--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It was anyway all a long time ago; the…" description: "\"It was anyway all a long time ago; the world, we know now, is as it is and not different; if there was ever a time when there were passages, doors, the..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/758/john-crowley-7544_borders_it-was-anyway-all-a-long-time-ago-the-wo_552169.jpg" --- # It was anyway all a long time ago; the world, we know now… ![“It was anyway all a long time ago; the world, we know now, is as it is and not different; if there was ever a time when there were passages, doors, the borders open and many crossing, that time is not now. The world is older than it was. Even the weather isn’t as we remember it clearly once being…” quote by John Crowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/758/john-crowley-7544_borders_it-was-anyway-all-a-long-time-ago-the-wo_552169.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/758/john-crowley-7544_borders_it-was-anyway-all-a-long-time-ago-the-wo_552169.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/758/john-crowley-7544_borders_it-was-anyway-all-a-long-time-ago-the-wo_552169.jpg) > “It was anyway all a long time ago; the world, we know now, is as it is and not different; if there was ever a time when there were passages, doors, the borders open and many crossing, that time is not now. The world is older than it was. Even the weather isn’t as we remember it clearly once being; never lately does there come a summer day such as we remember, never clouds as white as that, never grass as odorous or shade as deep and full of promise as we remember they can be, as once upon a time they were.” [John Crowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-crowley/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Memory and perception fade; the present feels different from nostalgic recollections, highlighting change over time. **In simple terms:** Things feel different than we remember. Key Takeaway Accept that change is inevitable. Themes nostalgia change perception Mood melancholic reflective Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - reflecting on personal growth - discussing climate change - writing memoirs - examining cultural shifts Key Concepts temporal perception subjective memory environmental shift Questions to Reflect On - How does nostalgia shape your view of today? - What aspects of change are you resisting? A Different Perspective Nostalgia can distort reality, leading to idealization of the past. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Borders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/borders/) [Once upon a time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/once-upon-a-time/) [Promise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/promise/) [Shade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shade/) [Summer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/summer/) [Summer days](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/summer-days/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Weather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/weather/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [“One by one the lights burned out, like long lives come to their expected ends. 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("Novelty")”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-crowley/handsome-guy-victor-in-a-brutal-black-irish-way-like-most-new-york/) [John Crowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-crowley/) > [The things that make us happy make us wise.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-crowley/the-things-that-make-us-happy-make-us-wise/) [John Crowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-crowley/) > [“There was a game she had played with Sophie in the long hallways of Edgewood, where she and Sophie would stand as far apart…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-crowley/there-was-a-game-she-had-played-with-sophie-in-the-long-hallways-of/) [John Crowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-crowley/) > [“... their lives were full of quiet drama, full of vague yet thrilling signs that life was not as the common run supposed it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-crowley/their-lives-were-full-of-quiet-drama-full-of-vague-yet-thrilling/) [John Crowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-crowley/) > [“I could be listening to Painted Red weave the stories of the saints in her rich roomy voice, and beginning to see how all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-crowley/i-could-be-listening-to-painted-red-weave-the-stories-of-the-saints/) [John Crowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-crowley/) > [“What you learn as you get older is that the world is old, and has been old for a long time.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-crowley/what-you-learn-as-you-get-older-is-that-the-world-is-old-and-has-been/) [John Crowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-crowley/) > [“He had no name for it in the language of Ka; there was no name for it because he was the first Crow ever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-crowley/he-had-no-name-for-it-in-the-language-of-ka-there-was-no-name-for-it/) [John Crowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-crowley/) [Explore all 88 John Crowley quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-crowley/) ## More Borders quotes > [We have to get control of our borders.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-coffman/we-have-to-get-control-of-our-borders/) [Mike Coffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-coffman/) > [The U.S.-Mexican border es un herida abierta where the Third World grates against the first and bleeds. 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But I feel very uncomfortable about placing a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yasumasa-morimura/when-we-talk-about-contemporary-art-and-contemporary-artists-we/) [Yasumasa Morimura](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yasumasa-morimura/) > [Photography... unites the obvious and the unconscious at the level of the limimal - the border between what we see and what we suspect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-lorca-dicorcia/photography-unites-the-obvious-and-the-unconscious-at-the-level-of/) [Philip-Lorca diCorcia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-lorca-dicorcia/) > [When you have the Chief of Staff of the Republican National Committee and the political director of the Romney campaign, and their two companies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-caddell/when-you-have-the-chief-of-staff-of-the-republican-national-committee/) [Patrick Caddell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-caddell/) > [Fifty thousand people in Mexico have been murdered. 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