--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: On the train I saw that world passing my…" description: "\"“On the train I saw that world passing my window. It was when I came to see it was I who was passing that my self-centered childhood was over. But it w..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fba/eudora-welty-1564_children_on-the-train-i-saw-that-world-passing-my_1254933.jpg" --- # On the train I saw that world passing my window. It was… ![“On the train I saw that world passing my window. It was when I came to see it was I who was passing that my self-centered childhood was over. But it was not until I began to write, that I found the world out there revealing, because memory had become attached to seeing, love had added itself to…” quote by Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fba/eudora-welty-1564_children_on-the-train-i-saw-that-world-passing-my_1254933.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fba/eudora-welty-1564_children_on-the-train-i-saw-that-world-passing-my_1254933.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fba/eudora-welty-1564_children_on-the-train-i-saw-that-world-passing-my_1254933.jpg) > ““On the train I saw that world passing my window. It was when I came to see it was I who was passing that my self-centered childhood was over. But it was not until I began to write, that I found the world out there revealing, because memory had become attached to seeing, love had added itself to discovery, and because I recognized in my own continuing longing to keep going, the need I carried inside myself to know - the apprehension, first, and then the passion, to connect myself to it. Through travel I first became aware of the outside world; it was through travel that I found my own introspective way into becoming a part of it. This is, of course, simply saying that the outside world is the vital component of my inner life. My imagination takes its strength and guides its direction from what I see and hear and learn and feel and remember of my living world. But I was to learn slowly that both these worlds, outer and inner, were different from what they seemed to me in the beginning.”” [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Travel exposes us to the external world, which, when combined with writing, deepens self‑knowledge and connects inner longing to outer experience. **In simple terms:** Travel and writing together expand self‑understanding. Key Takeaway Explore, observe, and write to integrate inner and outer worlds. Themes travel self‑discovery writing memory connection Mood contemplative nostalgic Type essay personal When to use this quote - journaling - travel memoirs - creative workshops - mindful observation Key Concepts inner‑outer dialogue creative reflection Questions to Reflect On - What does your environment teach you about yourself? - How does writing change your perception of travel? A Different Perspective Travel alone may not guarantee insight without reflection. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Discovery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discovery/) [Fitness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fitness/) [Inner life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inner-life/) [Inner world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inner-world/) [Introspective](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/introspective/) [Longing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/longing/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Memory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memory/) [Outer world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/outer-world/) [Outside world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/outside-world/) [Passion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passion/) [Train](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/train/) [Travel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/travel/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [Through travel I first became aware of the outside world; it was through travel that I found my own introspective way into becoming a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/through-travel-i-first-became-aware-of-the-outside-world-it-was/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [I learned a great deal about myself, and it forced me to be introspective in a way that I'm not typically, but "reporting" on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-cohen/i-learned-a-great-deal-about-myself-and-it-forced-me-to-be/) [Andy Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-cohen/) > [Showing 'Get Out' to a room full of strangers and having them react lets them be introspective and see the way certain images affect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allison-williams/showing-get-out-to-a-room-full-of-strangers-and-having-them-react/) [Allison Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allison-williams/) > [“we all come into and go out of this world as passing gatherings of structured energy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-kabat-zinn/we-all-come-into-and-go-out-of-this-world-as-passing-gatherings-of/) [Jon Kabat-Zinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-kabat-zinn/) > [If you are not moving forward, the world is passing you by.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-c-maxwell/if-you-are-not-moving-forward-the-world-is-passing-you-by/) [John C. Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-c-maxwell/) > [“The world is passing away.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-francis-de-sales/the-world-is-passing-away/) [St. Francis de Sales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-francis-de-sales/) > [“The external world is passing in time. The spirit is beyond time. The trouble is that we can’t see internal things as easily as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/belzebuub/the-external-world-is-passing-in-time-the-spirit-is-beyond-time-the/) Belzebuub > [“THE ROSE OF THE WORLD WHO dreamed that beauty passes like a dream? 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And this is the best thing we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-moorjani/we-will-see-beauty-in-the-outer-world-when-we-are-able-to-see-beauty/) [Anita Moorjani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-moorjani/) > [As all of us are only too aware, the loud and frantic voices of the outer world easily drown out the small, still loving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-williamson/as-all-of-us-are-only-too-aware-the-loud-and-frantic-voices-of-the/) [Marianne Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-williamson/) ## More by Eudora Welty > [“She (my mother) could still recite them (the poems) in full when she was lying helpless and nearly blind, in her bed, an old…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/she-my-mother-could-still-recite-them-the-poems-in-full-when-she-was/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [Long before I wrote stories, I listened for stories. Listening for them is something more acute than listening to them. I suppose it’s an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/long-before-i-wrote-stories-i-listened-for-stories-listening-for-them/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [Once you're into a story everything seems to apply-what you overhear on a city bus is exactly what your character would say on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/once-you-re-into-a-story-everything-seems-to-apply-what-you-overhear/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [“Two by two, I read library books as fast as I could go, rushing them home in the basket of my bicycle. 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Children were allowed to go without chaperone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/all-children-in-those-small-town-unhurried-days-had-a-vast-inner-life/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [“At the sting in her eyes, she remembered for him that there must be no tears in his.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/at-the-sting-in-her-eyes-she-remembered-for-him-that-there-must-be-no/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [“We do need to bring to our writing, over and over again, all the abundance we possess. To be able, to be ready, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/we-do-need-to-bring-to-our-writing-over-and-over-again-all-the/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [“Could she ever be, would she be, where she was going?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/could-she-ever-be-would-she-be-where-she-was-going/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [“When one of us (children) caught measles or whooping cough and we were isolated in bad upstairs, we wrote notes to each other perhaps…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/when-one-of-us-children-caught-measles-or-whooping-cough-and-we-were/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) > [“She (my mother) stood always prepared in herself to challenge the world in our place. 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