidden truths and the deceptive allure of fame. **In simple terms:** Time shows hidden truths behind fame. Key Takeaway Recognize and question superficial glory. Themes mortality deception fame truth reflection Mood contemplative melancholic Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - personal introspection - literary analysis - ethical decision making Key Concepts philosophy poetry human nature Questions to Reflect On - How does fame mask true character? - What hidden truths does time reveal? A Different Perspective The metaphor may overstate the pervasiveness of deception. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Fame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fame/) [Flower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flower/) [Glory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/glory/) [Interest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interest/) [Kings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kings/) [Serpent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/serpent/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Wreaths](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wreaths/) ## Related quotes > [“philosophers have noted that people who habitually deceive finally fall for their own deceptions. This is the well-known phenomenon that confidence artists appeal to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-agassi/philosophers-have-noted-that-people-who-habitually-deceive-finally/) Joseph Agassi > [All-cheering Plenty, with her flowing horn, Led yellow Autumn, wreath'd with nodding corn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-burns/all-cheering-plenty-with-her-flowing-horn-led-yellow-autumn-wreath-d-2/) [Robert Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-burns/) > [But memory, after a time, dispenses its own emphasis, making a feuilleton of what we once thought most ponderable, laying its wreath on what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hortense-calisher/but-memory-after-a-time-dispenses-its-own-emphasis-making-a/) [Hortense Calisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hortense-calisher/) > [Madam President, speaking here in Dublin Castle it is impossible to ignore the weight of history, as it was yesterday when you and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/queen-elizabeth-ii/madam-president-speaking-here-in-dublin-castle-it-is-impossible-to/) [Queen Elizabeth II](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/queen-elizabeth-ii/) > [A rose to the living is more Than sumptuous wreaths to the dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nixon-waterman/a-rose-to-the-living-is-more-than-sumptuous-wreaths-to-the-dead/) [Nixon Waterman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nixon-waterman/) > [And I ran after that voice through the streets so as not to lose sight of the splendid wreath of bodies gliding over the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/and-i-ran-after-that-voice-through-the-streets-so-as-not-to-lose/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > ['T is hers to pluck the amaranthine flower Of faith, and round the sufferer's temples bind Wreaths that endure affliction's heaviest shower, And do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-wordsworth/t-is-hers-to-pluck-the-amaranthine-flower-of-faith-and-round-the/) [William Wordsworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-wordsworth/) > [Whose heart doth hold the Christmas glow Hath little need of Mistletoe; Who bears a smiling grace of mien Need waste no time on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kendrick-bangs/whose-heart-doth-hold-the-christmas-glow-hath-little-need-of/) [John Kendrick Bangs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-kendrick-bangs/) > [For the greater a man's works for the future, the less the present can comprehend them; the harder his fight, and the rarer success.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/for-the-greater-a-man-s-works-for-the-future-the-less-the-present-can/) [Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/) > [The groves and thickets of smaller trees are full of blooming evergreen vines. 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It grows in a wreath all around the teeth thus…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-euwer/no-matter-how-grouchy-you-re-feeling-you-ll-find-the-smile-more-or/) Anthony Euwer ## More by Andrew Marvell > [My love is of a birth as rare As 'tis, for object, strange and high; It was begotten by Despair Upon Impossibility.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-marvell/my-love-is-of-a-birth-as-rare-as-tis-for-object-strange-and-high-it/) [Andrew Marvell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-marvell/) > [“But at my back I always hear Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near; And yonder all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-marvell/but-at-my-back-i-always-hear-time-s-wing-d-chariot-hurrying-near-and/) [Andrew Marvell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-marvell/) > [What wondrous life is this I lead! Ripe apples drop about my head; The luscious clusters of the vine Upon my mouth do crush…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-marvell/what-wondrous-life-is-this-i-lead-ripe-apples-drop-about-my-head-the/) [Andrew Marvell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-marvell/) > [Gather the flowers, but spare the buds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-marvell/gather-the-flowers-but-spare-the-buds/) [Andrew Marvell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-marvell/) > [No white nor red was ever seen So am'rous as this lovely green. 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Ripe apples drop about my head.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-marvell/what-wondrous-life-is-this-i-lead-ripe-apples-drop-about-my-head/) [Andrew Marvell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-marvell/) > [How vainly men themselves amaze, / To win the palm, the oak, or bays; / And their incessant labours see / Crowned from some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-marvell/how-vainly-men-themselves-amaze-to-win-the-palm-the-oak-or-bays-and/) [Andrew Marvell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-marvell/) > [Therefore the love which us doth bind, But fate so enviously debars, Is the conjunction of the mind, And opposition of the stars.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-marvell/therefore-the-love-which-us-doth-bind-but-fate-so-enviously-debars-is/) [Andrew Marvell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-marvell/) > [The world in all doth but two nations bear- The good, the bad; and these mixed everywhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-marvell/the-world-in-all-doth-but-two-nations-bear-the-good-the-bad-and-these/) [Andrew Marvell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-marvell/) > [Though I carry always some ill-nature about me, yet it is, I hope, no more than is in this world necessary for a preservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-marvell/though-i-carry-always-some-ill-nature-about-me-yet-it-is-i-hope-no/) [Andrew Marvell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-marvell/) > [Self-preservation, nature's first great law, all the creatures, except man, doth awe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-marvell/self-preservation-nature-s-first-great-law-all-the-creatures-except/) [Andrew Marvell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-marvell/) [Explore all 58 Andrew Marvell quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-marvell/) ## More Alas quotes > [“Muchos de los ángeles de Dios no tienen alas...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jos-n-harris/muchos-de-los-ngeles-de-dios-no-tienen-alas/) [José N. Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jos-n-harris/) > [We are all potentially such sick men. The sanest and best of us are of one clay with lunatics and prison-inmates. And whenever we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/we-are-all-potentially-such-sick-men-the-sanest-and-best-of-us-are-of/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [Alas, you don't need monsters for monstrous deeds to be accomplished.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zygmunt-bauman/alas-you-don-t-need-monsters-for-monstrous-deeds-to-be-accomplished/) [Zygmunt Bauman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zygmunt-bauman/) > [Time, time - that is our greatest master! Alas, like Ugolino, time devours its own children.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hector-berlioz/time-time-that-is-our-greatest-master-alas-like-ugolino-time-devours/) [Hector Berlioz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hector-berlioz/) > [Removing prejudices is, alas! too often removing the boundary of a delightful near prospect in order to let in a shockingly extensive one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sir-fulke-greville/removing-prejudices-is-alas-too-often-removing-the-boundary-of-a/) [Sir Fulke Greville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sir-fulke-greville/) > [Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-pharcellus-church/yes-virginia-there-is-a-santa-claus-he-exists-as-certainly-as-love/) [Francis Pharcellus Church](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-pharcellus-church/) > [Alas, Postumus, the fleeting years slip by, nor will piety give any stay to wrinkles and pressing old age and untamable death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/alas-postumus-the-fleeting-years-slip-by-nor-will-piety-give-any-stay/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [Sensible Catholics have for generations been ignoring the views on contraception held by reactionary old men in the Vatican, but alas, since it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-c-grayling/sensible-catholics-have-for-generations-been-ignoring-the-views-on/) [A.C. 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