--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Except, how do we go on when what was…" description: "\"“Except, how do we go on when what was best is behind us? When the longing is not for someone you have not yet met, but for someone you knew and lost?”..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b80/binnie-kirshenbaum-25141_longing_except-how-do-we-go-on-when-what-was-bes_2930531.png" --- # Except, how do we go on when what was best is behind us?… ![“Except, how do we go on when what was best is behind us? When the longing is not for someone you have not yet met, but for someone you knew and lost?” quote by Binnie Kirshenbaum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b80/binnie-kirshenbaum-25141_longing_except-how-do-we-go-on-when-what-was-bes_2930531.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b80/binnie-kirshenbaum-25141_longing_except-how-do-we-go-on-when-what-was-bes_2930531.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b80/binnie-kirshenbaum-25141_longing_except-how-do-we-go-on-when-what-was-bes_2930531.png) > ““Except, how do we go on when what was best is behind us? When the longing is not for someone you have not yet met, but for someone you knew and lost?”” [Binnie Kirshenbaum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/binnie-kirshenbaum/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. When the best is past, longing shifts from future hopes to past loss, creating grief for what once was. **In simple terms:** Missing the past changes longing. Key Takeaway Acknowledge loss to move forward. Themes loss longing memory identity growth Mood melancholic hopeful Type literary emotional When to use this quote - grief counseling - creative writing - personal reflection Key Concepts existentialism attachment theory narrative identity Questions to Reflect On - What does the past teach you? - How can you honor loss while embracing new? A Different Perspective Clinging to the past can hinder new connections. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Best Longing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/best-longing-4317352/) [Knew Lost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knew-lost-442349/) [Longing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/longing/) [Longing Met](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/longing-met-4317351/) [Lost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lost/) [Nostalgia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nostalgia/) ## Related quotes > [I was depressed. I knew I was lost, but I had no idea how to find myself again. 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The rest of the world had gone somewhere else and everything that needed to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kirsty-eagar/they-stared-at-each-other-for-a-long-time-the-rest-of-the-world-had/) [Kirsty Eagar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kirsty-eagar/) > [She knew nothing, but she had everything that he had lost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/she-knew-nothing-but-she-had-everything-that-he-had-lost/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [After that, she wasn't sure what the game was or if she'd imagined it. All she knew was that she had lost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/holly-black/after-that-she-wasn-t-sure-what-the-game-was-or-if-she-d-imagined-it/) [Holly Black](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/holly-black/) > [I cried when I knew I lost you, afraid I had lost it all. 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I added it up, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-broyles-jr-2/we-both-had-done-the-math-kelly-added-it-all-up-and-knew-she-had-to/) [William Broyles Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-broyles-jr-2/) > [I saw your face. And was Frozen. I saw your smile, And I couldn't breath. I saw your eyes, And knew I was lost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-nickel/i-saw-your-face-and-was-frozen-i-saw-your-smile-and-i-couldn-t-breath/) [Eric Nickel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-nickel/) > [“He didn't even attempt to smile and I knew then that I had lost him.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marian-keyes/he-didn-t-even-attempt-to-smile-and-i-knew-then-that-i-had-lost-him/) [Marian Keyes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marian-keyes/) ## More by Binnie Kirshenbaum > [A token of love comes in a box because love itself cannot be contained.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/binnie-kirshenbaum/a-token-of-love-comes-in-a-box-because-love-itself-cannot-be-contained/) [Binnie Kirshenbaum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/binnie-kirshenbaum/) > [“Hers was not love lost; it was love denied.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/binnie-kirshenbaum/hers-was-not-love-lost-it-was-love-denied/) [Binnie Kirshenbaum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/binnie-kirshenbaum/) > [“That kind of empty; when hope is no longer deferred but evaporated, and try as you might, and you do try, you can't find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/binnie-kirshenbaum/that-kind-of-empty-when-hope-is-no-longer-deferred-but-evaporated-and/) [Binnie Kirshenbaum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/binnie-kirshenbaum/) > [“Semille wept not because she did something stupid; she wept because she \*didn't\* do something stupid. 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Sometimes, it has to be now or never.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/binnie-kirshenbaum/sometimes-late-and-never-amount-to-the-same-thing-sometimes-it-has-to/) [Binnie Kirshenbaum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/binnie-kirshenbaum/) > [“Everyone does deserve a second chance, although we don't often get one, and even when we do get a second chance, we're likely to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/binnie-kirshenbaum/everyone-does-deserve-a-second-chance-although-we-don-t-often-get-one/) [Binnie Kirshenbaum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/binnie-kirshenbaum/) > [“Henry told me he is often the life of the party, as if he didn't already know that to be the life of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/binnie-kirshenbaum/henry-told-me-he-is-often-the-life-of-the-party-as-if-he-didn-t/) [Binnie Kirshenbaum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/binnie-kirshenbaum/) > [“ I loved Vincent and he loved me in the abiding way most couples in good marriages love each other, that way in which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/binnie-kirshenbaum/i-loved-vincent-and-he-loved-me-in-the-abiding-way-most-couples-in/) [Binnie Kirshenbaum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/binnie-kirshenbaum/) > [“Some people don't like to remember," Vincent said. "Not even the good things?" "Especially not the good things.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/binnie-kirshenbaum/some-people-don-t-like-to-remember-vincent-said-not-even-the-good/) [Binnie Kirshenbaum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/binnie-kirshenbaum/) > [“Maybe it has something to do with the pull of the moon because, despite the statistical improbability of any two people meeting up, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/binnie-kirshenbaum/maybe-it-has-something-to-do-with-the-pull-of-the-moon-because/) [Binnie Kirshenbaum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/binnie-kirshenbaum/) [Explore all 23 Binnie Kirshenbaum quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/binnie-kirshenbaum/) ## More Longing quotes > [At the centre of the human heart is the longing for an absolute good, a longing which is always there and is never appeased…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/at-the-centre-of-the-human-heart-is-the-longing-for-an-absolute-good/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) > [“Haunted by the longing to feel something real, deep and magical; I searched for a shared ecstasy... that's when you came along.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lebo-grand/haunted-by-the-longing-to-feel-something-real-deep-and-magical-i/) [Lebo Grand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lebo-grand/) > [Sometimes it has to do with other longings that are much more existential. Sometimes you go elsewhere not because you are not liking the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-perel/sometimes-it-has-to-do-with-other-longings-that-are-much-more/) [Esther Perel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-perel/) > [Could it be in longing we are most ourselves?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/li-young-lee/could-it-be-in-longing-we-are-most-ourselves/) [Li-Young Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/li-young-lee/) > [Tireless passion, fierce jealousy, longing to possess and crush-these alone were left of all his love for Rosalind; these remained to him as payment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/tireless-passion-fierce-jealousy-longing-to-possess-and-crush-these/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [“She pretended not to notice the look of longing in his eyes. It didn’t mean anything.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-o-brien/she-pretended-not-to-notice-the-look-of-longing-in-his-eyes-it-didn-t/) [Kevin O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-o-brien/) > [The artist's experience lies so unbelievably close to the sexual, to its pain and its pleasure, that the two phenomena are really just different…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/the-artist-s-experience-lies-so-unbelievably-close-to-the-sexual-to/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [“My only enemy is the miles of distance that's there between us, my favorite place is the road that leads me to you -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jyoti-patel/my-only-enemy-is-the-miles-of-distance-that-s-there-between-us-my/) [Jyoti Patel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jyoti-patel/) > [The sense that in this universe we are treated as strangers, the longing to be acknowledged, to meet with some response, to bridge some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-sense-that-in-this-universe-we-are-treated-as-strangers-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [By the time they were pulling into the parking lot of the A&P, the mood was fading, the moment gone. Amy could feel it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-strout/by-the-time-they-were-pulling-into-the-parking-lot-of-the-a-p-the/) [Elizabeth Strout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-strout/) > [But I still has enough longing for that concept that I didn't want to dispel it completely. Meaning: I didn't want to tell Lily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-levithan/but-i-still-has-enough-longing-for-that-concept-that-i-didn-t-want-to/) [David Levithan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-levithan/) > [Do the kind of things that come from the heart, When you do, you won't be dissatisfied, you won't be envious, you won't be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/do-the-kind-of-things-that-come-from-the-heart-when-you-do-you-won-t/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“And how do you really feel? Like I'll never recover. 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Each is touched by it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juliet-marillier/the-greatest-tales-well-told-awaken-the-fears-and-longings-of-the/) [Juliet Marillier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juliet-marillier/) [Browse all 2,553 Longing quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/longing/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Except, how do we go on when what was best is behind us? 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