--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: But after a while, that too passes, and…" description: "\"“But after a while, that too passes, and she and Jack go back to normal, as they have been before, which is to say that they, like all the other couple..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/781/anita-shreve-6955_quote_but-after-a-while-that-too-passes-and-sh_1759223.jpg" --- # But after a while, that too passes, and she and Jack go… ![“But after a while, that too passes, and she and Jack go back to normal, as they have been before, which is to say that they, like all the other couples Kathryn has ever known, live in a state of gentle decline, of being infinitesimally, but not agonizingly, less than they were the day before.” quote by Anita Shreve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/781/anita-shreve-6955_quote_but-after-a-while-that-too-passes-and-sh_1759223.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/781/anita-shreve-6955_quote_but-after-a-while-that-too-passes-and-sh_1759223.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/781/anita-shreve-6955_quote_but-after-a-while-that-too-passes-and-sh_1759223.jpg) > ““But after a while, that too passes, and she and Jack go back to normal, as they have been before, which is to say that they, like all the other couples Kathryn has ever known, live in a state of gentle decline, of being infinitesimally, but not agonizingly, less than they were the day before.”” [Anita Shreve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-shreve/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The passage describes a couple’s gradual, subtle decline, returning to a familiar, slightly diminished state after a temporary change. **In simple terms:** Couples may slowly revert to a slightly lower normal after change. Key Takeaway Accept that relationships can experience gentle, ongoing decline. Themes relationships change impermanence Mood melancholic thoughtful Type literary observational When to use this quote - long‑term partnership - personal growth - relationship counseling Key Concepts emotional drift life cycles Questions to Reflect On - How can couples nurture renewal? - What signs indicate healthy adaptation? A Different Perspective Not all decline is negative; it can be natural. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Couples Kathryn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/couples-kathryn-1677648/) [Decline](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decline/) [Gentle Decline](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gentle-decline-1677649/) [Kathryn Known](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kathryn-known-1677650/) [Like Couples](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/like-couples-1175546/) ## Related quotes > [“None of us makes eye contact. We have pretty much had it with each other. We are injured and angry, scared and sad. 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This may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-weil/low-levels-of-vitamin-d-in-the-population-as-a-whole-suggest-that/) [Andrew Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-weil/) > [When a man imagines, even after years of striving, that he has attained perfection, his decline begins.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-martin/when-a-man-imagines-even-after-years-of-striving-that-he-has-attained/) [Theodore Martin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-martin/) > [Among the many factors that make a return to halcyon days of the first decades of the postwar era virtually impossible is the decline…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gilpin/among-the-many-factors-that-make-a-return-to-halcyon-days-of-the/) [Robert Gilpin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gilpin/) ## More by Anita Shreve > [The things that don't happen to us that we'll never know didn't happen to us. The nonstories. The extra minute to find the briefcase…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-shreve/the-things-that-don-t-happen-to-us-that-we-ll-never-know-didn-t/) [Anita Shreve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-shreve/) > [I guess that's the point of drinking, to take all the feelings and thoughts and morals away until you are just a body doing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-shreve/i-guess-that-s-the-point-of-drinking-to-take-all-the-feelings-and/) [Anita Shreve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-shreve/) > [“Webster, as if he's done it every day of his life, as if he did it just the day before, trails his fingers from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-shreve/webster-as-if-he-s-done-it-every-day-of-his-life-as-if-he-did-it-just/) [Anita Shreve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-shreve/) > [“It was probably not so unusual to be a different person with a different man, for all parts were authentically within, waiting to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-shreve/it-was-probably-not-so-unusual-to-be-a-different-person-with-a/) [Anita Shreve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-shreve/) > [Children don't heal as well.. they change.. they mutate with disaster and make accomodations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-shreve/children-don-t-heal-as-well-they-change-they-mutate-with-disaster-and/) [Anita Shreve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-shreve/) > [And then she moved from shock to grief the way she might enter another room.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-shreve/and-then-she-moved-from-shock-to-grief-the-way-she-might-enter/) [Anita Shreve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-shreve/) > [“It's a wonder any of us make it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-shreve/it-s-a-wonder-any-of-us-make-it/) [Anita Shreve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-shreve/) > [If you're skating on thin ice, you might as well dance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-shreve/if-you-re-skating-on-thin-ice-you-might-as-well-dance/) [Anita Shreve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-shreve/) > [I have always been faithful to you if faithful means the experience against which everything else has been measured.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-shreve/i-have-always-been-faithful-to-you-if-faithful-means-the-experience/) [Anita Shreve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-shreve/) > [“If one has a good reputation and trusted, the rules can be bent to accommodate.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-shreve/if-one-has-a-good-reputation-and-trusted-the-rules-can-be-bent-to/) [Anita Shreve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-shreve/) > [“She felt with the shiver the rare sensation that she was exactly where she should be. She was an idea, a memory, one perfect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-shreve/she-felt-with-the-shiver-the-rare-sensation-that-she-was-exactly/) [Anita Shreve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-shreve/) > [“She thinks of all that will have to be done to dismantle a life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-shreve/she-thinks-of-all-that-will-have-to-be-done-to-dismantle-a-life/) [Anita Shreve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-shreve/) > [Reunions are always fraught with awkward tensions - the necessity to account for oneself; the attempt to find, through memories, an ember of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-shreve/reunions-are-always-fraught-with-awkward-tensions-the-necessity-to/) [Anita Shreve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-shreve/) > [Like many readers, I am continually in search of books that allow me to lose myself in an entirely unique universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-shreve/like-many-readers-i-am-continually-in-search-of-books-that-allow-me/) [Anita Shreve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-shreve/) > [“kind of necessary acceptance will form around her, like a lobster making its new shell, one that will be soft and easily breakable in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-shreve/kind-of-necessary-acceptance-will-form-around-her-like-a-lobster/) [Anita Shreve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-shreve/) [Explore all 95 Anita Shreve quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-shreve/) ## More Decline quotes > [Among the many factors that make a return to halcyon days of the first decades of the postwar era virtually impossible is the decline…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gilpin/among-the-many-factors-that-make-a-return-to-halcyon-days-of-the/) [Robert Gilpin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gilpin/) > [When a man imagines, even after years of striving, that he has attained perfection, his decline begins.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-martin/when-a-man-imagines-even-after-years-of-striving-that-he-has-attained/) [Theodore Martin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-martin/) > [Low levels of vitamin D in the population as a whole suggest that most people need to take a vitamin D supplement. This may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-weil/low-levels-of-vitamin-d-in-the-population-as-a-whole-suggest-that/) [Andrew Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-weil/) > [The challenge is either to build an economy that is sustainable or to stay with our unsustainable economy until it declines. It is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lester-r-brown/the-challenge-is-either-to-build-an-economy-that-is-sustainable-or-to/) [Lester R. Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lester-r-brown/) > [In my humble opinion, the PC as we have known it is in a continuous decline and being relegated to a utility device for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hector-ruiz/in-my-humble-opinion-the-pc-as-we-have-known-it-is-in-a-continuous/) [Hector Ruiz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hector-ruiz/) > [“There is a great deal of ruin in a nation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/there-is-a-great-deal-of-ruin-in-a-nation/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-smith/) > [I think the rise of quantitative econometrics and a highly mathematical approach to risk management was the obverse of a decline in interest in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/niall-ferguson/i-think-the-rise-of-quantitative-econometrics-and-a-highly/) [Niall Ferguson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/niall-ferguson/) > [To my way of thinking, the American family started to decline when parents began to communicate with their children.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erma-bombeck/to-my-way-of-thinking-the-american-family-started-to-decline-when/) [Erma Bombeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erma-bombeck/) > [Deflation means a slowdown of income growth. 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My most memorable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastian-faulks/in-the-1970s-british-food-was-beginning-to-get-good-whereas-in-france/) [Sebastian Faulks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-faulks/) > [In all our academies we attempt far too much. ... 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