--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: He wondered vaguely whether in the…" description: "\"He wondered vaguely whether in the abolished past it had been a normal experience to lie in bed like this, in the cool of a summer evening, a man and a..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/007/george-orwell-57_bed_he-wondered-vaguely-whether-in-the-aboli_2415424.jpg" --- # He wondered vaguely whether in the abolished past it had… ![“He wondered vaguely whether in the abolished past it had been a normal experience to lie in bed like this, in the cool of a summer evening, a man and a woman with no clothes on, making love when they chose, talking of what they chose, not feeling any compulsion to get up, simply lying there and…” quote by George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/007/george-orwell-57_bed_he-wondered-vaguely-whether-in-the-aboli_2415424.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/007/george-orwell-57_bed_he-wondered-vaguely-whether-in-the-aboli_2415424.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/007/george-orwell-57_bed_he-wondered-vaguely-whether-in-the-aboli_2415424.jpg) > “He wondered vaguely whether in the abolished past it had been a normal experience to lie in bed like this, in the cool of a summer evening, a man and a woman with no clothes on, making love when they chose, talking of what they chose, not feeling any compulsion to get up, simply lying there and listening to peaceful sounds outside. Surely there could never have been a time when that seemed ordinary?” [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The passage reflects a longing for a past where intimacy was free and unpressured, questioning whether such freedom ever existed. **In simple terms:** Yearning for unpressured intimacy. Key Takeaway Reflect on past freedoms. Themes intimacy freedom nostalgia societal norms Mood reflective melancholic Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - relationships - historical reflection Key Concepts personal liberty sexual freedom Questions to Reflect On - Do we romanticize past intimacy? - How does societal pressure shape desire? A Different Perspective The scene may be idealized rather than realistic. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bed/) [Bed Like](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bed-like-818917/) [Clothes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clothes/) [Compulsion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/compulsion/) [Evening](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evening/) [Feelings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feelings/) [Listening](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/listening/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Lying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lying/) [Making love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/making-love/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Normal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/normal/) [Normal Experience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/normal-experience-1185956/) [Ordinary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ordinary/) [Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past/) [Past Normal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past-normal-3959948/) [Peaceful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peaceful/) [Sound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sound/) [Summer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/summer/) [Summer evening](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/summer-evening/) [Talking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/talking/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Wondered Vaguely](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wondered-vaguely-1370483/) ## Related quotes > [I wondered vaguely if this was when it would end, whether I would pull up tonight's darkness like a quilt and be dead and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-manchester/i-wondered-vaguely-if-this-was-when-it-would-end-whether-i-would-pull/) [William Manchester](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-manchester/) > [“When I think about everything that's happened since school started, well, I don't think the word 'normal' applies to any of it. Verbena is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-o-roark-dowell/when-i-think-about-everything-that-s-happened-since-school-started/) [Frances O'Roark Dowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-o-roark-dowell/) > [“He lay back with his eyes shut, still sodden in the atmosphere of the dream. It was a vast, luminous dream in which his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/he-lay-back-with-his-eyes-shut-still-sodden-in-the-atmosphere-of-the/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“...things that are normal are just normal. Thus it is my experience that most things that are weird are cool.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kristen-ashley/things-that-are-normal-are-just-normal-thus-it-is-my-experience-that/) [Kristen Ashley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kristen-ashley/) > [I've always felt that music should be a normal part of the experience that surrounds people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/morton-gould/i-ve-always-felt-that-music-should-be-a-normal-part-of-the-experience/) [Morton Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/morton-gould/) > [It's so easy as a teen to feel like everybody is having this normal experience - except you. You're on the outside.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/becky-albertalli/it-s-so-easy-as-a-teen-to-feel-like-everybody-is-having-this-normal/) [Becky Albertalli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/becky-albertalli/) > [“Being normal?1 I have never had this experience.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ribecca/being-normal-1-i-have-never-had-this-experience/) [Ribecca](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ribecca/) > [“Illness begins, and normal experience ends, at the point at which your everyday functioning is affected and continues to be affected beyond what would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dr-stefan-cembrowicz/illness-begins-and-normal-experience-ends-at-the-point-at-which-your/) [Dr Stefan Cembrowicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dr-stefan-cembrowicz/) > [The sex that is presented to us in everyday culture feels strange to me; its images are fragments, lifeless, removed from normal experience. Real…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallie-tisdale/the-sex-that-is-presented-to-us-in-everyday-culture-feels-strange-to/) [Sallie Tisdale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallie-tisdale/) > [In a Society in which there is no law, and in theory no compulsion, the only arbiter of behaviour is public opinion. But public…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/in-a-society-in-which-there-is-no-law-and-in-theory-no-compulsion-the/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [I think everyone should go to bed like they have a date at the door.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-lagerfeld/i-think-everyone-should-go-to-bed-like-they-have-a-date-at-the-door/) [Karl Lagerfeld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-lagerfeld/) > [I go to the Korean spa when the kids go to bed. It's like I turn my brain off.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amanda-de-cadenet/i-go-to-the-korean-spa-when-the-kids-go-to-bed-it-s-like-i-turn-my/) [Amanda de Cadenet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amanda-de-cadenet/) > [I don't always take off my make-up before bed, and I like pizza at two in the morning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katie-holmes/i-don-t-always-take-off-my-make-up-before-bed-and-i-like-pizza-at-two/) [Katie Holmes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katie-holmes/) > [Women in bed are like Diesel engines. What I mean by that is, it may take them a while to get going, but when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-foxworthy/women-in-bed-are-like-diesel-engines-what-i-mean-by-that-is-it-may/) [Jeff Foxworthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-foxworthy/) > [I think that a lot of men, especially once they're married, feel like their girl is just who she is, so don't treat her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-dice-clay/i-think-that-a-lot-of-men-especially-once-they-re-married-feel-like/) [Andrew Dice Clay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-dice-clay/) ## More by George Orwell > [In the nineteenth century some parts of the world were unexplored, but there was almost no restriction on travel.:; Up to 1914 you did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/in-the-nineteenth-century-some-parts-of-the-world-were-unexplored-but/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [It was given out that the animals there practised cannibalism, tortured one another with red-hot horseshoes, and had their females in common. This was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/it-was-given-out-that-the-animals-there-practised-cannibalism/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“The actual writing would be easy. All he had to do was to transfer to paper the interminable restless monologue that had been running…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/the-actual-writing-would-be-easy-all-he-had-to-do-was-to-transfer-to/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [He felt as though he were wandering in the forests of the sea bottom, lost in a monstrous world where he himself was the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/he-felt-as-though-he-were-wandering-in-the-forests-of-the-sea-bottom/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“if you took 1 Corinthians, chapter thirteen, and in every verse wrote 'money' instead of 'charity', the chapter had ten times as much meaning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/if-you-took-1-corinthians-chapter-thirteen-and-in-every-verse-wrote/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [Happiness can exist only in acceptance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/happiness-can-exist-only-in-acceptance/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/and-if-all-others-accepted-the-lie-which-the-party-imposed-if-all/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“Whitman himself "accepted" a great deal that his contemporaries found unmentionable. For he is not only writing of the prairie, he also wanders through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/whitman-himself-accepted-a-great-deal-that-his-contemporaries-found/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“But I tell you, Winston, that reality is not external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Whatever the Party holds to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/but-i-tell-you-winston-that-reality-is-not-external-reality-exists-in/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“And the people under the sky were also very much the same...everywhere, all over the world, hundreds or thousands of millions of people just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/and-the-people-under-the-sky-were-also-very-much-the-same-everywhere/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/don-t-you-see-that-the-whole-aim-of-newspeak-is-to-narrow-the-range/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [Windmill or no windmill, he said, life would go on as it had always gone on--that is, badly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/windmill-or-no-windmill-he-said-life-would-go-on-as-it-had-always/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/man-is-the-only-creature-that-consumes-without-producing-he-does-not/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [And the bigger the fall, the bigger the joke. It would be better fun to throw a custard pie at a bishop than at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/and-the-bigger-the-fall-the-bigger-the-joke-it-would-be-better-fun-to/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“Any writer or journalist who wants to retain his integrity finds himself thwarted by the general drift of society rather than by active persecution.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/any-writer-or-journalist-who-wants-to-retain-his-integrity-finds/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) [Explore all 1,657 George Orwell quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) ## More Bed quotes > [When man of slender visits you / Nothing on earth that one can do / In well he’ll hide, or watery hole / And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-goldstein/when-man-of-slender-visits-you-nothing-on-earth-that-one-can-do-in/) [Jack Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-goldstein/) > [Your idea of fidelity is not having more than one man in bed at the same time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederic-raphael/your-idea-of-fidelity-is-not-having-more-than-one-man-in-bed-at-the/) [Frederic Raphael](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederic-raphael/) > [The beginning of love is all about the butterflies, but the end of it is when you can't get out of bed in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taylor-swift/the-beginning-of-love-is-all-about-the-butterflies-but-the-end-of-it/) [Taylor Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taylor-swift/) > [Home is behind, the world ahead, And there are many paths to tread Through shadows to the edge of night, Until the stars are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/home-is-behind-the-world-ahead-and-there-are-many-paths-to-tread/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I wish I had as much in bed as I get in the newspapers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-ronstadt/i-wish-i-had-as-much-in-bed-as-i-get-in-the-newspapers/) [Linda Ronstadt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-ronstadt/) > [ Leave a cavity behind the \[wall\] facings, and on the inside build walls two feet thick, made of red dimension stone or burnt brick… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-vitruvius-pollio/leave-a-cavity-behind-the-wall-facings-and-on-the-inside-build-walls/) [Marcus Vitruvius Pollio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-vitruvius-pollio/) > [Why couldn't Jesus command us to obsess over everything, to try to control and manipulate people, to try not to breathe at all, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/why-couldn-t-jesus-command-us-to-obsess-over-everything-to-try-to/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [“To all the secret writers, late-night painters, would-be singers, lapsed and scared artists of every stripe, dig out your paintbrush, or your flute, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/to-all-the-secret-writers-late-night-painters-would-be-singers-lapsed/) [Shauna Niequist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shauna-niequist/) > [“In the parking lot, she drove and parked in a dark area with no other cars around. She reclined her seat, and listened to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tao-lin/in-the-parking-lot-she-drove-and-parked-in-a-dark-area-with-no-other/) [Tao Lin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tao-lin/) > [It wasn't really touching to be young; it was touching not to be young, because you had less of life left. Touching to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/it-wasn-t-really-touching-to-be-young-it-was-touching-not-to-be-young/) [Rose Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-macaulay/) > [I have to meditate before I go to bed, always. I have to let the day go and let the eternal in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bellamy-young/i-have-to-meditate-before-i-go-to-bed-always-i-have-to-let-the-day-go/) [Bellamy Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bellamy-young/) > [Sometimes by a woodland stream he watched the water rush over the pebbled bed, its tiny modulations of bounce and flow. A woman's body…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/sometimes-by-a-woodland-stream-he-watched-the-water-rush-over-the/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [I think life is full of challenges and problems. I don't believe that anyone is perfect. We all make mistakes. It's not a bed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nigel-mansell/i-think-life-is-full-of-challenges-and-problems-i-don-t-believe-that/) [Nigel Mansell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nigel-mansell/) > [When I saw him I thought I could curl up inside him and go to sleep and never wake up." "Men are no good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherynne-m-valente/when-i-saw-him-i-thought-i-could-curl-up-inside-him-and-go-to-sleep/) [Catherynne M. Valente](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherynne-m-valente/) > [I always wanted to be a movie star. I thought it meant being famous and having breakfast in bed. I didn't know you had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/june-allyson/i-always-wanted-to-be-a-movie-star-i-thought-it-meant-being-famous/) [June Allyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/june-allyson/) [Browse all 4,159 Bed quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bed/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "He wondered vaguely whether in the abolished past it had been a normal experience to lie in bed like this, in the cool of a summer evening, a man and a woman with no clothes on, making love when they chose, talking of what they chose, not feeling any compulsion to get up, simply lying there and listening to peaceful sounds outside. 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