--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: How long, Klara wondered now, how long…" description: "\"“How long, Klara wondered now, how long after the mortar set did the joy remain? When one embraces a moment of rapture from the past, either by trying ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/173/jane-urquhart-35831_longing_how-long-klara-wondered-now-how-long-aft_2532021.jpg" --- # How long, Klara wondered now, how long after the mortar… ![“How long, Klara wondered now, how long after the mortar set did the joy remain? When one embraces a moment of rapture from the past, either by trying to reclaim it or by refusing to let it go, how can its brightness not tarnish, turn grey with longing and sorrow, until the wild spell of the…” quote by Jane Urquhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/173/jane-urquhart-35831_longing_how-long-klara-wondered-now-how-long-aft_2532021.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/173/jane-urquhart-35831_longing_how-long-klara-wondered-now-how-long-aft_2532021.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/173/jane-urquhart-35831_longing_how-long-klara-wondered-now-how-long-aft_2532021.jpg) > ““How long, Klara wondered now, how long after the mortar set did the joy remain? When one embraces a moment of rapture from the past, either by trying to reclaim it or by refusing to let it go, how can its brightness not tarnish, turn grey with longing and sorrow, until the wild spell of the remembered interlude is lost altogether and the memory of sadness claims its rightful place in the mind? And what is it we expect from the sun-drenched past? There is no formula for re-entry, nothing we can do to enable reconstruction. The features of an absent loved one's face are erased one by one, the timbre of the voice drowned by the noise of the world. Fondly recalled landscapes are savagely altered; we lose them tree by tree. Even the chestnut tree outside Klara's window would die a slow, rotting death until it would fall one night in a summer storm when everything in Klara wanted it to remain standing, blossoming in spring, leafy in summer, the only access, she secretly believed, to the window of her former self.”” [Jane Urquhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-urquhart/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Memories fade and transform, turning cherished moments into longing and sorrow, yet they shape identity. **In simple terms:** Memories change over time, affecting emotions. Key Takeaway Accept change and cherish present moments. Themes memory loss time identity grief Mood melancholic reflective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - grieving a loved one - reflecting on past relationships - writing memoirs - artistic inspiration Key Concepts Nostalgia impermanence Questions to Reflect On - What memory do you hold onto? - How do you honor change while moving forward? A Different Perspective Attempting to recapture the past may cause pain. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Klara Wondered](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/klara-wondered-1352228/) [Longing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/longing/) [Longing Sorrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/longing-sorrow-1352229/) [Memory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memory/) [Nostalgia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nostalgia/) [Remembered Interlude](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/remembered-interlude-1352230/) [Sorrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sorrow/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [Longing for something that you once had is a mistake because the pictures in your mind are never the same as whatever it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-urquhart/longing-for-something-that-you-once-had-is-a-mistake-because-the/) [Jane Urquhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-urquhart/) > [“Life is a collection of memories and feelings. Mawkish sentimentally urges us to engage in artistic overtures, we yearn to share with other people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kilroy-j-oldster/life-is-a-collection-of-memories-and-feelings-mawkish-sentimentally/) [Kilroy J. Oldster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kilroy-j-oldster/) > [You don't know why, but you know you have to go home. It's an eternal longing. It's Marvell's drop of dew wanting to go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/you-don-t-know-why-but-you-know-you-have-to-go-home-it-s-an-eternal/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [“I walk with a dual longing for life and for death.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melissa-lee-houghton/i-walk-with-a-dual-longing-for-life-and-for-death/) [Melissa Lee-Houghton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melissa-lee-houghton/) > [“…The truth: dreaming is lonely the further away the closer to this one time No one has held me for so long Days stitch…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angkarn-chanthathip/the-truth-dreaming-is-lonely-the-further-away-the-closer-to-this-one/) [Angkarn Chanthathip](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angkarn-chanthathip/) > [The orgasm has replaced the Cross as the focus of longing and the image of fulfillment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/the-orgasm-has-replaced-the-cross-as-the-focus-of-longing-and-the/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [“How sad, he thought, that desire found new objects but did not abate, that when it came to longing there was no end.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allegra-goodman/how-sad-he-thought-that-desire-found-new-objects-but-did-not-abate/) [Allegra Goodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allegra-goodman/) > [If we really face our sadness, we find it speaks with the voice of our deepest longing. And if we face it a little…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-kingsley/if-we-really-face-our-sadness-we-find-it-speaks-with-the-voice-of-our/) [Peter Kingsley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-kingsley/) > [To show a longing for anything that one cannot have, for instance, is not a clever position.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-gilbert/to-show-a-longing-for-anything-that-one-cannot-have-for-instance-is/) [Elizabeth Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-gilbert/) > [I can negate everything of that part of me that lives on vague nostalgias, except this desire for unity, this longing to solve, this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/i-can-negate-everything-of-that-part-of-me-that-lives-on-vague/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [Longing is like a seed that wrestles in the ground](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/longing-is-like-a-seed-that-wrestles-in-the-ground/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [It (taking photographs) is all about longingwithout longing-no pictures at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anders-petersen/it-taking-photographs-is-all-about-longingwithout-longing-no-pictures/) [Anders Petersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anders-petersen/) > [Could it be in longing we are most ourselves?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/li-young-lee/could-it-be-in-longing-we-are-most-ourselves/) [Li-Young Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/li-young-lee/) > [Sometimes it has to do with other longings that are much more existential. Sometimes you go elsewhere not because you are not liking the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-perel/sometimes-it-has-to-do-with-other-longings-that-are-much-more/) [Esther Perel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-perel/) > [“Haunted by the longing to feel something real, deep and magical; I searched for a shared ecstasy... that's when you came along.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lebo-grand/haunted-by-the-longing-to-feel-something-real-deep-and-magical-i/) [Lebo Grand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lebo-grand/) ## More by Jane Urquhart > [Longing for something that you once had is a mistake because the pictures in your mind are never the same as whatever it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-urquhart/longing-for-something-that-you-once-had-is-a-mistake-because-the/) [Jane Urquhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-urquhart/) > [“the low light entering the room from the west window always caused the large oval of the table to shine like a lake, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-urquhart/the-low-light-entering-the-room-from-the-west-window-always-caused/) [Jane Urquhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-urquhart/) > [“Old Eileen leaned forward in her chair, thrusting her face closer to the child who had been gradually approaching her. "Where is the centre…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-urquhart/old-eileen-leaned-forward-in-her-chair-thrusting-her-face-closer-to/) [Jane Urquhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-urquhart/) > [Art is a kind of mining," he said. "The artist a variety of prospector searching for the sparkling silver of meaning in the earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-urquhart/art-is-a-kind-of-mining-he-said-the-artist-a-variety-of-prospector/) [Jane Urquhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-urquhart/) > [Racism is a destructive and artificially-manufactured element in the collective human psyche designed to fragment the natural desire of human beings to know and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-urquhart/racism-is-a-destructive-and-artificially-manufactured-element-in-the/) [Jane Urquhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-urquhart/) > [“As the sky behind the Eddy Match Factory across the river filled with light, the steady timbre of the water and rapids became sentences…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-urquhart/as-the-sky-behind-the-eddy-match-factory-across-the-river-filled-with/) [Jane Urquhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-urquhart/) > [“The lake was a shield of beaten brass flung down in the valley under a full sun.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-urquhart/the-lake-was-a-shield-of-beaten-brass-flung-down-in-the-valley-under/) [Jane Urquhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-urquhart/) > [“She knew she was a purveyor of costume, of disguise, a fabricator of persona, one who touched only the protective surface, never the skin,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-urquhart/she-knew-she-was-a-purveyor-of-costume-of-disguise-a-fabricator-of/) [Jane Urquhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-urquhart/) > [“the boards of oaken floors polished to such a degree the furniture was reflected in them like architecture placed at the edge of vast…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-urquhart/the-boards-of-oaken-floors-polished-to-such-a-degree-the-furniture/) [Jane Urquhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-urquhart/) > [“This was the way it was going to be then, this road she was going to have to walk. She would always be thinking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-urquhart/this-was-the-way-it-was-going-to-be-then-this-road-she-was-going-to/) [Jane Urquhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-urquhart/) > [Get drunk, Austin, have a love affair. It would be a tragedy to die and discover that you hadn't completely used up your body.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-urquhart/get-drunk-austin-have-a-love-affair-it-would-be-a-tragedy-to-die-and/) [Jane Urquhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-urquhart/) > [“Any work of art," said her grandfather,"must achieve sainthood before we set it free to roam in the world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-urquhart/any-work-of-art-said-her-grandfather-must-achieve-sainthood-before-we/) [Jane Urquhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-urquhart/) [Explore all 13 Jane Urquhart quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-urquhart/) ## More Longing quotes > [At the centre of the human heart is the longing for an absolute good, a longing which is always there and is never appeased…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/at-the-centre-of-the-human-heart-is-the-longing-for-an-absolute-good/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) > [“Haunted by the longing to feel something real, deep and magical; I searched for a shared ecstasy... that's when you came along.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lebo-grand/haunted-by-the-longing-to-feel-something-real-deep-and-magical-i/) [Lebo Grand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lebo-grand/) > [Sometimes it has to do with other longings that are much more existential. Sometimes you go elsewhere not because you are not liking the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-perel/sometimes-it-has-to-do-with-other-longings-that-are-much-more/) [Esther Perel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-perel/) > [Could it be in longing we are most ourselves?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/li-young-lee/could-it-be-in-longing-we-are-most-ourselves/) [Li-Young Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/li-young-lee/) > [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/) > [“She pretended not to notice the look of longing in his eyes. It didn’t mean anything.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-o-brien/she-pretended-not-to-notice-the-look-of-longing-in-his-eyes-it-didn-t/) [Kevin O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-o-brien/) > [The artist's experience lies so unbelievably close to the sexual, to its pain and its pleasure, that the two phenomena are really just different…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/the-artist-s-experience-lies-so-unbelievably-close-to-the-sexual-to/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [“My only enemy is the miles of distance that's there between us, my favorite place is the road that leads me to you -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jyoti-patel/my-only-enemy-is-the-miles-of-distance-that-s-there-between-us-my/) [Jyoti Patel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jyoti-patel/) > [The sense that in this universe we are treated as strangers, the longing to be acknowledged, to meet with some response, to bridge some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-sense-that-in-this-universe-we-are-treated-as-strangers-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [By the time they were pulling into the parking lot of the A&P, the mood was fading, the moment gone. Amy could feel it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-strout/by-the-time-they-were-pulling-into-the-parking-lot-of-the-a-p-the/) [Elizabeth Strout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-strout/) > [But I still has enough longing for that concept that I didn't want to dispel it completely. Meaning: I didn't want to tell Lily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-levithan/but-i-still-has-enough-longing-for-that-concept-that-i-didn-t-want-to/) [David Levithan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-levithan/) > [Do the kind of things that come from the heart, When you do, you won't be dissatisfied, you won't be envious, you won't be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/do-the-kind-of-things-that-come-from-the-heart-when-you-do-you-won-t/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“And how do you really feel? Like I'll never recover. Like I'll never draw another breath without half of it being a wish for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-seville/and-how-do-you-really-feel-like-i-ll-never-recover-like-i-ll-never/) [Jane Seville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-seville/) > [The future teachers I try to recruit are those show have refused to let themselves be neutered in this way, either in their private…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kozol/the-future-teachers-i-try-to-recruit-are-those-show-have-refused-to/) [Jonathan Kozol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-kozol/) > [The greatest tales, well told, awaken the fears and longings of the listeners. Each man hears a different story. Each is touched by it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juliet-marillier/the-greatest-tales-well-told-awaken-the-fears-and-longings-of-the/) [Juliet Marillier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juliet-marillier/) [Browse all 2,553 Longing quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/longing/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“How long, Klara wondered now, how long after the mortar set did the joy remain? When one embraces a moment of rapture from the past, either by trying to reclaim it or by refusing to let it go, how can its brightness not tarnish, turn grey with longing and sorrow, until the wild spell of the remembered interlude is lost altogether and the memory of sadness claims its rightful place in the mind? And what is it we expect from the sun-drenched past? There is no formula for re-entry, nothing we can do to enable reconstruction. 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