--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If that was true he must have felt that…" description: "\"“If that was true he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream. He must have looked..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a9/f-scott-fitzgerald-72_air_if-that-was-true-he-must-have-felt-that_2233429.jpg" --- # If that was true he must have felt that he had lost the… ![“If that was true he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream. He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the…” quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a9/f-scott-fitzgerald-72_air_if-that-was-true-he-must-have-felt-that_2233429.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a9/f-scott-fitzgerald-72_air_if-that-was-true-he-must-have-felt-that_2233429.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a9/f-scott-fitzgerald-72_air_if-that-was-true-he-must-have-felt-that_2233429.jpg) > ““If that was true he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream. He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass. A new world, material without being real, where poor ghosts, breathing dreams like air, drifted fortuitously about...like that ashen, fantastic figure gliding toward him through the amorphous trees.”” [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A dreamer confronts a surreal, alien landscape, feeling loss and awe at raw, new reality. **In simple terms:** Facing an unfamiliar world brings both fear and wonder. Key Takeaway Accept change and seek meaning in the unknown. Themes existence illusion loss discovery nature Mood melancholic wonderful Type literary inspirational When to use this quote - artistic inspiration - personal crisis - spiritual awakening Key Concepts existentialism surrealism perception Questions to Reflect On - What does the “new world” symbolize for you? - How do you find beauty in unsettling change? A Different Perspective The poetic description may obscure practical guidance for coping. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Being real](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/being-real/) [Breathing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/breathing/) [Dream](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dream/) [Dreams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dreams/) [Fantastic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fantastic/) [Frightening](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/frightening/) [Ghost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ghost/) [Gliding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gliding/) [Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rose/) [Sky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sky/) [Sunlight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sunlight/) [Tree](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tree/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [“He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/he-must-have-looked-up-at-an-unfamiliar-sky-through-frightening/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [“I have an idea that Gatsby himself didn't believe it would come, and perhaps he no longer cared. If that was true he must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald-2/i-have-an-idea-that-gatsby-himself-didn-t-believe-it-would-come-and/) [F Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald-2/) > [“When you had the dream, it looked big. So why quit when it's still small?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emem-uko/when-you-had-the-dream-it-looked-big-so-why-quit-when-it-s-still-small/) Emem Uko > [“I had a dream about you. You looked so beautiful that I felt compelled to say something. So I said, “The fish taco wasn’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarod-kintz/i-had-a-dream-about-you-you-looked-so-beautiful-that-i-felt-compelled/) [Jarod Kintz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarod-kintz/) > [“I had a dream about you. You looked like you, but you also looked like a mannequin. And I looked like me, but I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dark-jar-tin-zoo/i-had-a-dream-about-you-you-looked-like-you-but-you-also-looked-like/) Dark Jar Tin Zoo > [“A Dream Pang I HAD withdrawn in forest, and my song Was swallowed up in leaves that blew alway; And to the forest edge…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-frost/a-dream-pang-i-had-withdrawn-in-forest-and-my-song-was-swallowed-up/) [Robert Frost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-frost/) > [“When I went to sleep each night, I imagined myself at the bottom, thousands of feet down, the weight of all that water but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-vann/when-i-went-to-sleep-each-night-i-imagined-myself-at-the-bottom/) [David Vann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-vann/) > [Later in life, one of the compensations is gliding effortlessly into focus in a thing. 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Scott Fitzgerald > [“His dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/his-dream-must-have-seemed-so-close-that-he-could-hardly-fail-to/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [“There was a ripe mystery about it, a hint of bedrooms upstairs more beautiful and cool than other bedrooms, of gay and radiant activities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/there-was-a-ripe-mystery-about-it-a-hint-of-bedrooms-upstairs-more/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [I want you to take a red-hot bath as hot as you can bear it, and just relax your nerves. You can read in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/i-want-you-to-take-a-red-hot-bath-as-hot-as-you-can-bear-it-and-just/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [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/) > [I found something! Courage--just that; courage as a rule of life and something to cling to always.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/i-found-something-courage-just-that-courage-as-a-rule-of-life-and/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [“Life is a series of successful gestures...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/life-is-a-series-of-successful-gestures/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [“Another dawn flung itself across the river; a belated taxi hurried along the street, its lamps still shining like burning eyes in a face…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/another-dawn-flung-itself-across-the-river-a-belated-taxi-hurried/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [“She plucked a twig and broke it, but she found no spring in it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/she-plucked-a-twig-and-broke-it-but-she-found-no-spring-in-it/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [“I'm one of those people who go through the world giving other people thrills but getting few myself except those I read into men…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/i-m-one-of-those-people-who-go-through-the-world-giving-other-people/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [The Montana sunset lay between the mountains like a giant bruise from which darkened arteries spread across a poisoned sky.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/the-montana-sunset-lay-between-the-mountains-like-a-giant-bruise-from/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [“You loved me too?" he repeated.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/you-loved-me-too-he-repeated/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [“He was good looking, "sort of distinguished when he wants to be", had a line, and was properly inconstant. In fact, he summed up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/he-was-good-looking-sort-of-distinguished-when-he-wants-to-be-had-a/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [What are you going to do? 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