--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Perhaps it’s true that things can change…" description: "\"“Perhaps it’s true that things can change in a day. That a few dozen hours can affect the outcome of whole lifetimes. And that when they do, those few ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ad/arundhati-roy-346_bones_perhaps-it-s-true-that-things-can-change_57987.jpg" --- # Perhaps it’s true that things can change in a day. That a… ![“Perhaps it’s true that things can change in a day. That a few dozen hours can affect the outcome of whole lifetimes. And that when they do, those few dozen hours, like the salvaged remains of a burned house—the charred clock, the singed photograph, the scorched furniture—must be resurrected from…” quote by Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ad/arundhati-roy-346_bones_perhaps-it-s-true-that-things-can-change_57987.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ad/arundhati-roy-346_bones_perhaps-it-s-true-that-things-can-change_57987.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ad/arundhati-roy-346_bones_perhaps-it-s-true-that-things-can-change_57987.jpg) > ““Perhaps it’s true that things can change in a day. That a few dozen hours can affect the outcome of whole lifetimes. And that when they do, those few dozen hours, like the salvaged remains of a burned house—the charred clock, the singed photograph, the scorched furniture—must be resurrected from the ruins and examined. Preserved. Accounted for. Little events, ordinary things, smashed and reconstituted. Imbued with new meaning. Suddenly they become the bleached bones of a story.”” [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Brief moments can reshape entire lives, turning mundane artifacts into symbols that reveal deeper narratives. **In simple terms:** Small events can redefine a story. Key Takeaway Minor details can become pivotal. Themes transience memory meaning-making narrative change Mood contemplative poignant Type aphoristic reflective When to use this quote - reflecting on personal turning points - analyzing historical shifts - creative writing - psychological therapy Key Concepts time significance interpretation Practical Applications - writing memoirs - designing narrative-driven exhibits Questions to Reflect On - What everyday objects might hold untapped significance? - How does hindsight alter our perception of past events? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bones/) [Burned](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/burned/) [Charred Clock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/charred-clock-799388/) [Clock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clock/) [Dozen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dozen/) [Events](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/events/) [Examined Preserved](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/examined-preserved-799389/) [Furniture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/furniture/) [Hours](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hours/) [House](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/house/) [Lifetime](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lifetime/) [Littles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/littles/) [Ordinary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ordinary/) [Ordinary things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ordinary-things/) [Outcomes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/outcomes/) [Photograph](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photograph/) [Preserved Accounted](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/preserved-accounted-799391/) [Remains](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/remains/) [Ruins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ruins/) [Salvaged](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/salvaged-799390/) [Salvaged Remains](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/salvaged-remains-799387/) [Stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) ## Related quotes > [“From all old seamy throats of elders, musty books, I've salvaged not a word.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/from-all-old-seamy-throats-of-elders-musty-books-i-ve-salvaged-not-a/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [Some struggling marriages can be salvaged with hard work and counseling; others should be dismantled and stripped for parts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mallory-ortberg/some-struggling-marriages-can-be-salvaged-with-hard-work-and/) [Mallory Ortberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mallory-ortberg/) > [Even though marriage is doomed, if you turned it into a job you like and really work at it - it can be salvaged.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-goldstein/even-though-marriage-is-doomed-if-you-turned-it-into-a-job-you-like/) [Al Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-goldstein/) > [Little events, ordinary things, smashed and reconstituted. Suddenly, they become the bleached bones of a story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/little-events-ordinary-things-smashed-and-reconstituted-suddenly-they/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [“History’s smell. Like old roses on a breeze. It would lurk forever in ordinary things. In coat hangers. Tomatoes. In the tar on roads.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/history-s-smell-like-old-roses-on-a-breeze-it-would-lurk-forever-in/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [“It's obvious that I'm a stranger to her; she doesn't even know what I think about the most ordinary things.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-frank/it-s-obvious-that-i-m-a-stranger-to-her-she-doesn-t-even-know-what-i/) [anne frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-frank/) > [If I seem to write most happily about the ordinary things that boys do who live in the country, it is because this is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-robin-milne/if-i-seem-to-write-most-happily-about-the-ordinary-things-that-boys/) [Christopher Robin Milne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-robin-milne/) > [I just happen to like ordinary things. When I paint them, I don't try to make them extraordinary. I just try to paint them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-warhol/i-just-happen-to-like-ordinary-things-when-i-paint-them-i-don-t-try/) [Andy Warhol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-warhol/) > [“How you conceptualize meaning matters. If you hold that it is outside of yourself and must be tracked down, you have one idea of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/how-you-conceptualize-meaning-matters-if-you-hold-that-it-is-outside/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) > [“When all normal rules are suspended, and ordinary things that used to be important suddenly become meaningless.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-j-smith-4/when-all-normal-rules-are-suspended-and-ordinary-things-that-used-to/) [L J Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-j-smith-4/) > [“Big Ben struck the half hour. How extraordinary it was, strange, yes, touching, to see the old lady (they had been neighbors ever so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/big-ben-struck-the-half-hour-how-extraordinary-it-was-strange-yes/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [The true call of a Christian is not to do extraordinary things, but to do ordinary things in an extraordinary way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-true-call-of-a-christian-is-not-to-do-extraordinary-things-but-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Freelancing and Creativity In Freelancing, doing a job in different ways is called creativity. The importance of creativity is immense among all that is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bhairab-it-zone/freelancing-and-creativity-in-freelancing-doing-a-job-in-different/) [Bhairab IT Zone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bhairab-it-zone/) > [The test of a man’s religious life and character is not what he does in the exceptional moments of life, but what he does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/the-test-of-a-man-s-religious-life-and-character-is-not-what-he-does/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) > [End-of-the-world stories tend to ring true. I've always been drawn to them, but as I wrote my own, I found surprising pleasure in creating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/end-of-the-world-stories-tend-to-ring-true-i-ve-always-been-drawn-to/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) ## More by Arundhati Roy > [...As the disparity between the rich and the poor grows, the fight to corner resources is intensifying. To push through their "sweetheart deals," to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/as-the-disparity-between-the-rich-and-the-poor-grows-the-fight-to/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [In 2001, we were told that the war in Afghanistan was a feminist mission. The marines were liberating Afghan women from the Taliban. Can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/in-2001-we-were-told-that-the-war-in-afghanistan-was-a-feminist/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [Poverty is a crime and the poor are terrorists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/poverty-is-a-crime-and-the-poor-are-terrorists/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [Flat muscled and honey coloured. Sea secrets in his eyes. A silver raindrop in his ear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/flat-muscled-and-honey-coloured-sea-secrets-in-his-eyes-a-silver/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [Fiction and non-fiction are only different techniques of story telling. For reasons I do not fully understand, fiction dances out of me. Non-fiction is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/fiction-and-non-fiction-are-only-different-techniques-of-story/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [NGOs have a complicated space in neoliberal politics. They are supposed to mop up the anger. Even when they are doing good work, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/ngos-have-a-complicated-space-in-neoliberal-politics-they-are/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [I've never been that person who thought that because I've written one novel, I should write another and another. It's only when there was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/i-ve-never-been-that-person-who-thought-that-because-i-ve-written-one/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [It is such a supreme folly to believe that nuclear weapons are deadly only if they're used.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/it-is-such-a-supreme-folly-to-believe-that-nuclear-weapons-are-deadly/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [I think one of the saddest things that's happening to literature is that it's getting over-simplified by this diet of simple political ideas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/i-think-one-of-the-saddest-things-that-s-happening-to-literature-is/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [The only dream worth having, I told her, is to dream that you will live while you're alive and die only when you're dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/the-only-dream-worth-having-i-told-her-is-to-dream-that-you-will-live/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [But what was there to say? Only that there were tears. Only that Quietness and Emptiness fitted together like stacked spoons. Only that there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/but-what-was-there-to-say-only-that-there-were-tears-only-that/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [Truly, there's no alternative to stupidity. Cretinism is the mother of fascism. I have no defence against it, really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/truly-there-s-no-alternative-to-stupidity-cretinism-is-the-mother-of/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [“...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/the-secret-of-the-great-stories-is-that-they-have-no-secrets-the/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [“stilts, the ground floors given over to parking. It’s a good idea in this car-maddened city,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/stilts-the-ground-floors-given-over-to-parking-it-s-a-good-idea-in/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [Thousands of years of ideological, philosophical and practical decisions were made. They altered the surface of the earth, the coordinates of our souls. For…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/thousands-of-years-of-ideological-philosophical-and-practical/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) [Explore all 628 Arundhati Roy quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) ## More Bones quotes > [One of the best moments of any Liars show is hearing the crowd squawk 'We're doomed! We're doomed!' on cue during 'We Fenced Other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-sheffield/one-of-the-best-moments-of-any-liars-show-is-hearing-the-crowd-squawk/) [Rob Sheffield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-sheffield/) > [May nothing entice me till I happily make my way to Jesus Christ! Fire, cross, struggles with wild beasts, wrenching of bones, mangling of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ignatius-of-antioch/may-nothing-entice-me-till-i-happily-make-my-way-to-jesus-christ-fire/) [Ignatius of Antioch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ignatius-of-antioch/) > [Can you imagine any better example of divine creative accomplishment that the consummate flying machine that is a bird? The skeleton, very flexible and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-murchie/can-you-imagine-any-better-example-of-divine-creative-accomplishment/) [Guy Murchie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-murchie/) > [Surely, God could have caused birds to fly with their bones made of solid gold, with their veins full of quicksilver, with their flesh…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/galileo-galilei/surely-god-could-have-caused-birds-to-fly-with-their-bones-made-of/) [Galileo Galilei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/galileo-galilei/) > [“We are preaching hope, standing on the bones of the past.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-rucyahana/we-are-preaching-hope-standing-on-the-bones-of-the-past/) [John Rucyahana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-rucyahana/) > [Men are fair, and they have learned not to personalize anger - they can disagree with you and argue to the bone, but afterward…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warren-farrell/men-are-fair-and-they-have-learned-not-to-personalize-anger-they-can/) [Warren Farrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warren-farrell/) > [I separated the joints, the arm joints, the leg joints, and had to do two boilings. I think I used four boxes of Soilex…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-dahmer/i-separated-the-joints-the-arm-joints-the-leg-joints-and-had-to-do/) [Jeffrey Dahmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-dahmer/) > [Flesh forgets. Bone remembers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jefferson-bass/flesh-forgets-bone-remembers/) [Jefferson Bass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jefferson-bass/) > [One of my favorite poets, Neruda, writes close to the bone. Though I know only a little Spanish, I like to compare the Spanish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-diament/one-of-my-favorite-poets-neruda-writes-close-to-the-bone-though-i/) [Anita Diament](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-diament/) > [Death and burial were a public spectacle. Shakespeare may have seen for himself the gravediggers at St Ann's, Soho, playing skittles with skulls and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catharine-arnold/death-and-burial-were-a-public-spectacle-shakespeare-may-have-seen/) [Catharine Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catharine-arnold/) > [REVIEW, v.t. To set your wisdom (holding not a doubt of it./ Although in truth there's neither bone nor skin to it)/ At work…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/review-v-t-to-set-your-wisdom-holding-not-a-doubt-of-it-although-in/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [“All right, you deadly little ghostlings,” I muttered. “Mama says go back to bed! - Cat”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeaniene-frost/all-right-you-deadly-little-ghostlings-i-muttered-mama-says-go-back/) [Jeaniene Frost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeaniene-frost/) > [“In December of 2007 human bones including skulls, which have been radiocarbon dated back to between 1304 and 1424, were found in a museum…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/captain-hank-bracker-seawater-one/in-december-of-2007-human-bones-including-skulls-which-have-been/) [Captain Hank Bracker, "Seawater One](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/captain-hank-bracker-seawater-one/) > [When I look at the human brain I'm still in awe of it. Every single time you lift off the bone and open the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-carson/when-i-look-at-the-human-brain-i-m-still-in-awe-of-it-every-single/) [Benjamin Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-carson/) > [I’m in, Cat. I’d never leave you. Especially when you’ve got death breathing down your neck.” “Very funny,” I retorted, since Bones was inches…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeaniene-frost/i-m-in-cat-i-d-never-leave-you-especially-when-you-ve-got-death/) [Jeaniene Frost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeaniene-frost/) [Browse all 2,113 Bones quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bones/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Perhaps it’s true that things can change in a day. That a few dozen hours can affect the outcome of whole lifetimes. 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