--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: That world he wanted them to know had…" description: "\"“That world he wanted them to know had vanished as smoke deserts the dying embers that made it.”\" — Annie Proulx" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1e/annie-proulx-6713_quote_that-world-he-wanted-them-to-know-had-va_1059506.jpg" --- # That world he wanted them to know had vanished as smoke… ![“That world he wanted them to know had vanished as smoke deserts the dying embers that made it.” quote by Annie Proulx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1e/annie-proulx-6713_quote_that-world-he-wanted-them-to-know-had-va_1059506.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1e/annie-proulx-6713_quote_that-world-he-wanted-them-to-know-had-va_1059506.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1e/annie-proulx-6713_quote_that-world-he-wanted-them-to-know-had-va_1059506.jpg) > ““That world he wanted them to know had vanished as smoke deserts the dying embers that made it.”” [Annie Proulx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-proulx/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The imagined world of the past fades like smoke, leaving only the dying remnants of memory. **In simple terms:** Memory fades over time. Key Takeaway Preserve meaningful memories. Themes memory loss nostalgia change impermanence Mood melancholic poetic contemplative Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - aging - historical reflection - personal loss Key Concepts Ephemerality nostalgia cultural memory Questions to Reflect On - What memories shape your present? - How do you honor fading pasts? 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Holland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-r-holland/) ## More by Annie Proulx > [Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-proulx/writing-comes-from-reading-and-reading-is-the-finest-teacher-of-how/) [Annie Proulx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-proulx/) > [“A kind of joyous hysteria moved into the room, everything flying before the wind, vehicles outside getting dented to hell, the crowd sweaty and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-proulx/a-kind-of-joyous-hysteria-moved-into-the-room-everything-flying/) [Annie Proulx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-proulx/) > [“By January it had always been winter.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-proulx/by-january-it-had-always-been-winter/) [Annie Proulx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-proulx/) > [“.. that old, cold time on the mountain when they owned the world and nothing seemed wrong ..”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-proulx/that-old-cold-time-on-the-mountain-when-they-owned-the-world-and/) [Annie Proulx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-proulx/) > [“The mountain pine beetle is a tiny creature that chews through a lodgepole’s bark, gouges out a hollow in the wood and lays its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-proulx/the-mountain-pine-beetle-is-a-tiny-creature-that-chews-through-a/) [Annie Proulx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-proulx/) > [“It was as if his eye were an ear and a crackle went through it each time he shot a look at the accordion.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-proulx/it-was-as-if-his-eye-were-an-ear-and-a-crackle-went-through-it-each/) [Annie Proulx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-proulx/) > [“On the stairs an image came to him. 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That's not right.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-proulx/they-say-that-doing-ten-sums-a-day-prevents-you-from-becoming-senile/) [Annie Proulx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-proulx/) > [It's easier to die if others around you are dying.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-proulx/it-s-easier-to-die-if-others-around-you-are-dying/) [Annie Proulx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-proulx/) > [“You stand there, braced. Cloud shadows race over the buff rock stacks as a projected film, casting a queasy, mottled ground rash. The air…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-proulx/you-stand-there-braced-cloud-shadows-race-over-the-buff-rock-stacks/) [Annie Proulx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-proulx/) > [“Thirty-six years old and this was the first time anybody ever said he'd done it right. Fog against the window like milk.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-proulx/thirty-six-years-old-and-this-was-the-first-time-anybody-ever-said-he/) [Annie Proulx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-proulx/) > [“There was a month of fiery happiness. Then six kinked years of suffering.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-proulx/there-was-a-month-of-fiery-happiness-then-six-kinked-years-of/) [Annie Proulx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-proulx/) > [It is my feeling that a story is not finished until it is read, and that the reader finishes it through his or her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-proulx/it-is-my-feeling-that-a-story-is-not-finished-until-it-is-read-and/) [Annie Proulx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-proulx/) > [“One of the tragedies of real life is that there is no background music.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-proulx/one-of-the-tragedies-of-real-life-is-that-there-is-no-background-music/) [Annie Proulx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-proulx/) [Explore all 97 Annie Proulx quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-proulx/) ## More Embers quotes > [“The past is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-r-holland/the-past-is-to-be-learned-from-but-not-lived-in-we-look-back-to-claim/) [Jeffrey R. Holland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-r-holland/) > [No wonder of it: sheer plod makes plough down sillion Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear, Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerard-manley-hopkins/no-wonder-of-it-sheer-plod-makes-plough-down-sillion-shine-and-blue/) [Gerard Manley Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerard-manley-hopkins/) > [Will closed his eyes. He could not hear Jem go, not anymore; he did not want to know the moment when he left and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/will-closed-his-eyes-he-could-not-hear-jem-go-not-anymore-he-did-not/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [It's there. The white rose among the dried flowers in the vase. Shriveled and fragile, but holding on to that unnatural perfection cultivated in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-collins/it-s-there-the-white-rose-among-the-dried-flowers-in-the-vase/) [Suzanne Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-collins/) > [Mars tugs at the human imagination like no other planet. With a force mightier than gravity, it attracts the eye to its shimmering red…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-noble-wilford/mars-tugs-at-the-human-imagination-like-no-other-planet-with-a-force/) John Noble Wilford > [“Flames beaten by the Ocean's Rage; Shrouded in Molten Haze; Blithely sheathed in Splendor. An Angel rises from the Embers. Calming Waters brew Courage…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/renee-rentmeester/flames-beaten-by-the-ocean-s-rage-shrouded-in-molten-haze-blithely/) [Renee Rentmeester](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/renee-rentmeester/) > [He set fire to some potatoes, then cooked some undelivered post in the embers." - Dad "Did he now? What a strange fellow. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jasper-fforde/he-set-fire-to-some-potatoes-then-cooked-some-undelivered-post-in-the/) [Jasper Fforde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jasper-fforde/) > [Ods me I marle what pleasure or felicity they have in taking their roguish tobacco. It is good for nothing but to choke a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-jonson/ods-me-i-marle-what-pleasure-or-felicity-they-have-in-taking-their/) [Ben Jonson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-jonson/) > [And when I told my sons I might be in City of Ember, they said, 'Oh! You're gonna be the mayor?' And I hadn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-murray/and-when-i-told-my-sons-i-might-be-in-city-of-ember-they-said-oh-you/) [Bill Murray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-murray/) > [Good-night! good-night! as we so oft have said Beneath this roof at midnight, in the days That are no more, and shall no more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/good-night-good-night-as-we-so-oft-have-said-beneath-this-roof-at/) [Henry Wadsworth Longfellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/) > [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/) > [Nothing is really lost or can be lost, No birth, identity, form--no object of the world, Nor life, nor force, nor any visible thing...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/nothing-is-really-lost-or-can-be-lost-no-birth-identity-form-no/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Yea, though the breath of disappointment should chill the sanguine heart, Speedily gloweth it again, warmed by the live embers of hope.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ward-beecher/yea-though-the-breath-of-disappointment-should-chill-the-sanguine/) [Henry Ward Beecher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ward-beecher/) > [I'd rather be a flash than a slowly burning ember.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-crutcher/i-d-rather-be-a-flash-than-a-slowly-burning-ember/) [Chris Crutcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-crutcher/) > [The burning embers within me burst into flame / My body becomes a fire-lit torch. / Ho someone! Send for the mid-wife.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amrita-pritam/the-burning-embers-within-me-burst-into-flame-my-body-becomes-a-fire/) [Amrita Pritam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amrita-pritam/) Browse all 115 Embers quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“That world he wanted them to know had vanished as smoke deserts the dying embers that made it.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Annie Proulx" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-proulx/that-world-he-wanted-them-to-know-had-vanished-as-smoke-deserts-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Embers" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-proulx/that-world-he-wanted-them-to-know-had-vanished-as-smoke-deserts-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1e/annie-proulx-6713_quote_that-world-he-wanted-them-to-know-had-va_1059506.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1e/annie-proulx-6713_quote_that-world-he-wanted-them-to-know-had-va_1059506.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1e/annie-proulx-6713_quote_that-world-he-wanted-them-to-know-had-va_1059506.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“That world he wanted them to know had vanished as smoke deserts the dying embers that made it.” — Annie Proulx", "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": "Annie Proulx", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-proulx/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“That world he wanted them to...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-proulx/that-world-he-wanted-them-to-know-had-vanished-as-smoke-deserts-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-proulx/that-world-he-wanted-them-to-know-had-vanished-as-smoke-deserts-the/#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 } } ] } ```