--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Ghostly above us in lamplight the towers…" description: "\"Ghostly above us in lamplight the towers gleam ... and after a while they will fall to dust and rain; or else we will tear them down with impatient han..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/874/conrad-aiken-9766_dust_ghostly-above-us-in-lamplight-the-towers_2931246.jpg" --- # Ghostly above us in lamplight the towers gleam ... and… ![“Ghostly above us in lamplight the towers gleam ... and after a while they will fall to dust and rain; or else we will tear them down with impatient hands; and hew rock out of the earth, and build them again.” quote by Conrad Aiken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/874/conrad-aiken-9766_dust_ghostly-above-us-in-lamplight-the-towers_2931246.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/874/conrad-aiken-9766_dust_ghostly-above-us-in-lamplight-the-towers_2931246.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/874/conrad-aiken-9766_dust_ghostly-above-us-in-lamplight-the-towers_2931246.jpg) > “Ghostly above us in lamplight the towers gleam ... and after a while they will fall to dust and rain; or else we will tear them down with impatient hands; and hew rock out of the earth, and build them again.” [Conrad Aiken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-aiken/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Describes cycles of creation and destruction, urging proactive rebuilding rather than passive decay. **In simple terms:** Build and rebuild, don’t wait for ruin. Key Takeaway Take active role in shaping your environment. Themes creation destruction renewal Mood determined reflective Type inspirational philosophical When to use this quote - Urban planning - personal projects - environmental activism - creative endeavors Key Concepts Impermanence human agency Questions to Reflect On - What structures in your life need renewal? - How do you respond to inevitable decay? A Different Perspective May underestimate natural forces. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/earth/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Rain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rain/) [Rocks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rocks/) [Tears](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tears/) ## Related quotes > [She would never change, but one day at the touch of a fingertip she would fall to dust.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/she-would-never-change-but-one-day-at-the-touch-of-a-fingertip-she/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [“Fall down,get up.Dust off.Keep trying.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryann-packard/fall-down-get-up-dust-off-keep-trying/) Ryann Packard > [Things get better through whatever, if you fall dust it off don't litter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mhaj-porras/things-get-better-through-whatever-if-you-fall-dust-it-off-don-t/) [Mhaj Porras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mhaj-porras/) > [Man ever talks, and Man ever dreams Of better days that are yet to be, After glittering goal, that distant gleams, Running and racing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-schiller/man-ever-talks-and-man-ever-dreams-of-better-days-that-are-yet-to-be/) [Friedrich Schiller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-schiller/) > [Is all our Life, then but a dream Seen faintly in the golden gleam Athwart Time's dark resistless stream?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-carroll/is-all-our-life-then-but-a-dream-seen-faintly-in-the-golden-gleam/) [Lewis Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-carroll/) > [I loathe the urchin's cruelty to the cat, but I will not loathe the urchin. I loathe Hitler's mass-torturing, but not Hitler; and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olaf-stapledon/i-loathe-the-urchin-s-cruelty-to-the-cat-but-i-will-not-loathe-the/) [Olaf Stapledon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olaf-stapledon/) > [For some, bottles of liquor gleam like the towers of Eldorado.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/for-some-bottles-of-liquor-gleam-like-the-towers-of-eldorado/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [ It is true that despite occasional gleams of Churchillian eloquence he \[Gen. Douglas MacArthur\] usually spoke poorly. He was far more effective in conversations… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-manchester/it-is-true-that-despite-occasional-gleams-of-churchillian-eloquence/) [William Manchester](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-manchester/) > [I seem to be a brief light that flashes but once in all the aeons of time a rare, complicated, and all-too-delicate organism on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/i-seem-to-be-a-brief-light-that-flashes-but-once-in-all-the-aeons-of/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [Who dreamed that beauty passes like a dream? For these red lips, with all their mournful pride, Mournful that no new wonder may betide,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/who-dreamed-that-beauty-passes-like-a-dream-for-these-red-lips-with/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [And all my days are trances, And all my nightly dreams Are where thy dark eye glances, And where thy footstep gleams-- In what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/and-all-my-days-are-trances-and-all-my-nightly-dreams-are-where-thy/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [I felt freed to please myself, to find my way as I would, in a world that was much vaster than I had realized…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margo-lanagan/i-felt-freed-to-please-myself-to-find-my-way-as-i-would-in-a-world/) [Margo Lanagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margo-lanagan/) > [ I glanced at Radu. "What, exactly is Louis-Cesare's problem?'. \[..\] Suddenly a speculative gleam lit his eyes. It made me nervous. 'He tends to… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-chance/i-glanced-at-radu-what-exactly-is-louis-cesare-s-problem-suddenly-a/) [Karen Chance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-chance/) > [No matter the style, the farther one goes the more obstacles increase, and the more distant appears the object it is desired to attain.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-georges-noverre/no-matter-the-style-the-farther-one-goes-the-more-obstacles-increase/) [Jean-Georges Noverre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-georges-noverre/) > [“Defy me not for gleam can only shine in my existence" said Darkness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/defy-me-not-for-gleam-can-only-shine-in-my-existence-said-darkness/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Conrad Aiken > [It is moonlight. Alone in the silence I ascend my stairs once more, While waves remote in pale blue starlight Crash on a white…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-aiken/it-is-moonlight-alone-in-the-silence-i-ascend-my-stairs-once-more/) [Conrad Aiken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-aiken/) > [The truth--a hideous spectacle!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-aiken/the-truth-a-hideous-spectacle/) [Conrad Aiken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-aiken/) > [“It was gentler here, softer, its seethe the quietest of whispers, as if, in deference to a drawing room, it had quite deliberately put…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-aiken/it-was-gentler-here-softer-its-seethe-the-quietest-of-whispers-as-if/) [Conrad Aiken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-aiken/) > [One cricket said to another - come, let us be ridiculous, and say love! love love love love love let us be absurd, woman,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-aiken/one-cricket-said-to-another-come-let-us-be-ridiculous-and-say-love/) [Conrad Aiken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-aiken/) > [I began by doing book reviews on the typewriter and then went over to short stories on the machine, meanwhile sticking to pencil for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-aiken/i-began-by-doing-book-reviews-on-the-typewriter-and-then-went-over-to/) [Conrad Aiken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-aiken/) > [“And the mist of snow, as he had foreseen, was still on it - a ghost of snow falling in the bright sunlight, softly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-aiken/and-the-mist-of-snow-as-he-had-foreseen-was-still-on-it-a-ghost-of/) [Conrad Aiken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-aiken/) > [I think it's very useful to be insulated from your surrounds, because it gives you your inviolate privacy, without pressures, so that you can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-aiken/i-think-it-s-very-useful-to-be-insulated-from-your-surrounds-because/) [Conrad Aiken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-aiken/) > [Death is one dream out of another flowing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-aiken/death-is-one-dream-out-of-another-flowing/) [Conrad Aiken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-aiken/) > [The wind shrieks, the wind grieves; It dashes the leaves on walls, it whirls then again; And the enormous sleeper vaguely and stupidly dreams…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-aiken/the-wind-shrieks-the-wind-grieves-it-dashes-the-leaves-on-walls-it/) [Conrad Aiken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-aiken/) > [Death is never an ending, death is a change; Death is beautiful, for death is strange; Death is one dream out of another flowing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-aiken/death-is-never-an-ending-death-is-a-change-death-is-beautiful-for/) [Conrad Aiken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-aiken/) > [As poetry is the highest speech of man, it can not only accept and contain, but in the end express best everything in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-aiken/as-poetry-is-the-highest-speech-of-man-it-can-not-only-accept-and/) [Conrad Aiken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-aiken/) > [Youth yearns to youth, full blood loves full blood only.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-aiken/youth-yearns-to-youth-full-blood-loves-full-blood-only/) [Conrad Aiken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-aiken/) > [One is least sure of one's self, sometimes, when one is most positive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-aiken/one-is-least-sure-of-one-s-self-sometimes-when-one-is-most-positive/) [Conrad Aiken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-aiken/) > [For in this walk, this voyage, it is yourself, the profound history of your 'self,' that now as always you encounter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-aiken/for-in-this-walk-this-voyage-it-is-yourself-the-profound-history-of/) [Conrad Aiken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-aiken/) > [Life is the thing--the song of life-- The eager plow, the thirsty knife!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-aiken/life-is-the-thing-the-song-of-life-the-eager-plow-the-thirsty-knife/) [Conrad Aiken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-aiken/) [Explore all 70 Conrad Aiken quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-aiken/) ## More Dust quotes > [Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this \[step by step, from humans to apes to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-huxley/perhaps-no-order-of-mammals-presents-us-with-so-extraordinary-a/) [Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-huxley/) > [“Veiled by the dust of its own passing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cameron-rogers/veiled-by-the-dust-of-its-own-passing/) Cameron Rogers > [She had been dragged in the most humiliating of all dusts, the dust reserved for older women who let themselves be approached, on amorous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/she-had-been-dragged-in-the-most-humiliating-of-all-dusts-the-dust/) [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) > [We think literature is immortal, but even that decays and ultimately turns to dust.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mick-farren/we-think-literature-is-immortal-but-even-that-decays-and-ultimately/) [Mick Farren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mick-farren/) > [Wild honey smells of freedom The dust - of sunlight The mouth of a young girl, like a violet But gold - smells of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-akhmatova/wild-honey-smells-of-freedom-the-dust-of-sunlight-the-mouth-of-a/) [Anna Akhmatova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-akhmatova/) > [“People were made of nothing so much as dust, and I couldn't see that doctoring all that dust was a bit better than writing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/people-were-made-of-nothing-so-much-as-dust-and-i-couldn-t-see-that/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [Mr. Bumpy from Bump in the Night was this funky little guy who lived under the bed and thought eating dust bunnies was a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-cummings/mr-bumpy-from-bump-in-the-night-was-this-funky-little-guy-who-lived/) [Jim Cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-cummings/) > [At about 10 o'clock in the morning the sun threw a bright dust-laden bar through one of the side windows and in and out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/at-about-10-o-clock-in-the-morning-the-sun-threw-a-bright-dust-laden/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [I assume my stance, and take back the club, low, slowly; at the top, my eyes fog over, and my joints dip and swirl…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/i-assume-my-stance-and-take-back-the-club-low-slowly-at-the-top-my/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [When any civilization is dust and ashes," he said, "art is all that's left over. Images, words, music. Imaginative structures. Meaning—human meaning, that is—is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/when-any-civilization-is-dust-and-ashes-he-said-art-is-all-that-s/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [When a man is not wanted in the village, he is always accused of raising dust even when he falls in a pool of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikrant-parsai/when-a-man-is-not-wanted-in-the-village-he-is-always-accused-of/) [Vikrant Parsai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikrant-parsai/) > [Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/gatsby-turned-out-all-right-at-the-end-it-is-what-preyed-on-gatsby/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [I'm not a prophet, but I always thought it was natural for dictatorships to fall. I remember in 1989, two months before the fall…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/i-m-not-a-prophet-but-i-always-thought-it-was-natural-for/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [Passing beauties are only the fugitive reflections of the eternal. All beauty alters and all life melts away; in short, everything passes with marvelous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliphas-levi/passing-beauties-are-only-the-fugitive-reflections-of-the-eternal-all/) [Eliphas Levi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliphas-levi/) > [The trees are white with dust, that o'er their sleep Wave their broad curtains in the south-wind's breath, While underneath such leafy tents they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/the-trees-are-white-with-dust-that-o-er-their-sleep-wave-their-broad/) [Henry Wadsworth Longfellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/) Browse all 1,783 Dust quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Ghostly above us in lamplight the towers gleam ... and after a while they will fall to dust and rain; or else we will tear them down with impatient hands; and hew rock out of the earth, and build them again.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Conrad Aiken" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-aiken/ghostly-above-us-in-lamplight-the-towers-gleam-and-after-a-while-they/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Dust" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-aiken/ghostly-above-us-in-lamplight-the-towers-gleam-and-after-a-while-they/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/874/conrad-aiken-9766_dust_ghostly-above-us-in-lamplight-the-towers_2931246.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/874/conrad-aiken-9766_dust_ghostly-above-us-in-lamplight-the-towers_2931246.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/874/conrad-aiken-9766_dust_ghostly-above-us-in-lamplight-the-towers_2931246.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Ghostly above us in lamplight the towers gleam ... and after a while they will fall to dust and rain; or…” — Conrad Aiken", "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": "Conrad Aiken", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-aiken/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Ghostly above us in lamplight the...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-aiken/ghostly-above-us-in-lamplight-the-towers-gleam-and-after-a-while-they/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-aiken/ghostly-above-us-in-lamplight-the-towers-gleam-and-after-a-while-they/#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 } } ] } ```