---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In childhood the daylight always fails…"
description: "\"In childhood the daylight always fails too soon -- except when there are going to be fireworks;\" — Jan Struther"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a01/jan-struther-13125_childhood_in-childhood-the-daylight-always-fails-t_545360.png"
---

#  In childhood the daylight always fails too soon -- except…

![“In childhood the daylight always fails too soon -- except when there are going to be fireworks;” quote by Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a01/jan-struther-13125_childhood_in-childhood-the-daylight-always-fails-t_545360.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a01/jan-struther-13125_childhood_in-childhood-the-daylight-always-fails-t_545360.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a01/jan-struther-13125_childhood_in-childhood-the-daylight-always-fails-t_545360.png)

> “In childhood the daylight always fails too soon -- except when there are going to be fireworks;”

[Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Childhood evenings end quickly, except when fireworks delay nightfall, highlighting fleeting joy and anticipation.

**In simple terms:** Evenings end fast unless fireworks appear.

Key Takeaway

Cherish moments of wonder.

Themes

childhood anticipation joy

Mood

nostalgic hopeful

Type

reflective inspirational

When to use this quote

- family outings
- summer evenings
- holiday gatherings

Key Concepts

temporal perception celebration

Questions to Reflect On

- How do special events change your perception of time?
- What moments make you feel time slows?

A Different Perspective

Fireworks are rare, so joy is temporary.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Childhood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/childhood/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Daylight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/daylight/) [Light](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/light/)

## Related quotes

> [The night is falling down around us. Meteors rain like fireworks, quick rips in the seam of the dark... Every second, another streak of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-picoult/the-night-is-falling-down-around-us-meteors-rain-like-fireworks-quick/)

[Jodi Picoult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-picoult/)

> [Happy 4th of July! Celebrate the holiday with family, friends and fireworks!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/happy-4th-of-july-celebrate-the-holiday-with-family-friends-and/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [The car bomb was fertilizer, gasoline, fireworks and propane tanks...still safer than a Toyota.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-maher/the-car-bomb-was-fertilizer-gasoline-fireworks-and-propane-tanks/)

[Bill Maher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-maher/)

> [Not all magic is fireworks and fanfare. Sometimes magic is quiet and sneaks up on you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-guinn/not-all-magic-is-fireworks-and-fanfare-sometimes-magic-is-quiet-and/)

[Jeff Guinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-guinn/)

> [Try this. At a dinner party sometime, kick off the conversation with: "I believe that the most important objective for every human being is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-white/try-this-at-a-dinner-party-sometime-kick-off-the-conversation-with-i/)

[Robert White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-white/)

> [So if big enough droplets fell far enough fast enough, someone floating right near the metallic hydrogen layer inside Jupiter maybe, just maybe, could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-kean/so-if-big-enough-droplets-fell-far-enough-fast-enough-someone/)

[Sam Kean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-kean/)

> [“Life isn't always about fireworks. Your fireworks will come, Sarah. And they'll fizzle out just as fast. Life's an experience, not a destination. All…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-grey/life-isn-t-always-about-fireworks-your-fireworks-will-come-sarah-and/)

[Marilyn Grey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-grey/)

> [“It was safe to say that neither had ever known the other sort of love, the sort with fireworks and racing hearts and physical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/it-was-safe-to-say-that-neither-had-ever-known-the-other-sort-of-love/)

[Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/)

> [People have forgotten what 4th of July really is. Its the day we got the freedom we use everyday. Its not fireworks and parties.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/people-have-forgotten-what-4th-of-july-really-is-its-the-day-we-got/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Her underwear, her jeans, the comforter, my corduroys and my boxers between us, I thought. Five layers, and yet I felt it, the nervous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/her-underwear-her-jeans-the-comforter-my-corduroys-and-my-boxers/)

[John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/)

> [Am shinning like fireworks over your sad empty town](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taylor-swift/am-shinning-like-fireworks-over-your-sad-empty-town/)

[Taylor Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taylor-swift/)

> [“Colored lights blink on and off, racing across the green boughs. Their reflections dance across exquisite glass globes and splinter into shards against tinsel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-nazarian/colored-lights-blink-on-and-off-racing-across-the-green-boughs-their/)

[Vera Nazarian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-nazarian/)

> [“At the water's edge, barrels of pitch blazed like huge bonfires. Their reflection, crimson as the rising moon, crept to meet us in long,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anton-chekhov/at-the-water-s-edge-barrels-of-pitch-blazed-like-huge-bonfires-their/)

[Anton Chekhov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anton-chekhov/)

> [“Sometimes he woke with a brain like lead; at others it was as if a thousand wax tapers were alight and people were throwing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/sometimes-he-woke-with-a-brain-like-lead-at-others-it-was-as-if-a/)

[Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/)

> [“We can stay here whenever you like. It’s a great view of the Riverfront fireworks.”   “I”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-camille/we-can-stay-here-whenever-you-like-it-s-a-great-view-of-the/)

[D. Camille](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-camille/)

## More by Jan Struther

> [Things happen too quickly, crisis follows crisis, the soil of our minds is perpetually disturbed. Each of us, to relieve his feelings, broadcasts his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/things-happen-too-quickly-crisis-follows-crisis-the-soil-of-our-minds/)

[Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/)

> [“It was more like a form of claustrophobia -- a dread of exchanging the freedom of her own self-imposed routine for the inescapable burden…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/it-was-more-like-a-form-of-claustrophobia-a-dread-of-exchanging-the/)

[Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/)

> [“Mrs. Miniver suddenly understood why she was enjoying the forties so much better than she had enjoyed the thirties: it was the difference between…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/mrs-miniver-suddenly-understood-why-she-was-enjoying-the-forties-so/)

[Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/)

> [To be put down in this world, and given only eighty years to get to know it in, is like being let loose in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/to-be-put-down-in-this-world-and-given-only-eighty-years-to-get-to/)

[Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/)

> [ “...\[Y\]ou cannot successfully navigate the future unless you keep always framed beside it a small clear image of the past.” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/y-ou-cannot-successfully-navigate-the-future-unless-you-keep-always/)

[Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/)

> [One is what one remembers: no more, no less.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/one-is-what-one-remembers-no-more-no-less/)

[Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/)

> [I can't abide cats myself, but of course we have to have one in the kitchen to deal with the mice. I insisted on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/i-can-t-abide-cats-myself-but-of-course-we-have-to-have-one-in-the/)

[Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/)

> [swans ... always look as though they'd just been reading their own fan-mail.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/swans-always-look-as-though-they-d-just-been-reading-their-own-fan/)

[Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/)

> [It seemed to her sometimes that the most important thing about marriage was not a home or children or a remedy against sin, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/it-seemed-to-her-sometimes-that-the-most-important-thing-about/)

[Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/)

> [Physical weather certainly is beyond our control. ... But human weather - the psychological climate of the world - is not beyond our control.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/physical-weather-certainly-is-beyond-our-control-but-human-weather/)

[Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/)

> [Scots are born exiles, and Scotland the perfect country to be exiled from. Do not imagine that I am running down Scotland. Far from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/scots-are-born-exiles-and-scotland-the-perfect-country-to-be-exiled/)

[Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/)

> [It took me forty years on earth To reach this sure conclusion: There is no Heaven but clarity, No Hell except confusion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/it-took-me-forty-years-on-earth-to-reach-this-sure-conclusion-there/)

[Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/)

> [It's just as important to marry the right life as the right person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/it-s-just-as-important-to-marry-the-right-life-as-the-right-person/)

[Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/)

> [Giving a party is like having a baby: its conception is more fun than its completion; and once you have begun it, it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/giving-a-party-is-like-having-a-baby-its-conception-is-more-fun-than/)

[Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/)

> [And I am a mockery, who was God before.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/and-i-am-a-mockery-who-was-god-before/)

[Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/)

[Explore all 51 Jan Struther quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/)

## More Childhood quotes

> [“Children's lives are always beginning and adults' lives are always ending. Or is it the opposite? Your childhood is always ending and your adult…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-espach/children-s-lives-are-always-beginning-and-adults-lives-are-always/)

[Alison Espach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-espach/)

> [“From childhood’s hour I have not been As others were—I have not seen As others saw—I could not bring My passions from a common…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/from-childhood-s-hour-i-have-not-been-as-others-were-i-have-not-seen/)

[Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/)

> [We were so poor as kids. I didn't even see a bathtub, running water, hot water, commode - we didn't have any of that.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-robertson/we-were-so-poor-as-kids-i-didn-t-even-see-a-bathtub-running-water-hot/)

[Phil Robertson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-robertson/)

> [I had a rough upbringing. Group homes. Foster homes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-shamrock/i-had-a-rough-upbringing-group-homes-foster-homes/)

[Frank Shamrock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-shamrock/)

> [When I talk about my childhood I used to say it as if it was scripted and I'd make jokes because it was a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kerry-katona/when-i-talk-about-my-childhood-i-used-to-say-it-as-if-it-was-scripted/)

[Kerry Katona](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kerry-katona/)

> [Every man remembers his childhood as a kind of mythical age, just as every nation's childhood is its mythical age.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giacomo-leopardi/every-man-remembers-his-childhood-as-a-kind-of-mythical-age-just-as/)

[Giacomo Leopardi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giacomo-leopardi/)

> [It's a very familiar type of place where people either go to their house on the lake or they get together in different places.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-carell/it-s-a-very-familiar-type-of-place-where-people-either-go-to-their/)

[Steve Carell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-carell/)

> [Ideal for the child and society in the best of times, Rudolf Steiner's brilliant process of education is critically needed and profoundly relevant now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-chilton-pearce/ideal-for-the-child-and-society-in-the-best-of-times-rudolf-steiner-s/)

[Joseph Chilton Pearce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-chilton-pearce/)

> [Downstairs in my house, I have a museum room. I keep all of my awards down there, and childhood photos, and even all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-kelly/downstairs-in-my-house-i-have-a-museum-room-i-keep-all-of-my-awards/)

[R. Kelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-kelly/)

> [Childhood is Last Chance Gulch for happiness. After that, you know too much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/childhood-is-last-chance-gulch-for-happiness-after-that-you-know-too/)

[Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/)

> [On paper, it looks rough, but I had a great childhood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samantha-morton/on-paper-it-looks-rough-but-i-had-a-great-childhood/)

[Samantha Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samantha-morton/)

> [Let positive, strong, helpful thoughts enter into your brains from very childhood. Lay yourselves open to these thoughts, and not to weakening and paralysing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/let-positive-strong-helpful-thoughts-enter-into-your-brains-from-very/)

[Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/)

> [I always knew that I was kind of bored; the regular life of a child didn't fit me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christina-ricci/i-always-knew-that-i-was-kind-of-bored-the-regular-life-of-a-child/)

[Christina Ricci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christina-ricci/)

> [Children are not a zoo of entertainingly exotic creatures, but an array of mirrors in which the human predicament leaps out at us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/children-are-not-a-zoo-of-entertainingly-exotic-creatures-but-an/)

[John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/)

> [I'm not sure I would have ever started to draw, let alone write, if my childhood hadn't been so happy. It was a mixture…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tove-jansson/i-m-not-sure-i-would-have-ever-started-to-draw-let-alone-write-if-my/)

[Tove Jansson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tove-jansson/)

[Browse all 5,837 Childhood quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/childhood/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "In childhood the daylight always fails too soon -- except when there are going to be fireworks;",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Jan Struther"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/in-childhood-the-daylight-always-fails-too-soon-except-when-there-are/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Childhood"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/in-childhood-the-daylight-always-fails-too-soon-except-when-there-are/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a01/jan-struther-13125_childhood_in-childhood-the-daylight-always-fails-t_545360.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a01/jan-struther-13125_childhood_in-childhood-the-daylight-always-fails-t_545360.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a01/jan-struther-13125_childhood_in-childhood-the-daylight-always-fails-t_545360.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“In childhood the daylight always fails too soon -- except when there are going to be fireworks;” — Jan Struther",
                "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": "Jan Struther",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "In childhood the daylight always fails...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/in-childhood-the-daylight-always-fails-too-soon-except-when-there-are/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/in-childhood-the-daylight-always-fails-too-soon-except-when-there-are/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```