--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There were just all those evenings we sat…" description: "\"“There were just all those evenings we sat together and it doesn't seem possible that it will never be again. It was like we were the only two people i..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/82e/john-fowles-816_poetry_there-were-just-all-those-evenings-we-sa_218855.png" --- # There were just all those evenings we sat together and it… ![“There were just all those evenings we sat together and it doesn't seem possible that it will never be again. It was like we were the only two people in the world. No one will ever understand how happy we were...I could sit there all night watching her, just the shape of her head and the way the…” quote by John Fowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/82e/john-fowles-816_poetry_there-were-just-all-those-evenings-we-sa_218855.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/82e/john-fowles-816_poetry_there-were-just-all-those-evenings-we-sa_218855.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/82e/john-fowles-816_poetry_there-were-just-all-those-evenings-we-sa_218855.png) > ““There were just all those evenings we sat together and it doesn't seem possible that it will never be again. It was like we were the only two people in the world. No one will ever understand how happy we were...I could sit there all night watching her, just the shape of her head and the way the hair fell from it with a special curve, so graceful it was, like the shape of a swallow-tail. It was like a veil or a cloud, it would lie like silk strands all untidy and loose but lovely over her shoulders, I wish I had words to describe it like a poet would or an artist. She had a way of throwing it back when it had fallen too much forward, it was just a simple natural movement. Sometimes I wanted to say to her, please do it again, please let your hair fall forward and toss it back. Only of course it would have been stupid. Everything she did was delicate like that. Just turning a page. Standing up or sitting down, drinking, smoking, anything. Even when she did things considered ugly, like yawning or stretching, she made it seem pretty. The truth was she couldn't do ugly things. She was too beautiful.”” [John Fowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fowles/) ## 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 describes an intense, idealized love that elevates ordinary moments into poetic beauty, suggesting that true affection transforms perception. **In simple terms:** Love makes everyday moments feel poetic. Key Takeaway Love transforms perception. Themes love beauty perception Mood romantic reflective Type literary emotional When to use this quote - relationships - artistic inspiration - writing - visual appreciation Key Concepts Romantic idealism subjective reality Questions to Reflect On - How does love change how you see ordinary things? - Can beauty be found in mundane moments? A Different Perspective May romanticize unrealistic standards. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Hair Fell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hair-fell-1059540/) [Like Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/like-poet-732694/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Sit Night](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sit-night-1252641/) [Sitting Drinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sitting-drinking-2241060/) [Things Beautiful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/things-beautiful-352092/) [Turning A Page](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/turning-a-page/) ## Related quotes > [Does anybody think these people were just sitting around drinking tea?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/condoleezza-rice/does-anybody-think-these-people-were-just-sitting-around-drinking-tea/) [Condoleezza Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/condoleezza-rice/) > [I'm that person in the bar who's like 'Can they turn the music down ? I would like to chat.' I don't like clothes.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/domhnall-gleeson/i-m-that-person-in-the-bar-who-s-like-can-they-turn-the-music-down-i/) [Domhnall Gleeson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/domhnall-gleeson/) > [I just think of things as beautiful or not. Can't you understand? I don't think of good or bad. Just of beautiful or ugly.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fowles/i-just-think-of-things-as-beautiful-or-not-can-t-you-understand-i-don/) [John Fowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fowles/) > [“You'd think people had better things to gossip about," said Ginny as she sat on the common room floor, leaning against Harry’s legs and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-d-think-people-had-better-things-to-gossip-about-said-ginny-as/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“You have quite the clever tongue on you!” “I’ve never actually had someone’s tongue on me,” Shallan said, turning a page and not looking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brandon-sanderson/you-have-quite-the-clever-tongue-on-you-i-ve-never-actually-had/) [Brandon Sanderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brandon-sanderson/) > [“I haven't been thinking at all, not really, I've just been following the steps. The recipe. & this is like turning a page in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/i-haven-t-been-thinking-at-all-not-really-i-ve-just-been-following/) [stephen king](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) > [When I'm writing comics, I'm also visualizing how the story will look on the page - not even always art-wise, but panel-wise, like how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marjorie-liu/when-i-m-writing-comics-i-m-also-visualizing-how-the-story-will-look/) [Marjorie Liu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marjorie-liu/) > [“October knew, of course, that the action of turning a page, of ending a chapter or shutting a book, did not end the tale.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/october-knew-of-course-that-the-action-of-turning-a-page-of-ending-a/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [“He would sit all night under the lamp, book of the moment in front of him, dictionary and thesaurus on either side, wringing the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/he-would-sit-all-night-under-the-lamp-book-of-the-moment-in-front-of/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [“Irrelevant’ Chris Fogle turns a page. Howard Cardwell turns a page. Ken Wax turns a page. Matt Redgate turns a page. ‘Groovy’ Bruce Channing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/irrelevant-chris-fogle-turns-a-page-howard-cardwell-turns-a-page-ken/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [I like to sit in front of the fire at night, sip a beer and think.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-berry/i-like-to-sit-in-front-of-the-fire-at-night-sip-a-beer-and-think/) [Ken Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-berry/) > [A book is a human-powered film projector (complete with feature film) that advances at a speed fully customized to the viewer's mood or fancy.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-maeda/a-book-is-a-human-powered-film-projector-complete-with-feature-film/) [John Maeda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-maeda/) > [“Nothing can replace the feel of the paper against your fingers, the ink soaked up by paper, the sensation of turning a page with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/crimethinc/nothing-can-replace-the-feel-of-the-paper-against-your-fingers-the/) [CrimethInc](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/crimethinc/) > [“We'll meet and click and sit up all night and everything will tip out of me and into him and the other way around…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cath-crowley/we-ll-meet-and-click-and-sit-up-all-night-and-everything-will-tip-out/) [Cath Crowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cath-crowley/) > [Nothing moves except my eyes and my hand occasionally turning a page, and yet something not exactly defined by the word "text" unfurls, progresses,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/nothing-moves-except-my-eyes-and-my-hand-occasionally-turning-a-page/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) ## More by John Fowles > [I am infinitely strange to myself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fowles/i-am-infinitely-strange-to-myself/) [John Fowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fowles/) > [I do not plan my fiction any more than I normally plan woodland walks; I follow the path that seems most promising at any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fowles/i-do-not-plan-my-fiction-any-more-than-i-normally-plan-woodland-walks/) [John Fowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fowles/) > [“The sky is absolutely empty. Beautifully pure and empty. As if the architects and builders would live in all the houses they built! Or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fowles/the-sky-is-absolutely-empty-beautifully-pure-and-empty-as-if-the/) [John Fowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fowles/) > [“The evolution of human mentality has put us all in vitro now, behind the glass wall of our own ingenuity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fowles/the-evolution-of-human-mentality-has-put-us-all-in-vitro-now-behind/) [John Fowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fowles/) > [Most marriages recognize this paradox: Passion destroys passion; we want what puts an end to wanting what we want.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fowles/most-marriages-recognize-this-paradox-passion-destroys-passion-we/) [John Fowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fowles/) > [That is the great distinction between the sexes. Men see objects, women see the relationships between objects.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fowles/that-is-the-great-distinction-between-the-sexes-men-see-objects-women/) [John Fowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fowles/) > [The craving to risk death is our last great perversion. We come from night, we go into night. Why live in night?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fowles/the-craving-to-risk-death-is-our-last-great-perversion-we-come-from/) [John Fowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fowles/) > [There is only one good definition of God: the freedom that allows other freedoms to exist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fowles/there-is-only-one-good-definition-of-god-the-freedom-that-allows/) [John Fowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fowles/) > [They looked down on her; and she looked up through them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fowles/they-looked-down-on-her-and-she-looked-up-through-them/) [John Fowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fowles/) > [“Long afterwards I realized why some men, racing drivers and their like, become addicted to speed. There are those of us who never see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fowles/long-afterwards-i-realized-why-some-men-racing-drivers-and-their-like/) [John Fowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fowles/) > [The best wines take the longest to mature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fowles/the-best-wines-take-the-longest-to-mature/) [John Fowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fowles/) > [But however good you get at translating personality into line or paint it's no go if your personality isn't worth translating.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fowles/but-however-good-you-get-at-translating-personality-into-line-or/) [John Fowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fowles/) > [“Liking other people is an illusion we have to cherish in ourselves if we are to live in society. It”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fowles/liking-other-people-is-an-illusion-we-have-to-cherish-in-ourselves-if/) [John Fowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fowles/) > [Do you know that every great thing in the history of art and every beautiful thing in life is actually what you call nasty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fowles/do-you-know-that-every-great-thing-in-the-history-of-art-and-every/) [John Fowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fowles/) > [“Yet this distance, all those abysses unbridged and then unbridgeable by radio, television, cheap travel and the rest, was not wholly bad. People knew…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fowles/yet-this-distance-all-those-abysses-unbridged-and-then-unbridgeable/) [John Fowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fowles/) [Explore all 341 John Fowles quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fowles/) ## More Poetry quotes > [I fell in love with social work, and that was my undoing as a poet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-rakosi/i-fell-in-love-with-social-work-and-that-was-my-undoing-as-a-poet/) [Carl Rakosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-rakosi/) > [The name Phenomenal Woman was inspired by Maya Angelo, who wrote 'Phenomenal Woman', a favorite poem of mine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meena-harris/the-name-phenomenal-woman-was-inspired-by-maya-angelo-who-wrote/) [Meena Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meena-harris/) > [A poet is wounded into speech, and he examines these wounds, meticulously, to discover how to heal them. The bad poet harangues at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-r-delany/a-poet-is-wounded-into-speech-and-he-examines-these-wounds/) [Samuel R. Delany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-r-delany/) > [“Time gives poetry to a battlefield...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/time-gives-poetry-to-a-battlefield/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [The poetry from the eighteenth century was prose; the prose from the seventeenth century was poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hare/the-poetry-from-the-eighteenth-century-was-prose-the-prose-from-the/) [David Hare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hare/) > [“It took me years to learn to sit at my desk for more than two minutes at a time, to put up with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/it-took-me-years-to-learn-to-sit-at-my-desk-for-more-than-two-minutes/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [The word 'mundane' has come to mean 'boring' and 'dull', and it really shouldn't - it should mean the opposite. Because it comes from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-word-mundane-has-come-to-mean-boring-and-dull-and-it-really/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“In the streets, the children scream, the lovers cried, and the poets dreamed,” he crooned, putting down the metal grill tongs to take my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexandria-clarke/in-the-streets-the-children-scream-the-lovers-cried-and-the-poets/) [Alexandria Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexandria-clarke/) > [Some minds corrode and grow inactive under the loss of personal liberty; others grow morbid and irritable; but it is the nature of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/washington-irving/some-minds-corrode-and-grow-inactive-under-the-loss-of-personal/) [Washington Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/washington-irving/) > [You don’t read or overhear the voice in the poem, you are the voice in the poem.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-vendler/you-don-t-read-or-overhear-the-voice-in-the-poem-you-are-the-voice-in/) [Helen Vendler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-vendler/) > [All lyrical work must, as a whole, be perfectly intelligible, but in some particulars a little unintelligible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/all-lyrical-work-must-as-a-whole-be-perfectly-intelligible-but-in/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [The world's history is a divine poem, of which the history of every nation is a canto, and every man a word. Its strains…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-garfield/the-world-s-history-is-a-divine-poem-of-which-the-history-of-every/) [James A. Garfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-garfield/) > [I was interested in all kinds of things, whether it be Avatar, Mad Men, Troy, 300, Battlestar Gallactica, or the poems of Horace and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-mendelsohn/i-was-interested-in-all-kinds-of-things-whether-it-be-avatar-mad-men/) [Daniel Mendelsohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-mendelsohn/) > [“I promise to respect and protect your aloneness, knowing that everything created must have its period of darkness: child and bulb, poem and personality.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-morrow-lindbergh/i-promise-to-respect-and-protect-your-aloneness-knowing-that/) [anne morrow lindbergh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-morrow-lindbergh/) > [“Things are more like they are now...than they have EVER been before!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/uncle-arnie-mamath/things-are-more-like-they-are-now-than-they-have-ever-been-before/) [Uncle Arnie Mamath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/uncle-arnie-mamath/) [Browse all 21,625 Poetry quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“There were just all those evenings we sat together and it doesn't seem possible that it will never be again. It was like we were the only two people in the world. No one will ever understand how happy we were...I could sit there all night watching her, just the shape of her head and the way the hair fell from it with a special curve, so graceful it was, like the shape of a swallow-tail. It was like a veil or a cloud, it would lie like silk strands all untidy and loose but lovely over her shoulders, I wish I had words to describe it like a poet would or an artist. She had a way of throwing it back when it had fallen too much forward, it was just a simple natural movement. Sometimes I wanted to say to her, please do it again, please let your hair fall forward and toss it back. Only of course it would have been stupid. Everything she did was delicate like that. Just turning a page. Standing up or sitting down, drinking, smoking, anything. Even when she did things considered ugly, like yawning or stretching, she made it seem pretty. The truth was she couldn't do ugly things. She was too beautiful.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Fowles" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fowles/there-were-just-all-those-evenings-we-sat-together-and-it-doesn-t/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Poetry" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fowles/there-were-just-all-those-evenings-we-sat-together-and-it-doesn-t/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/82e/john-fowles-816_poetry_there-were-just-all-those-evenings-we-sa_218855.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/82e/john-fowles-816_poetry_there-were-just-all-those-evenings-we-sa_218855.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/82e/john-fowles-816_poetry_there-were-just-all-those-evenings-we-sa_218855.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There were just all those evenings we sat together and it doesn't seem possible that it will never be again…” — John Fowles", "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": "John Fowles", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fowles/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“There were just all those evenings...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fowles/there-were-just-all-those-evenings-we-sat-together-and-it-doesn-t/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fowles/there-were-just-all-those-evenings-we-sat-together-and-it-doesn-t/#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 } } ] } ```