--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A cloud, hitherto unseen, came upon the…" description: "\"“A cloud, hitherto unseen, came upon the moon, and hovered an instant like a dark hand before a face.The illusion went with it, and the lights in the w..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d2/daphne-du-maurier-1185_memory_a-cloud-hitherto-unseen-came-upon-the-mo_645911.png" --- # A cloud, hitherto unseen, came upon the moon, and hovered… ![“A cloud, hitherto unseen, came upon the moon, and hovered an instant like a dark hand before a face.The illusion went with it, and the lights in the windows were extinguished. I looked upon a desolate shell, soulless at last, unhaunted, with no whisper of the past about its staring walls. The…” quote by Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d2/daphne-du-maurier-1185_memory_a-cloud-hitherto-unseen-came-upon-the-mo_645911.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d2/daphne-du-maurier-1185_memory_a-cloud-hitherto-unseen-came-upon-the-mo_645911.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d2/daphne-du-maurier-1185_memory_a-cloud-hitherto-unseen-came-upon-the-mo_645911.png) > ““A cloud, hitherto unseen, came upon the moon, and hovered an instant like a dark hand before a face.The illusion went with it, and the lights in the windows were extinguished. I looked upon a desolate shell, soulless at last, unhaunted, with no whisper of the past about its staring walls. The house was a sepulchre, our fear and suffering lay buried in the ruins. There would be no resurrection. When I thought of Manderley in my waking hours I would not be bitter. I should think of it as it might have been, could I have lived there without fear. I should remember the rose-garden in summer, and the birds that sang at dawn.Tea under the chestnut tree, and the murmur of the sea coming up to us from the lawns below. I would think of the blown lilac, and the Happy Valley. These things were permanent, they could not be dissolved.They were memories that cannot hurt.”” [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The narrator reflects on loss, memory, and the lingering presence of a place haunted by past emotions. **In simple terms:** Memories of a lost home linger, shaping present feelings. Key Takeaway Honor memories while moving forward. Themes loss memory haunting nostalgia Mood melancholic contemplative Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - visiting old homes - dealing with grief - preserving family history - writing memoirs Key Concepts psychology of grief place attachment literary symbolism Questions to Reflect On - How do you keep cherished memories without being stuck? - What places hold your strongest emotions? A Different Perspective Memories can both comfort and trap; balance is needed. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Fear Remember](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fear-remember-1516482/) [Fear Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fear-suffering-290617/) [Lived Fear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lived-fear-421018/) [Manderley Waking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/manderley-waking-5176540/) [Memory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memory/) [Thought Manderley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thought-manderley-5176539/) ## Related quotes > [You will stumble at time, forget what you want, fall headfirst into your old habits and beliefs. Fear not! Always remember to be patient…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iyanla-vanzant/you-will-stumble-at-time-forget-what-you-want-fall-headfirst-into/) [Iyanla Vanzant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iyanla-vanzant/) > [I am already given to the power that rules my fate. And I cling to nothing, so I will have nothing to defend. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-castaneda/i-am-already-given-to-the-power-that-rules-my-fate-and-i-cling-to/) [Carlos Castaneda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-castaneda/) > [We will not be driven by fear ... if we remember that we are not descended from fearful men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-r-murrow/we-will-not-be-driven-by-fear-if-we-remember-that-we-are-not/) [Edward R. Murrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-r-murrow/) > [I remember fear and I remember the potential of nuclear war.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-scalia/i-remember-fear-and-i-remember-the-potential-of-nuclear-war/) [Jack Scalia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-scalia/) > [Everything youve ever wanted is on the other side of fear. I cant remember where I read this or who said it but when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zhatsprincess/everything-youve-ever-wanted-is-on-the-other-side-of-fear-i-cant/) [ZhatsPrincess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zhatsprincess/) > [“The fear of dying is not just the terror of pain, the humiliation of the loss of faculties, the fall into the abyss .…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-priest/the-fear-of-dying-is-not-just-the-terror-of-pain-the-humiliation-of/) [Christopher Priest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-priest/) > [I am timeless being. I am free of desire or fear, because I do not remember the past or imagine the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sri-nisargadatta-maharaj/i-am-timeless-being-i-am-free-of-desire-or-fear-because-i-do-not/) [Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sri-nisargadatta-maharaj/) > [As a survival-happy species, our successes are calculated in the number of years we have extended our lives, with the reduction of suffering being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-ligotti/as-a-survival-happy-species-our-successes-are-calculated-in-the/) [Thomas Ligotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-ligotti/) > [“Anger is Always built upon a foundation of fear and suffering.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-d-longoria-jr/anger-is-always-built-upon-a-foundation-of-fear-and-suffering/) [Raymond D. Longoria Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-d-longoria-jr/) > [“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/tell-your-heart-that-the-fear-of-suffering-is-worse-than-the-2/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [My great aunt raised me for about four or five years. Something I took from her was a quote: 'Fear of suffering is far…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brandon-ingram/my-great-aunt-raised-me-for-about-four-or-five-years-something-i-took/) [Brandon Ingram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brandon-ingram/) > [“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/tell-your-heart-that-the-fear-of-suffering-is-worse-than-the/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [“When fear and suffering are disliked by me and others equally what is so special about me that I protect myself and not the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ntideva/when-fear-and-suffering-are-disliked-by-me-and-others-equally-what-is/) [Śāntideva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ntideva/) > [Do we fear suffering or apathy most? Is it from experience or the monotony of a commonplace existence that we quickest flee?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-katharine-green/do-we-fear-suffering-or-apathy-most-is-it-from-experience-or-the/) [Anna Katharine Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-katharine-green/) > [Fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/fear-of-suffering-is-worse-than-the-suffering-itself/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) ## More by Daphne du Maurier > [He lacked tenderness; he was rude; and he had more than a streak of cruelty in him; he was a thief and a liar.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/he-lacked-tenderness-he-was-rude-and-he-had-more-than-a-streak-of/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [“You understand now... how simple life becomes when things like mirrors are forgotten.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/you-understand-now-how-simple-life-becomes-when-things-like-mirrors/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [I could fight with the living but I could not fight the dead. If there was some woman in London that Maxim loved, someone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/i-could-fight-with-the-living-but-i-could-not-fight-the-dead-if-there/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [It wouldn't make for sanity would it, living with the devil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/it-wouldn-t-make-for-sanity-would-it-living-with-the-devil/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [“The only time I got into trouble was when I forged M's signature on the weekly report we had to take home every Friday…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/the-only-time-i-got-into-trouble-was-when-i-forged-m-s-signature-on/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [“They are not brave, the days when we are twenty-one. They are full of little cowardices, little fears without foundation, and one is so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/they-are-not-brave-the-days-when-we-are-twenty-one-they-are-full-of/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [Women want love to be a novel, men a short story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/women-want-love-to-be-a-novel-men-a-short-story/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [“We all of us have our particular devil who ruses us and torments us, and we must give battle in the end.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/we-all-of-us-have-our-particular-devil-who-ruses-us-and-torments-us/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [“Happy in his silence yet eager for his words.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/happy-in-his-silence-yet-eager-for-his-words/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [“There have been men in arid deserts where the sun has so disfigured them that they have become things of horror – parched and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/there-have-been-men-in-arid-deserts-where-the-sun-has-so-disfigured/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [“Packing up. The nagging worry of departure. When shutting drawers and flinging wide an hotel wardrobe, or the impersonal shelves of a furnished villa,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/packing-up-the-nagging-worry-of-departure-when-shutting-drawers-and/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [“And perhaps one day, in after years, someone would wander there and listen to the silence, as she had done, and catch the whisper…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/and-perhaps-one-day-in-after-years-someone-would-wander-there-and/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [“You thought I was mad. Perhaps I was. Perhaps I am. It doesn't make for sanity, does it, living with the devil.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/you-thought-i-was-mad-perhaps-i-was-perhaps-i-am-it-doesn-t-make-for/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [“many impressions to seize and hold, familiar loved façades, balconies, windows, water lapping the cellar steps of decaying palaces, the little red house where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/many-impressions-to-seize-and-hold-familiar-loved-fa-ades-balconies/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) > [People who travel are always fugitives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/people-who-travel-are-always-fugitives/) [Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) [Explore all 269 Daphne du Maurier quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/) ## More Memory quotes > [I was 3-years-old - to this day it is a vivid memory. My family and I were on a boat, catching fish. As one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joaquin-phoenix/i-was-3-years-old-to-this-day-it-is-a-vivid-memory-my-family-and-i/) [Joaquin Phoenix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joaquin-phoenix/) > [“Maybe there is something when it all ends. Maybe there is memory, memory of the person you loved, when you lived. Maybe this is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-ellison/maybe-there-is-something-when-it-all-ends-maybe-there-is-memory/) [Kate Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-ellison/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [Memory is funny. Once you hit a vein the problem is not how to remember but how to control the flow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tobias-wolff/memory-is-funny-once-you-hit-a-vein-the-problem-is-not-how-to/) [Tobias Wolff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tobias-wolff/) > [Once upon a time. Ah forget it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/once-upon-a-time-ah-forget-it/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I am told many children block out the memory of trauma. In fact, the healing process can only truly begin when we are willing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phoebe-stone/i-am-told-many-children-block-out-the-memory-of-trauma-in-fact-the/) [Phoebe Stone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phoebe-stone/) > [“The whole town rushed outside to celebrate this crowded minute when the time of suffering had ended and the time of forgetting had not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/the-whole-town-rushed-outside-to-celebrate-this-crowded-minute-when/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [I have a memory like an elephant. I remember every elephant I've ever met.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herb-caen/i-have-a-memory-like-an-elephant-i-remember-every-elephant-i-ve-ever/) [Herb Caen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herb-caen/) > [Your memory is a monster; you forget - it doesn't. It simply files things away. It keeps things for you, or hides things from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-irving/your-memory-is-a-monster-you-forget-it-doesn-t-it-simply-files-things/) [John Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-irving/) > [My first Olympics memory was watching Haile Gebrselassie in Sydney 2000. His sprint finish to defend his title really moved me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mo-farah/my-first-olympics-memory-was-watching-haile-gebrselassie-in-sydney/) [Mo Farah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mo-farah/) > [That old man dies prematurely whose memory records no benefits conferred. They only have lived long who have lived virtuously.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-brinsley-sheridan/that-old-man-dies-prematurely-whose-memory-records-no-benefits/) [Richard Brinsley Sheridan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-brinsley-sheridan/) > [My greatest memories as a kid were playing sports with my dad and watching sports with my dad.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-teixeira/my-greatest-memories-as-a-kid-were-playing-sports-with-my-dad-and/) [Mark Teixeira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-teixeira/) > [What’s the use of remembering anything? If it was unpleasant it was unpleasant and if it was pleasant it’s over.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elaine-dundy/what-s-the-use-of-remembering-anything-if-it-was-unpleasant-it-was/) [Elaine Dundy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elaine-dundy/) > [Always remember a little thing can change everything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/always-remember-a-little-thing-can-change-everything/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If God knows me I will never forget him](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trunxbeats/if-god-knows-me-i-will-never-forget-him/) [Trunxbeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trunxbeats/) [Browse all 12,248 Memory quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memory/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“A cloud, hitherto unseen, came upon the moon, and hovered an instant like a dark hand before a face.The illusion went with it, and the lights in the windows were extinguished. 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