--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Our brains dream lost ancient dreams as…" description: "\"“Our brains dream lost ancient dreams as well as throw ropes in the air as though to catch what is uncatchable – the future.”\" — Loren Eiseley" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f81/loren-eiseley-3848_ancient_our-brains-dream-lost-ancient-dreams-as_401036.png" --- # Our brains dream lost ancient dreams as well as throw… ![“Our brains dream lost ancient dreams as well as throw ropes in the air as though to catch what is uncatchable – the future.” quote by Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f81/loren-eiseley-3848_ancient_our-brains-dream-lost-ancient-dreams-as_401036.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f81/loren-eiseley-3848_ancient_our-brains-dream-lost-ancient-dreams-as_401036.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f81/loren-eiseley-3848_ancient_our-brains-dream-lost-ancient-dreams-as_401036.png) > ““Our brains dream lost ancient dreams as well as throw ropes in the air as though to catch what is uncatchable – the future.”” [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The mind conjures ancient visions while striving for the unattainable future, highlighting humanity's blend of nostalgia and aspiration. **In simple terms:** We imagine past myths and chase impossible futures. Key Takeaway Balance reverence for past with proactive future goals. Themes imagination future nostalgia Mood hopeful inspired contemplative Type philosophical creative When to use this quote - creative projects - scientific research - personal goal setting - spiritual practice Key Concepts dreams unattainable aspirations Questions to Reflect On - What ancient ideas inspire your present? - How do you turn dreams into actionable steps? A Different Perspective Focusing on the uncatchable can cause paralysis. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ancient](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ancient/) [Dream](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dream/) [Dreams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dreams/) [Future](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/future/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [Fantasy, in addition to being great storytelling, moves us at some unique and profound level. It has, I think, the power of mythology, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lloyd-alexander/fantasy-in-addition-to-being-great-storytelling-moves-us-at-some/) [Lloyd Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lloyd-alexander/) > [Sometimes on the way to a dream, you get lost and find a better one](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/sometimes-on-the-way-to-a-dream-you-get-lost-and-find-a-better-one/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Young men wish always to dream of what they have lost." "And old men?" "Of what they have not found.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-berlinski/young-men-wish-always-to-dream-of-what-they-have-lost-and-old-men-of/) [David Berlinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-berlinski/) > [“I had a dream where I lost Cap’n among the hundreds of black and white cats and they all looked nearly identical to him.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarod-kintz/i-had-a-dream-where-i-lost-cap-n-among-the-hundreds-of-black-and/) [Jarod Kintz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarod-kintz/) > [Sometimes on the way to your dream you get lost and find a better one. It is okay to change your mind. If you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-hammond/sometimes-on-the-way-to-your-dream-you-get-lost-and-find-a-better-one-2/) [Lisa Hammond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-hammond/) > [If you follow every dream, you might get lost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-follow-every-dream-you-might-get-lost/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Inside a dream. Within a lost city. In the shadow of an angel. At the brink of calamity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laini-taylor/inside-a-dream-within-a-lost-city-in-the-shadow-of-an-angel-at-the/) [Laini Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laini-taylor/) > [Sometimes on the way to your dream, you get lost and find a better one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-hammond/sometimes-on-the-way-to-your-dream-you-get-lost-and-find-a-better-one/) [Lisa Hammond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-hammond/) > [Only do not forget, if I wake up crying it's only because in my dream I'm a lost child hunting through the leaves of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/only-do-not-forget-if-i-wake-up-crying-it-s-only-because-in-my-dream/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [Having a dream about being lost means you have conflict within real life situations or past situations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/having-a-dream-about-being-lost-means-you-have-conflict-within-real/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The American dream will never be lost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-parson/the-american-dream-will-never-be-lost/) [Mike Parson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-parson/) > [I lost you somewhere in a dream. You lost me everywhere in reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-lost-you-somewhere-in-a-dream-you-lost-me-everywhere-in-reality/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I dream of lost vocabularies that might express some of what we no longer can.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-gilbert/i-dream-of-lost-vocabularies-that-might-express-some-of-what-we-no/) [Jack Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-gilbert/) > [“I had a dream that I lost my teeth and when I woke up they were all still in my mouth, thank God that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/starley-ard/i-had-a-dream-that-i-lost-my-teeth-and-when-i-woke-up-they-were-all/) [Starley Ard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/starley-ard/) > [Every time we walk along a beach some ancient urge disturbs us so that we find ourselves shedding shoes and garments or scavenging among…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/every-time-we-walk-along-a-beach-some-ancient-urge-disturbs-us-so/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) ## More by Loren Eiseley > [“Taking a final pleasure in what the wind can neither proclaim nor destroy, I am a student of nightfall, I claim no other profession.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/taking-a-final-pleasure-in-what-the-wind-can-neither-proclaim-nor/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [We are one of many appearances of the thing called Life; we are not its perfect image, for it has no perfect image except…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/we-are-one-of-many-appearances-of-the-thing-called-life-we-are-not/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [Perhaps a creature of so much ingenuity and deep memory is almost bound to grow alienated from his world, his fellows, and the objects…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/perhaps-a-creature-of-so-much-ingenuity-and-deep-memory-is-almost/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [“The best way to be resurrected is to be forgotten.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/the-best-way-to-be-resurrected-is-to-be-forgotten/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [To have dragons one must have change; that is the first principle of dragon lore.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/to-have-dragons-one-must-have-change-that-is-the-first-principle-of/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [It is frequently the tragedy of the great artist, as it is of the great scientist, that he frightens the ordinary man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/it-is-frequently-the-tragedy-of-the-great-artist-as-it-is-of-the/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [Every time we walk along a beach some ancient urge disturbs us so that we find ourselves shedding shoes and garments or scavenging among…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/every-time-we-walk-along-a-beach-some-ancient-urge-disturbs-us-so/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [The future is neither ahead nor behind, on one side or another. Nor is it dark or light. It is contained within ourselves; its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/the-future-is-neither-ahead-nor-behind-on-one-side-or-another-nor-is/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [Out of the choked Devonian waters emerged sight and sound and the music that rolls invisible through the composer's brain. They are there still…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/out-of-the-choked-devonian-waters-emerged-sight-and-sound-and-the/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [One could not pluck a flower without troubling a star.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/one-could-not-pluck-a-flower-without-troubling-a-star/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [“I once saw, on a flower pot in my own living room, the efforts of a field mouse to build a remembered field. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/i-once-saw-on-a-flower-pot-in-my-own-living-room-the-efforts-of-a/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [Lights come and go in the night sky. Men, troubled at last by the things they build, may toss in their sleep and dream…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/lights-come-and-go-in-the-night-sky-men-troubled-at-last-by-the/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [The secret, if one may paraphrase a savage vocabulary, lies in the egg of night.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/the-secret-if-one-may-paraphrase-a-savage-vocabulary-lies-in-the-egg/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [Without the gift of flowers and the infinite diversity of their fruits, man and bird, if they had continued to exist at all, would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/without-the-gift-of-flowers-and-the-infinite-diversity-of-their/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [“Black magic, the magic of the primeval chaos, blots out or transmogrifies the true form of things. At the stroke of twelve the princess…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/black-magic-the-magic-of-the-primeval-chaos-blots-out-or/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) [Explore all 121 Loren Eiseley quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) ## More Ancient quotes > [“We ought to know the history of our ancient ancestors.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/we-ought-to-know-the-history-of-our-ancient-ancestors/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [In ancient times, those who wished to illuminate the world with virtue first brought order to their nations. Wishing to order well their nations,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/confucius/in-ancient-times-those-who-wished-to-illuminate-the-world-with-virtue/) [Confucius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/confucius/) > [Ancient eyes had stared at me, filled with ancient grief. And something more. 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It flew into two perfect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-garner/tentatively-i-stood-a-great-lump-of-wood-on-the-chopping-block-and/) [Helen Garner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-garner/) > [Men must speak English who can write Sanskrit; they must speak a modern language who write, perchance, an ancient and universal one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/men-must-speak-english-who-can-write-sanskrit-they-must-speak-a/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [The Tao is the center of the universe, the good man's treasure, the bad man's refuge. Honors can be bought with fine words, respect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laozi/the-tao-is-the-center-of-the-universe-the-good-man-s-treasure-the-bad/) [Laozi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laozi/) > [So too, monks, I saw the ancient path, the ancient road traveled by the Perfectly Enlightened Ones of the past. And what is that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gautama-buddha/so-too-monks-i-saw-the-ancient-path-the-ancient-road-traveled-by-the/) [Gautama Buddha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gautama-buddha/) > [Ancient societies had anthropomorphic gods: a huge pantheon expanding into centuries of dynastic drama; fathers and sons, martyred heroes, star-crossed lovers, the deaths of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-hiddleston/ancient-societies-had-anthropomorphic-gods-a-huge-pantheon-expanding/) [Tom Hiddleston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-hiddleston/) > [My life shall be free and broad and great, and I will not be the slave to the sense delights which chained my ancient…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-london/my-life-shall-be-free-and-broad-and-great-and-i-will-not-be-the-slave/) [Jack London](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-london/) > [Those of us with this ancient compulsion to tell stories sometimes start with a single kernel of something.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-p-jones/those-of-us-with-this-ancient-compulsion-to-tell-stories-sometimes/) [Edward P. Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-p-jones/) > [All the stories I have told you are finally as useless as all ancient knowledge is to man and to us. Its images and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/all-the-stories-i-have-told-you-are-finally-as-useless-as-all-ancient/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [So what if I'm ninety-three? So what if I'm ancient and cranky and my body's a wreck? 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