--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: They had gone forth together into their…" description: "\"“They had gone forth together into their life of sorrow, and they would never more see the sunshine undimmed by remembered cares. They had entered the ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e50/george-eliot-84_life_they-had-gone-forth-together-into-their_2455747.jpg" --- # They had gone forth together into their life of sorrow… ![“They had gone forth together into their life of sorrow, and they would never more see the sunshine undimmed by remembered cares. They had entered the thorny wilderness, and the golden gates of their childhood had forever closed behind them.” quote by George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e50/george-eliot-84_life_they-had-gone-forth-together-into-their_2455747.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e50/george-eliot-84_life_they-had-gone-forth-together-into-their_2455747.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e50/george-eliot-84_life_they-had-gone-forth-together-into-their_2455747.jpg) > ““They had gone forth together into their life of sorrow, and they would never more see the sunshine undimmed by remembered cares. They had entered the thorny wilderness, and the golden gates of their childhood had forever closed behind them.”” [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Life's hardships close youthful innocence, leading to a somber reality where joy is tinged by past sorrows. **In simple terms:** Childhood ends, sorrow remains. Key Takeaway Accept loss, seek new light. Themes loss nostalgia growth Mood melancholic contemplative Type fictional poetic When to use this quote - grieving loss - navigating change - finding meaning after trauma - accepting aging Key Concepts coming‑of‑age existential grief Questions to Reflect On - What memories still haunt you? - How can you find renewed hope? A Different Perspective Hope may seem distant after trauma. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Sorrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sorrow/) ## Related quotes > [“They had entered the thorny wilderness, and the golden gates of their childhood had for ever closed behind them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/they-had-entered-the-thorny-wilderness-and-the-golden-gates-of-their/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [If we knew the truth of what we were looking for. we would prefer our childhood forever..](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-we-knew-the-truth-of-what-we-were-looking-for-we-would-prefer-our/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“It was too late. Maybe yesterday, while I was still a child, but not now. I knew too much, had seen too much, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-faulkner/it-was-too-late-maybe-yesterday-while-i-was-still-a-child-but-not-now/) [William Faulkner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-faulkner/) > [“Without a song, life is a sorrow.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/without-a-song-life-is-a-sorrow/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [Half my life is full of sorrow, Half of joy, still fresh and new; One of these lives is a fancy, But the other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adelaide-anne-procter/half-my-life-is-full-of-sorrow-half-of-joy-still-fresh-and-new-one-of/) [Adelaide Anne Procter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adelaide-anne-procter/) > [“Life is a sorrow, without a song.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/life-is-a-sorrow-without-a-song/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [“If there is a reason to be sorrowful, then there is a reason to be happy. You have only one lifetime, don't live your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-agyemang-yeboah/if-there-is-a-reason-to-be-sorrowful-then-there-is-a-reason-to-be/) [Ernest Agyemang Yeboah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-agyemang-yeboah/) > [“When you lose the person that's most important to you, it can feel like your life's over and all you can do is live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sparkling-amethyst/when-you-lose-the-person-that-s-most-important-to-you-it-can-feel/) Sparkling Amethyst > [If you don't enjoy your life, sorrow, sadness, suffering, fear, shame and guilt will.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iyanla-vanzant/if-you-don-t-enjoy-your-life-sorrow-sadness-suffering-fear-shame-and/) [Iyanla Vanzant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iyanla-vanzant/) > [People do not like the tragic side of life. They deny pain and suffering as a facet of life. Even when someone writes about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-limn/people-do-not-like-the-tragic-side-of-life-they-deny-pain-and-2/) [Jeremy Limn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-limn/) > [I shall be richer all my life for this sorrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/i-shall-be-richer-all-my-life-for-this-sorrow/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [People do not like the tragic side of life. They deny pain and suffering as a facet of life. Even when someone writes about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-limn/people-do-not-like-the-tragic-side-of-life-they-deny-pain-and/) [Jeremy Limn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-limn/) > [“Má, please do not cry. I know I could have bought bread with it, a room for the night. I could have bought acts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/monique-truong/m-please-do-not-cry-i-know-i-could-have-bought-bread-with-it-a-room/) [Monique Truong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/monique-truong/) > [“Humor and paradox are often the only ways to respond to life's sorrow with grace.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-fox/humor-and-paradox-are-often-the-only-ways-to-respond-to-life-s-sorrow/) [Matthew Fox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-fox/) > [“Giacomina had taught her daughter that you must dig constantly for meaning in the sorrow of this life, and that this sorrow must galvanize…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adriana-trigiani/giacomina-had-taught-her-daughter-that-you-must-dig-constantly-for/) [Adriana Trigiani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adriana-trigiani/) ## More by George Eliot > [There are various orders of beauty, causing men to make fools of themselves in various styles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/there-are-various-orders-of-beauty-causing-men-to-make-fools-of/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/but-the-effect-of-her-being-on-those-around-her-was-incalculably/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [Scepticismcan never be thoroughly applied, else life would come to a standstill.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/scepticismcan-never-be-thoroughly-applied-else-life-would-come-to-a/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [Under every guilty secret there is hidden a brood of guilty wishes, whose unwholesome infecting life is cherished by the darkness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/under-every-guilty-secret-there-is-hidden-a-brood-of-guilty-wishes/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [The most powerful movement of feeling with a liturgy is the prayer which seeks for nothing special, but is a yearning to escape from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/the-most-powerful-movement-of-feeling-with-a-liturgy-is-the-prayer/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [ “\[W\]e must learn to accommodate ourselves to the discovery that some of those cunningly-fashioned instruments called human souls have only a very limited range… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/w-e-must-learn-to-accommodate-ourselves-to-the-discovery-that-some-of/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“Mr. Casaubon had never had a strong bodily frame, and his soul was sensitive without being enthusiastic: it was too languid to thrill out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/mr-casaubon-had-never-had-a-strong-bodily-frame-and-his-soul-was/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“... she took her husband's jokes and joviality as patiently as everything else, considering that "men would be so", and viewing the stronger sex…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/she-took-her-husband-s-jokes-and-joviality-as-patiently-as-everything/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [What is opportunity to the man who can't use it? An unfecundated egg, which the waves of time wash away into nonentity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/what-is-opportunity-to-the-man-who-can-t-use-it-an-unfecundated-egg/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [And, of course men know best about everything, except what women know better.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/and-of-course-men-know-best-about-everything-except-what-women-know/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“But let the wise be warned against too great readiness at explanation: it multiplies the sources of mistake, lengthening the sum for reckoners sure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/but-let-the-wise-be-warned-against-too-great-readiness-at-explanation/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“But any one watching keenly the stealthy convergence of human lots, sees a slow preparation of effects from one life on another, which tells…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/but-any-one-watching-keenly-the-stealthy-convergence-of-human-lots/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [Perspective, as its inventor remarked, is a beautiful thing. What horrors of damp huts, where human beings languish, may not become picturesque through aerial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/perspective-as-its-inventor-remarked-is-a-beautiful-thing-what/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“Sane people did what their neighbours did, so that if any lunatics were at large, one might know and avoid them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/sane-people-did-what-their-neighbours-did-so-that-if-any-lunatics/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [even those who call themselves 'intimate' know very little about each other - hardly ever know just how a sorrow is felt, and hurt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/even-those-who-call-themselves-intimate-know-very-little-about-each/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) [Explore all 1,492 George Eliot quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) ## More Life quotes > [Of all the people who have affected my life and influenced the choices I've made, none has been more important than my father. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teddy-atlas/of-all-the-people-who-have-affected-my-life-and-influenced-the/) [Teddy Atlas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teddy-atlas/) > [What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing differences and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/what-sets-worlds-in-motion-is-the-interplay-of-differences-their/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Life is full of change. That's how we learn and grow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/life-is-full-of-change-that-s-how-we-learn-and-grow/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Life works most perfectly when a reciprocal love relationship is in place between man and God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beth-moore/life-works-most-perfectly-when-a-reciprocal-love-relationship-is-in/) [Beth Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beth-moore/) > [I value the experiences that come with life too much to sit by and not put my full effort into them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-miller/i-value-the-experiences-that-come-with-life-too-much-to-sit-by-and/) [Jim Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-miller/) > [Entertainment is a sacred pursuit when done well. When done well, it raises the quality of human life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-chabon/entertainment-is-a-sacred-pursuit-when-done-well-when-done-well-it/) [Michael Chabon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-chabon/) > [“There's more to life than you can see. Your sight is limited.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tammy-kling/there-s-more-to-life-than-you-can-see-your-sight-is-limited/) [Tammy Kling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tammy-kling/) > [“I've spent much of my life calling my intuition "something wrong with me.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deanna-l-lawlis/i-ve-spent-much-of-my-life-calling-my-intuition-something-wrong-with/) Deanna L. Lawlis > [When you do things they're absolutely right at that time for you and it can always teach you something about yourself. You can take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kym-marsh/when-you-do-things-they-re-absolutely-right-at-that-time-for-you-and/) [Kym Marsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kym-marsh/) > [The only people who think the Internet is a calamity are people whose lives have been hurt by it; the only people who insist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-klosterman/the-only-people-who-think-the-internet-is-a-calamity-are-people-whose/) [Chuck Klosterman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-klosterman/) > [The one thing that I keep learning over and over again is that I don't know nothing. I mean, that's my life lesson.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwayne-johnson/the-one-thing-that-i-keep-learning-over-and-over-again-is-that-i-don/) [Dwayne Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwayne-johnson/) > [“THIS tale of my sore-troubled life I write,    To thank the God of nature, who conveyed    My soul to me, and with such care…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/this-tale-of-my-sore-troubled-life-i-write-to-thank-the-god-of-nature/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The future is only an indifferent void no one cares about, but the past is filled with life, and its countenance is irritating, repellent,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/the-future-is-only-an-indifferent-void-no-one-cares-about-but-the/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [Two things revolutionised life: moving to the countryside and falling in love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-love/two-things-revolutionised-life-moving-to-the-countryside-and-falling/) [Nick Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-love/) > [But just remember, life without me would be even more unbearable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/but-just-remember-life-without-me-would-be-even-more-unbearable/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) [Browse all 265,290 Life quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“They had gone forth together into their life of sorrow, and they would never more see the sunshine undimmed by remembered cares. They had entered the thorny wilderness, and the golden gates of their childhood had forever closed behind them.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Eliot" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/they-had-gone-forth-together-into-their-life-of-sorrow-and-they-would/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Life" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/they-had-gone-forth-together-into-their-life-of-sorrow-and-they-would/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e50/george-eliot-84_life_they-had-gone-forth-together-into-their_2455747.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e50/george-eliot-84_life_they-had-gone-forth-together-into-their_2455747.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e50/george-eliot-84_life_they-had-gone-forth-together-into-their_2455747.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“They had gone forth together into their life of sorrow, and they would never more see the sunshine undimmed…” — George Eliot", "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": "George Eliot", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“They had gone forth together into...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/they-had-gone-forth-together-into-their-life-of-sorrow-and-they-would/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/they-had-gone-forth-together-into-their-life-of-sorrow-and-they-would/#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 } } ] } ```