--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: For an immeasurable period of time…" description: "\"“For an immeasurable period of time, hours, days, weeks, it seemed, Celia had been struggling against tides of anguish, sinking deeper and deeper into ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cbf/anna-kavan-8510_long-ago_for-an-immeasurable-period-of-time-hours_2419823.jpg" --- # For an immeasurable period of time, hours, days, weeks, it… ![“For an immeasurable period of time, hours, days, weeks, it seemed, Celia had been struggling against tides of anguish, sinking deeper and deeper into a dreadful sea, whose waves broke at ever shorter intervals until at last there was no respite, but an endless torment that drowned and broke and…” quote by Anna Kavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cbf/anna-kavan-8510_long-ago_for-an-immeasurable-period-of-time-hours_2419823.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cbf/anna-kavan-8510_long-ago_for-an-immeasurable-period-of-time-hours_2419823.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cbf/anna-kavan-8510_long-ago_for-an-immeasurable-period-of-time-hours_2419823.jpg) > ““For an immeasurable period of time, hours, days, weeks, it seemed, Celia had been struggling against tides of anguish, sinking deeper and deeper into a dreadful sea, whose waves broke at ever shorter intervals until at last there was no respite, but an endless torment that drowned and broke and shattered her to nothing. There was no longer any such person as Celia Bryant in the living world. All that remained was an anonymous hulk, a bleeding rag of flesh in a universe of pain. Her brain had long ago ceased to function. Only somewhere, at the centre of torture, an inexorable core of consciousness persisted. Hours ago, years ago, she had thought: 'This is too much. No one could bear such agony and go on living.' It seemed that something in her must break; that she must either die or fall into oblivion. Yet somehow she had gone on bearing everything. She had not died. She had not lost consciousness. All that she had lost was the sense of her personal integrity. As a human being she was obliterated; her mind was dispersed. she could not any longer envisage an end of torment. 'Not only not to hope:not even to wait. Just to endure.' At last, in some region utterly remote, a new thing came into being, words were spoken, and strangely, incredibly, the words had significance. That which had once been Celia could not grasp their meaning because somewhere else a woman's voice was crying out lamentably. Nevertheless, she heard a man speaking, and with a new searing pain there pierced her also a thin shaft of hope, the first premonitory pang of deliverance. Thereafter she seemed to fall into a black and quiet place, a dark hole of oblivion, where she lay as at the bottom of a deep well. Slowly, painfully, the disintegrated fragments of her being reassembled themselves. By long and difficult stages she returned to some sort of normality. Her brain, her senses, all the strained mechanism of her body and mind, reluctantly began to function once more. The miracle for which she no longer hoped had actually come to pass: there was an end of pain.”” [Anna Kavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-kavan/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A harrowing depiction of prolonged suffering and the fragile emergence of hope amid relentless torment. **In simple terms:** Endless pain can be broken by a spark of hope. Key Takeaway Seek small signs of hope in despair. Themes suffering resilience hope Mood somber reflective Type narrative psychological When to use this quote - mental health crisis - grief counseling - addiction recovery - war trauma therapy Key Concepts psychology trauma survival Questions to Reflect On - What small hope can you nurture now? - How does enduring pain change identity? A Different Perspective Hope may be fleeting and hard to sustain. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Body And Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/body-and-mind/) [Celia Struggling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/celia-struggling-6120584/) [Long ago](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long-ago/) [Person Celia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/person-celia-6120585/) [Personal integrity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/personal-integrity/) [Quiet place](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/quiet-place/) [Searing Pain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/searing-pain-582078/) [Significance Celia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/significance-celia-6120587/) [Somewhere else](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/somewhere-else/) [Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Torment Drowned](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/torment-drowned-6120582/) [Years ago](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/years-ago/) ## Related quotes > [You develop a third eye where you kind of know where they are in a room at all times but no matter how vigilant…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodie-foster/you-develop-a-third-eye-where-you-kind-of-know-where-they-are-in-a/) [Jodie Foster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodie-foster/) > [You grow up with your father holding you down and covering your mouth so another man can make a horrible searing pain between your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catharine-mackinnon/you-grow-up-with-your-father-holding-you-down-and-covering-your-mouth/) [Catharine MacKinnon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catharine-mackinnon/) > [Once again your mind explodes with a searing pain. A floodgate of memories bursts wide. Yet it is her face that keeps haunting you.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/todd-mcfarlane/once-again-your-mind-explodes-with-a-searing-pain-a-floodgate-of/) [Todd McFarlane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/todd-mcfarlane/) > [In all this world there is no substitute for personal integrity. It includes honor. It includes performance. It includes keeping one's word. It includes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gordon-b-hinckley/in-all-this-world-there-is-no-substitute-for-personal-integrity-it/) [Gordon B. Hinckley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gordon-b-hinckley/) > [“If all the world spoke, acted, or kept silence with intent to deceive, --if dearest interests were at stake, and dearest lives in peril,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-gaskell/if-all-the-world-spoke-acted-or-kept-silence-with-intent-to-deceive/) [Elizabeth Gaskell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-gaskell/) > [It has become dramatically clear that the foundation of corporate integrity is personal integrity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-dipiazza/it-has-become-dramatically-clear-that-the-foundation-of-corporate/) [Samuel DiPiazza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-dipiazza/) > [The terrible thing is that one cannot be a Communist and not let oneself in for the shameful act of recantation. One cannot be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milovan-ilas/the-terrible-thing-is-that-one-cannot-be-a-communist-and-not-let/) [Milovan ?ilas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milovan-ilas/) > [Without self-discipline, a noncommissioned officer can never develop or maintain personal integrity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/silas-l-copeland/without-self-discipline-a-noncommissioned-officer-can-never-develop/) [Silas L. Copeland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/silas-l-copeland/) > [This is the most important thing I will ever say to you. The human mind is the ultimate testing device. You can take all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lois-mcmaster-bujold/this-is-the-most-important-thing-i-will-ever-say-to-you-the-human/) [Lois McMaster Bujold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lois-mcmaster-bujold/) > [“Integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. It is also the state of being whole or complete. Personal integrity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-carlyle/integrity-is-the-quality-of-being-honest-and-having-strong-moral/) [David Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-carlyle/) > [“To many an upright poor person, it seems needless to invent a god who will wash the feet of beggars and exalt those who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/to-many-an-upright-poor-person-it-seems-needless-to-invent-a-god-who/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [People whose lives are not balanced by a healthy love of money suffer from an appalling obsession with personal integrity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/people-whose-lives-are-not-balanced-by-a-healthy-love-of-money-suffer/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [Personal integrity in Achilles achieves the form and authority of immanent divinity, with its inviolable, lonely singleness, half repellent because of its almost inhuman…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cedric-h-whitman/personal-integrity-in-achilles-achieves-the-form-and-authority-of/) [Cedric H Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cedric-h-whitman/) > [“I look for three things in hiring people. The first is personal integrity, the second is intelligence, and the third is a high energy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-chapman/i-look-for-three-things-in-hiring-people-the-first-is-personal/) [Gary Chapman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-chapman/) > [I have often spoken of integrity as the most important of these values, realizing that integrity – and personal integrity, at that – is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/verghese-kurien/i-have-often-spoken-of-integrity-as-the-most-important-of-these/) [Verghese Kurien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/verghese-kurien/) ## More by Anna Kavan > [At last I feel identified with the mountains, clean, cold, hard, detached.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-kavan/at-last-i-feel-identified-with-the-mountains-clean-cold-hard-detached/) [Anna Kavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-kavan/) > [“There is, I believe, a kind of telepathy between the condemned: a sort of intuitive recognition which can even make itself felt through the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-kavan/there-is-i-believe-a-kind-of-telepathy-between-the-condemned-a-sort/) [Anna Kavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-kavan/) > [I had a friend, a lover. Or did I dream it? So many dreams are crowding upon me now that I can scarcely tell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-kavan/i-had-a-friend-a-lover-or-did-i-dream-it-so-many-dreams-are-crowding/) [Anna Kavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-kavan/) > [“It was always the same now, the ghost always coming between her and her life in the world, so much more important, since that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-kavan/it-was-always-the-same-now-the-ghost-always-coming-between-her-and/) [Anna Kavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-kavan/) > [“Their eyes met for a moment. And the glance that flickered between them had been a wordless message of understanding, the affirmation of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-kavan/their-eyes-met-for-a-moment-and-the-glance-that-flickered-between/) [Anna Kavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-kavan/) > [“She looked, and saw the black, domed sky arching over her head. And her heart dilated; she felt the great black dome in her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-kavan/she-looked-and-saw-the-black-domed-sky-arching-over-her-head-and-her/) [Anna Kavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-kavan/) > [“An intolerable pain pierced him. He was totally lost without her...estranged from his life utterly, and from the world. This was the world into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-kavan/an-intolerable-pain-pierced-him-he-was-totally-lost-without-her/) [Anna Kavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-kavan/) > [“Her albino hair illuminated my dreams, shining brighter than moonlight.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-kavan/her-albino-hair-illuminated-my-dreams-shining-brighter-than-moonlight/) [Anna Kavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-kavan/) > [“Everything was so quiet, as if the silence was listening.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-kavan/everything-was-so-quiet-as-if-the-silence-was-listening/) [Anna Kavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-kavan/) > [“In a polished surface of metal I happen to notice my reflected face; it wears a pale, beaten lonely look, eyes looking out at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-kavan/in-a-polished-surface-of-metal-i-happen-to-notice-my-reflected-face/) [Anna Kavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-kavan/) > [Because of my fear that the daytime world would become real, I had to establish reality in another place.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-kavan/because-of-my-fear-that-the-daytime-world-would-become-real-i-had-to/) [Anna Kavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-kavan/) > [“All at once I feel desperate, outraged. Why am I alone doomed to spend nights of torment, with an unseen jailer, when all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-kavan/all-at-once-i-feel-desperate-outraged-why-am-i-alone-doomed-to-spend/) [Anna Kavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-kavan/) > [“Then instead of hurrying he was standing still, he was very tired and sweating under the heavy coat, and looking up he saw a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-kavan/then-instead-of-hurrying-he-was-standing-still-he-was-very-tired-and/) [Anna Kavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-kavan/) > [“He sees her looking at him with interest, and is encouraged to go on. 'I wouldn't be here with you now. This wouldn't be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-kavan/he-sees-her-looking-at-him-with-interest-and-is-encouraged-to-go-on-i/) [Anna Kavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-kavan/) > [“But to whom can one appeal when one does not even know where to find the judge? How can one ever hope to prove…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-kavan/but-to-whom-can-one-appeal-when-one-does-not-even-know-where-to-find/) [Anna Kavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-kavan/) [Explore all 80 Anna Kavan quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-kavan/) ## More Long ago quotes > [We became Homo sapiens not that long ago, from the scientific perspective, and we've retained a lot of our beast nature. We've done all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wangechi-mutu/we-became-homo-sapiens-not-that-long-ago-from-the-scientific/) [Wangechi Mutu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wangechi-mutu/) > [A wholesome regard for the memory of the great men of long ago is the best assurance to a people of a continuation of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/calvin-coolidge/a-wholesome-regard-for-the-memory-of-the-great-men-of-long-ago-is-the/) [Calvin Coolidge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/calvin-coolidge/) > [“Not very long ago I was driving with my husband on the back roads of Grey County, which is to the north and east…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-munro/not-very-long-ago-i-was-driving-with-my-husband-on-the-back-roads-of/) [Alice Munro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-munro/) > [There must be a technique for meeting pain. There must be a technique of endurance based on the power of the soul to maintain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-stannard-baker/there-must-be-a-technique-for-meeting-pain-there-must-be-a-technique/) [Ray Stannard Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-stannard-baker/) > [Women will forgive anything. Otherwise, the race would have died out long ago.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/women-will-forgive-anything-otherwise-the-race-would-have-died-out/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [Up until 1986, the top marginal rate, the top statutory rate was 50 percent. Now it's 35 percent. And all the pressure is on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-bartlett/up-until-1986-the-top-marginal-rate-the-top-statutory-rate-was-50/) [Bruce Bartlett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-bartlett/) > [“We ought to live each day as though it were our last day here below. But if I did, alas, I know it would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/piet-hein/we-ought-to-live-each-day-as-though-it-were-our-last-day-here-below/) [Piet Hein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/piet-hein/) > [I was landscaping not too long ago, so I'm extremely grateful for the people supporting me in wrestling. Not that landscaping is terrible, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-riddle/i-was-landscaping-not-too-long-ago-so-i-m-extremely-grateful-for-the/) [Matt Riddle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-riddle/) > [“Most people would probably call me a ghost. I am, after all, dead. But I don't think of myself that way. It wasn't so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-pike/most-people-would-probably-call-me-a-ghost-i-am-after-all-dead-but-i/) [Christopher Pike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-pike/) > [“Waiting for Vengeance' Well, what is this? What am I coming to? And beyond that, what am I gonna do? Now there’s blankness Where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gayle-forman/waiting-for-vengeance-well-what-is-this-what-am-i-coming-to-and/) [Gayle Forman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gayle-forman/) > [“We were putting into these gomers our fear of death, but who knew if they feared death? Perhaps they welcomed death like a dear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-shem/we-were-putting-into-these-gomers-our-fear-of-death-but-who-knew-if/) [Samuel Shem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-shem/) > [“...The devil had long ago taken a shine to Tert Card, filled him like a cream horn with itch and irritation. His middle name…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-annie-proulx-author/the-devil-had-long-ago-taken-a-shine-to-tert-card-filled-him-like-a/) [E. Annie Proulx (Author](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-annie-proulx-author/) > [So here is my story, may it bring Some smiles and a tear or so, It happened once upon a time, Far away, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-jacques/so-here-is-my-story-may-it-bring-some-smiles-and-a-tear-or-so-it/) [Brian Jacques](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-jacques/) > [“In the middle of the cemetery is a grassy plane, strangely vacant. There are no granite tombs or crumbling concrete, just a sun-washed treeless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/molly-caldwell-crosby/in-the-middle-of-the-cemetery-is-a-grassy-plane-strangely-vacant/) [Molly Caldwell Crosby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/molly-caldwell-crosby/) > [He had long ago learned that society imposes insults that must be borne, comforted by the knowledge that in this world there comes a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mario-puzo/he-had-long-ago-learned-that-society-imposes-insults-that-must-be/) [Mario Puzo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mario-puzo/) [Browse all 2,059 Long ago quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long-ago/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“For an immeasurable period of time, hours, days, weeks, it seemed, Celia had been struggling against tides of anguish, sinking deeper and deeper into a dreadful sea, whose waves broke at ever shorter intervals until at last there was no respite, but an endless torment that drowned and broke and shattered her to nothing. There was no longer any such person as Celia Bryant in the living world. All that remained was an anonymous hulk, a bleeding rag of flesh in a universe of pain. Her brain had long ago ceased to function. Only somewhere, at the centre of torture, an inexorable core of consciousness persisted. Hours ago, years ago, she had thought: 'This is too much. No one could bear such agony and go on living.' It seemed that something in her must break; that she must either die or fall into oblivion. Yet somehow she had gone on bearing everything. She had not died. She had not lost consciousness. All that she had lost was the sense of her personal integrity. As a human being she was obliterated; her mind was dispersed. she could not any longer envisage an end of torment. 'Not only not to hope:not even to wait. Just to endure.' At last, in some region utterly remote, a new thing came into being, words were spoken, and strangely, incredibly, the words had significance. That which had once been Celia could not grasp their meaning because somewhere else a woman's voice was crying out lamentably. Nevertheless, she heard a man speaking, and with a new searing pain there pierced her also a thin shaft of hope, the first premonitory pang of deliverance. Thereafter she seemed to fall into a black and quiet place, a dark hole of oblivion, where she lay as at the bottom of a deep well. Slowly, painfully, the disintegrated fragments of her being reassembled themselves. By long and difficult stages she returned to some sort of normality. Her brain, her senses, all the strained mechanism of her body and mind, reluctantly began to function once more. The miracle for which she no longer hoped had actually come to pass: there was an end of pain.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Anna Kavan" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-kavan/for-an-immeasurable-period-of-time-hours-days-weeks-it-seemed-celia/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Long ago" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-kavan/for-an-immeasurable-period-of-time-hours-days-weeks-it-seemed-celia/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cbf/anna-kavan-8510_long-ago_for-an-immeasurable-period-of-time-hours_2419823.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cbf/anna-kavan-8510_long-ago_for-an-immeasurable-period-of-time-hours_2419823.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cbf/anna-kavan-8510_long-ago_for-an-immeasurable-period-of-time-hours_2419823.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“For an immeasurable period of time, hours, days, weeks, it seemed, Celia had been struggling against tides…” — Anna Kavan", "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": "Anna Kavan", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-kavan/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“For an immeasurable period of time,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-kavan/for-an-immeasurable-period-of-time-hours-days-weeks-it-seemed-celia/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-kavan/for-an-immeasurable-period-of-time-hours-days-weeks-it-seemed-celia/#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 } } ] } ```