--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I feel I grew up in a different century…" description: "\"I feel I grew up in a different century than I live in. I think most of them are changes for the good.\" — John McGahern" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c71/john-mcgahern-11742_century_i-feel-i-grew-up-in-a-different-century_1311295.jpg" --- # I feel I grew up in a different century than I live in. I… ![“I feel I grew up in a different century than I live in. I think most of them are changes for the good.” quote by John McGahern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c71/john-mcgahern-11742_century_i-feel-i-grew-up-in-a-different-century_1311295.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c71/john-mcgahern-11742_century_i-feel-i-grew-up-in-a-different-century_1311295.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c71/john-mcgahern-11742_century_i-feel-i-grew-up-in-a-different-century_1311295.jpg) > “I feel I grew up in a different century than I live in. I think most of them are changes for the good.” [John McGahern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mcgahern/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He perceives his era as a bridge between past values and modern changes, many of which are positive. **In simple terms:** He feels his time is different and improving. Key Takeaway Embrace progress while honoring roots. Themes culture change nostalgia Mood reflective hopeful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - Personal reflection - community building - policy making Key Concepts Generational shift social evolution Questions to Reflect On - What aspects of the past should we preserve? - How can we guide change positively? A Different Perspective Not all changes are beneficial; some may erode tradition. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet ## Related quotes > [“Having begun to feel, people’s desire to feel grew. 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Your power to choose, to make a good decision, spells the difference between…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-goodier/one-good-wish-changes-nothing-but-one-good-decision-changes/) [Steve Goodier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-goodier/) > [Well everyone changes, some of them good...some bad. We make our mistakes and hope we can take them back.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jmsn/well-everyone-changes-some-of-them-good-some-bad-we-make-our-mistakes/) [JMSN](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jmsn/) > [We'll have a different set of values, and society will adapt. That doesn't mean these changes are all good, just because we will accept…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-reischauer/we-ll-have-a-different-set-of-values-and-society-will-adapt-that/) Robert Reischauer ## More by John McGahern > [“They'd listen silenty, with grave faces: but once they'd turn to each other they'd smile cruelly. He couldn't have it both ways. He'd put…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mcgahern/they-d-listen-silenty-with-grave-faces-but-once-they-d-turn-to-each/) [John McGahern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mcgahern/) > [“…But all life turns away from its own eventual hopelessness, leaving insomnia and its night to lovers and the dying.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mcgahern/but-all-life-turns-away-from-its-own-eventual-hopelessness-leaving/) [John McGahern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mcgahern/) > [Yes, but also one of the problems for a novelist in Ireland is the fact that there are no formal manners. I mean some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mcgahern/yes-but-also-one-of-the-problems-for-a-novelist-in-ireland-is-the/) [John McGahern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mcgahern/) > [My favorite optimist was an American who jumped off the Empire State Building, and as he passed the 42nd floor, the window washers heard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mcgahern/my-favorite-optimist-was-an-american-who-jumped-off-the-empire-state/) [John McGahern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mcgahern/) > [The imagination demands that life be told slant because of its need of distance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mcgahern/the-imagination-demands-that-life-be-told-slant-because-of-its-need/) [John McGahern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mcgahern/) > [“When a long abuse of power is corrected, it is generally replaced by an opposite violence. In the new dispensation all that was good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mcgahern/when-a-long-abuse-of-power-is-corrected-it-is-generally-replaced-by/) [John McGahern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mcgahern/) > [But that private world, once it's dramatised, doesn't live again until it finds a reader.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mcgahern/but-that-private-world-once-it-s-dramatised-doesn-t-live-again-until/) [John McGahern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mcgahern/) > [Yes, though I have nothing but gratitude for my upbringing in the church.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mcgahern/yes-though-i-have-nothing-but-gratitude-for-my-upbringing-in-the/) [John McGahern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mcgahern/) > [I'd much prefer to write more quickly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mcgahern/i-d-much-prefer-to-write-more-quickly/) [John McGahern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mcgahern/) > [“McGahern still lives on and works a farm in Leitrim, and friends say that even though he has held high profile academic posts round…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mcgahern/mcgahern-still-lives-on-and-works-a-farm-in-leitrim-and-friends-say/) [John McGahern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mcgahern/) > [Everything that we inherit, the rain, the skies, the speech, and anybody who works in the English language in Ireland knows that there's the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mcgahern/everything-that-we-inherit-the-rain-the-skies-the-speech-and-anybody/) [John McGahern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mcgahern/) > [When I start to write, words have become physical presence. It was to see if I could bring that private world to life that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mcgahern/when-i-start-to-write-words-have-become-physical-presence-it-was-to/) [John McGahern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mcgahern/) > [Without the book business it would be difficult or impossible for true books to find their true readers and without that solitary (and potentially…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mcgahern/without-the-book-business-it-would-be-difficult-or-impossible-for/) [John McGahern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mcgahern/) > [I suppose . . . in writing you can't have regrets. I mean, you just get it down the way it was . .…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mcgahern/i-suppose-in-writing-you-can-t-have-regrets-i-mean-you-just-get-it/) [John McGahern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mcgahern/) > [“…only then did I wake out of the book.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mcgahern/only-then-did-i-wake-out-of-the-book/) [John McGahern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mcgahern/) [Explore all 58 John McGahern quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mcgahern/) ## More Century quotes > [I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-know-always-that-i-am-an-outsider-a-stranger-in-this-century-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [ \[The Dalai Lama\] told me some years ago, "I've made every concession to China, and I've been as open and tolerant as I could,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pico-iyer/the-dalai-lama-told-me-some-years-ago-i-ve-made-every-concession-to/) [Pico Iyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pico-iyer/) > [Anybody looking for a quiet life has picked the wrong century to born in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/anybody-looking-for-a-quiet-life-has-picked-the-wrong-century-to-born/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [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/) > [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/) > [Talented people can predict with great accuracy what's about to happen just a tiny bit ahead of their competitors. It might be two seconds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-maney/talented-people-can-predict-with-great-accuracy-what-s-about-to/) [Kevin Maney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-maney/) > [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/) > [The nineteenth century lynching mob cuts off ears, toes, and fingers, strips off flesh, and distributes portions of the body as souvenirs among the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ida-b-wells/the-nineteenth-century-lynching-mob-cuts-off-ears-toes-and-fingers/) [Ida B. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ida-b-wells/) > [At no time in the past century has public distrust of the government been so broadly distributed across the political spectrum, as it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-zimmermann/at-no-time-in-the-past-century-has-public-distrust-of-the-government/) [Phil Zimmermann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-zimmermann/) > [While husbands and lovers in the stories are of all kinds, ranging from sympathetic to disgusting, women are invariably deceivers: inconstant, unscrupulous, quarrelsome, querulous,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-tuchman/while-husbands-and-lovers-in-the-stories-are-of-all-kinds-ranging/) [Barbara Tuchman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-tuchman/) > [The young people today are the 21st century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-scorsese/the-young-people-today-are-the-21st-century/) [Martin Scorsese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-scorsese/) > [The wisdom of our actions in the first three years of peace will determine the course of world history for half a century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-a-wallace/the-wisdom-of-our-actions-in-the-first-three-years-of-peace-will/) [Henry A. Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-a-wallace/) > [For me, the melancholy of the late XXth Century is walking late at night by the Mont Blanc pen store and seeing these things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/for-me-the-melancholy-of-the-late-xxth-century-is-walking-late-at/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [In a general way, the literature of the twentieth century is essentially psychological; and psychology consists of describing states of the soul by displaying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/in-a-general-way-the-literature-of-the-twentieth-century-is/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) > [Consequently, citizen legislators, rotating back to their communities after a short period of public service—considered an indispensable and routine characteristic and design of representative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/consequently-citizen-legislators-rotating-back-to-their-communities/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) Browse all 5,406 Century quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I feel I grew up in a different century than I live in. 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