--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: LOOK back on time with kindly eyes, He…" description: "\"LOOK back on time with kindly eyes, He doubtless did his best; How softly sinks his trembling sun In human nature's west!\" — Emily Dickinson" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d08/emily-dickinson-310_calendars_look-back-on-time-with-kindly-eyes-he-do_1550651.jpg" --- # LOOK back on time with kindly eyes, He doubtless did his… ![“LOOK back on time with kindly eyes, He doubtless did his best; How softly sinks his trembling sun In human nature's west!” quote by Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d08/emily-dickinson-310_calendars_look-back-on-time-with-kindly-eyes-he-do_1550651.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d08/emily-dickinson-310_calendars_look-back-on-time-with-kindly-eyes-he-do_1550651.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d08/emily-dickinson-310_calendars_look-back-on-time-with-kindly-eyes-he-do_1550651.jpg) > “LOOK back on time with kindly eyes, He doubtless did his best; How softly sinks his trembling sun In human nature's west!” [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Looking back with kindness, recognizing effort, and acknowledging human frailty. **In simple terms:** Kindly reflect on past efforts and human weakness. Key Takeaway Reflect kindly on past. Themes memory compassion human nature Mood melancholic gentle Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - personal reflection - grief counseling - creative writing - teaching history Key Concepts poetry philosophy Questions to Reflect On - How does kindness change your view of the past? - What lessons arise from acknowledging frailty? A Different Perspective Too much nostalgia may hinder growth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Calendars](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/calendars/) [Eye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eye/) [Eyes Doubtless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eyes-doubtless-5794686/) [Human nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-nature/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Kindly Eyes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kindly-eyes-5794685/) [Looks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/looks/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Sun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sun/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Time Kindly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time-kindly-4423729/) [Trembling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trembling/) [Trembling Sun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trembling-sun-4977043/) [West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/west/) ## Related quotes > [“Look back on Time, with kindly eyes - He doubtless did his best - How softly sinks that trembling sun In Human Nature's West…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/look-back-on-time-with-kindly-eyes-he-doubtless-did-his-best-how-2/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [The leaves streamed down, trembling in the sun. They were not green, only a few, scattered through the torrent, stood out in single drops…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/the-leaves-streamed-down-trembling-in-the-sun-they-were-not-green/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Time is a kindly God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophocles/time-is-a-kindly-god/) [Sophocles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophocles/) > [I had been hungry all the years- My noon had come, to dine- I, trembling, drew the table near And touched the curious wine.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/i-had-been-hungry-all-the-years-my-noon-had-come-to-dine-i-trembling/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [Love is its own rescue; for we, at our supremest, are but its trembling emblems.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/love-is-its-own-rescue-for-we-at-our-supremest-are-but-its-trembling/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [Time, by moments, steals away, First the hour, and then the day; Small the daily loss appears, Yet it soon amounts to years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-newton/time-by-moments-steals-away-first-the-hour-and-then-the-day-small-the/) [John Newton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-newton/) > [There is a small segment of people with autism that have savant skills, where they can memorize entire maps of whole entire city. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/temple-grandin/there-is-a-small-segment-of-people-with-autism-that-have-savant/) [Temple Grandin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/temple-grandin/) > [I've never been one of those who wanted to fill my calendar up 90 percent of the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-gottfried/i-ve-never-been-one-of-those-who-wanted-to-fill-my-calendar-up-90/) [Gilbert Gottfried](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-gottfried/) > [More software projects have gone awry for lack of calendar time than for all other causes combined.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-brooks/more-software-projects-have-gone-awry-for-lack-of-calendar-time-than/) [Fred Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fred-brooks/) > [I have now been an officer in this Church for a very long time. I am an old man who cannot deny the calendar.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gordon-b-hinckley/i-have-now-been-an-officer-in-this-church-for-a-very-long-time-i-am/) [Gordon B. Hinckley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gordon-b-hinckley/) > [It is not without trepidation that I have appropriated the codes of the Sublime and the Picturesque in my work. After all, serious photographers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-pfahl/it-is-not-without-trepidation-that-i-have-appropriated-the-codes-of/) [John Pfahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-pfahl/) > [There are only two days on my calendar... today and the day of judgment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther/there-are-only-two-days-on-my-calendar-today-and-the-day-of-judgment/) [Martin Luther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther/) > [The ways in which acquired savants show up are usually the same ways that congenital, or non-acquired, savant syndrome shows up. They tend to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/darold-treffert/the-ways-in-which-acquired-savants-show-up-are-usually-the-same-ways/) [Darold Treffert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/darold-treffert/) > [The battle for our hearts is fought on the pages of our calendar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-goff/the-battle-for-our-hearts-is-fought-on-the-pages-of-our-calendar/) [Bob Goff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-goff/) > [To divide one's life by years is of course to tumble into a trap set by our own arithmetic. The calendar consents to carry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifton-fadiman/to-divide-one-s-life-by-years-is-of-course-to-tumble-into-a-trap-set/) [Clifton Fadiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifton-fadiman/) ## More by Emily Dickinson > [A Light exists in Spring Not present on the Year At any other period - When March is scarcely here A Color stands abroad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/a-light-exists-in-spring-not-present-on-the-year-at-any-other-period/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [I could not prove the Years had feet-/Yet confident they run.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/i-could-not-prove-the-years-had-feet-yet-confident-they-run/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [How softly summer shuts, without the creaking of a door.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/how-softly-summer-shuts-without-the-creaking-of-a-door/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [“Could you tell me how to grow--or is it unconveyed--like Melody--or Witchcraft?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/could-you-tell-me-how-to-grow-or-is-it-unconveyed-like-melody-or/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [It might be lonelier Without the Loneliness - I’m so accustomed to my Fate - Perhaps the Other - Peace - Would interrupt the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/it-might-be-lonelier-without-the-loneliness-i-m-so-accustomed-to-my/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [“Inebriate of Air — am I — And Debauchee of Dew — Reeling — thro endless summer days — From Inns of Molten Blue —”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/inebriate-of-air-am-i-and-debauchee-of-dew-reeling-thro-endless/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [Luck is not chance, it's toil; fortune's expensive smile is earned.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/luck-is-not-chance-it-s-toil-fortune-s-expensive-smile-is-earned/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [The abdication of Belief Makes the Behavior small- Better an ignis fatuus Than no illume at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/the-abdication-of-belief-makes-the-behavior-small-better-an-ignis/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [Longing is like a seed that wrestles in the ground](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/longing-is-like-a-seed-that-wrestles-in-the-ground/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [“He ate and drank the precious words, His spirit grew robust; He knew no more that he was poor, Nor that his frame was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/he-ate-and-drank-the-precious-words-his-spirit-grew-robust-he-knew-no/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [I SEE thee better in the dark, I do not need a light. The love of thee a prism be Excelling violet. I see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/i-see-thee-better-in-the-dark-i-do-not-need-a-light-the-love-of-thee/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [One step at a time is all it takes to get you there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/one-step-at-a-time-is-all-it-takes-to-get-you-there/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [“Whose fingers string the stalactite- Who counts the Wampum of the night”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/whose-fingers-string-the-stalactite-who-counts-the-wampum-of-the-night/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [My life closed twice before its close](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/my-life-closed-twice-before-its-close/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [Until you have loved, you cannot become yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/until-you-have-loved-you-cannot-become-yourself/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) [Explore all 692 Emily Dickinson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) ## More Calendars quotes > [To divide one's life by years is of course to tumble into a trap set by our own arithmetic. The calendar consents to carry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifton-fadiman/to-divide-one-s-life-by-years-is-of-course-to-tumble-into-a-trap-set/) [Clifton Fadiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifton-fadiman/) > [The battle for our hearts is fought on the pages of our calendar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-goff/the-battle-for-our-hearts-is-fought-on-the-pages-of-our-calendar/) [Bob Goff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-goff/) > [The ways in which acquired savants show up are usually the same ways that congenital, or non-acquired, savant syndrome shows up. They tend to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/darold-treffert/the-ways-in-which-acquired-savants-show-up-are-usually-the-same-ways/) [Darold Treffert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/darold-treffert/) > [There are only two days on my calendar... today and the day of judgment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther/there-are-only-two-days-on-my-calendar-today-and-the-day-of-judgment/) [Martin Luther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther/) > [It is not without trepidation that I have appropriated the codes of the Sublime and the Picturesque in my work. After all, serious photographers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-pfahl/it-is-not-without-trepidation-that-i-have-appropriated-the-codes-of/) [John Pfahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-pfahl/) > [I have now been an officer in this Church for a very long time. I am an old man who cannot deny the calendar.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gordon-b-hinckley/i-have-now-been-an-officer-in-this-church-for-a-very-long-time-i-am/) [Gordon B. Hinckley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gordon-b-hinckley/) > [More software projects have gone awry for lack of calendar time than for all other causes combined.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-brooks/more-software-projects-have-gone-awry-for-lack-of-calendar-time-than/) [Fred Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fred-brooks/) > [I've never been one of those who wanted to fill my calendar up 90 percent of the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-gottfried/i-ve-never-been-one-of-those-who-wanted-to-fill-my-calendar-up-90/) [Gilbert Gottfried](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-gottfried/) > [There is a small segment of people with autism that have savant skills, where they can memorize entire maps of whole entire city. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/temple-grandin/there-is-a-small-segment-of-people-with-autism-that-have-savant/) [Temple Grandin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/temple-grandin/) > [Time, by moments, steals away, First the hour, and then the day; Small the daily loss appears, Yet it soon amounts to years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-newton/time-by-moments-steals-away-first-the-hour-and-then-the-day-small-the/) [John Newton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-newton/) > [Chronological time is what we measure by clocks and calendars; it is always linear, orderly, quantifiable, and mechanical. Kairotic time is organic, rhythmic, bodily,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-keen/chronological-time-is-what-we-measure-by-clocks-and-calendars-it-is/) [Sam Keen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-keen/) > [The calendar? A mere convention.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irina-ratushinskaya/the-calendar-a-mere-convention/) [Irina Ratushinskaya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irina-ratushinskaya/) > [Next time!' In what calendar are kept the records of those next times which never come?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-hunt-jackson/next-time-in-what-calendar-are-kept-the-records-of-those-next-times/) [Helen Hunt Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-hunt-jackson/) > [I saw a close friend of mine the other day. . . . He said, "Stephen, why haven't you called me?" I said, "I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-wright/i-saw-a-close-friend-of-mine-the-other-day-he-said-stephen-why-haven/) [Steven Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-wright/) > [“A story conducted by the time of a clock and calendars alone would be a story not of human beings but of mechanical toys.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-lascelles/a-story-conducted-by-the-time-of-a-clock-and-calendars-alone-would-be/) [Mary Lascelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-lascelles/) [Browse all 258 Calendars quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/calendars/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "LOOK back on time with kindly eyes, He doubtless did his best; How softly sinks his trembling sun In human nature's west!", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Emily Dickinson" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/look-back-on-time-with-kindly-eyes-he-doubtless-did-his-best-how/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Calendars" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/look-back-on-time-with-kindly-eyes-he-doubtless-did-his-best-how/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d08/emily-dickinson-310_calendars_look-back-on-time-with-kindly-eyes-he-do_1550651.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d08/emily-dickinson-310_calendars_look-back-on-time-with-kindly-eyes-he-do_1550651.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d08/emily-dickinson-310_calendars_look-back-on-time-with-kindly-eyes-he-do_1550651.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“LOOK back on time with kindly eyes, He doubtless did his best; How softly sinks his trembling sun In human…” — Emily Dickinson", "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": "Emily Dickinson", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "LOOK back on time with kindly...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/look-back-on-time-with-kindly-eyes-he-doubtless-did-his-best-how/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/look-back-on-time-with-kindly-eyes-he-doubtless-did-his-best-how/#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 } } ] } ```