--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Days in the past cover up little by…" description: "\"“Days in the past cover up little by little those that preceded them and are themselves buried beneath those that follow them. But each past day has re..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c79/marcel-proust-114_books_days-in-the-past-cover-up-little-by-litt_2771433.jpg" --- # Days in the past cover up little by little those that… ![“Days in the past cover up little by little those that preceded them and are themselves buried beneath those that follow them. But each past day has remained deposited in us, as in a vast library where, even of the oldest books, there is a copy which doubtless nobody will ever ask to see. And yet…” quote by Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c79/marcel-proust-114_books_days-in-the-past-cover-up-little-by-litt_2771433.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c79/marcel-proust-114_books_days-in-the-past-cover-up-little-by-litt_2771433.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c79/marcel-proust-114_books_days-in-the-past-cover-up-little-by-litt_2771433.jpg) > ““Days in the past cover up little by little those that preceded them and are themselves buried beneath those that follow them. But each past day has remained deposited in us, as in a vast library where, even of the oldest books, there is a copy which doubtless nobody will ever ask to see. And yet should this day from the past, traversing the translucency of the intervening epochs, rise to the surface and spread itself inside us until it covers us entirely, then for a moment names resume their former meaning, people their former aspect, we ourselves our state of mind at the time, and we feel, with a vague suffering which however is endurable and will not last for long, the problems which have long ago become insoluble and which caused us such anguish at the time…Incessant upheavals raise to the surface ancient deposits.”” [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Past experiences accumulate like books in a library, resurfacing to influence present feelings and insights. **In simple terms:** Our memories are stored and can reappear later. Key Takeaway Recognize how past events shape current emotions. Themes memory time reflection Mood melancholic contemplative Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - therapy - writing - personal growth Key Concepts psychology nostalgia historical consciousness Questions to Reflect On - Which past memory resurfaces today? - How does revisiting old feelings affect your present? A Different Perspective Memories may be distorted or incomplete. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Long ago](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long-ago/) [Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past/) [State of mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/state-of-mind/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [God has no power over the past except to cover it with oblivion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pliny-the-elder/god-has-no-power-over-the-past-except-to-cover-it-with-oblivion/) [Pliny the Elder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pliny-the-elder/) > [Don't let the darkness of the past cover the brightness of the future](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/don-t-let-the-darkness-of-the-past-cover-the-brightness-of-the-future/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [One fact of life is, you are a miracle. The fact that you have the breath to continue to go after your dreams, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/one-fact-of-life-is-you-are-a-miracle-the-fact-that-you-have-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The earth is black in front of the cliff, and no orchids grow. Creepers crawl in the brown mud by the path. Where did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wu-cheng-en/the-earth-is-black-in-front-of-the-cliff-and-no-orchids-grow-creepers/) [Wu Cheng'en](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wu-cheng-en/) > [My dancing days are past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-massinger/my-dancing-days-are-past/) [Philip Massinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-massinger/) > [“The days of the future stand in fornt of us Like a line of candles all alight Golden and warm and lively little candles…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cavafy/the-days-of-the-future-stand-in-fornt-of-us-like-a-line-of-candles/) Cavafy > [I want those young whipper-snappers to know that in days past we actually used to kill trees and make those things called books.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-jerome-dickey/i-want-those-young-whipper-snappers-to-know-that-in-days-past-we/) [Eric Jerome Dickey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-jerome-dickey/) > [We have lived too long. The great days are past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lev-grossman/we-have-lived-too-long-the-great-days-are-past/) [Lev Grossman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lev-grossman/) > [I am at the stage of my life everyone dreads - that of filling my days with the past, because there is little future…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucinda-riley/i-am-at-the-stage-of-my-life-everyone-dreads-that-of-filling-my-days/) [Lucinda Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucinda-riley/) > [The BBC TV programme 'Back In Time For Dinner' doesn't just have one of the cleverest titles ever. It is a more-than-usually-serious attempt to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-hitchens/the-bbc-tv-programme-back-in-time-for-dinner-doesn-t-just-have-one-of/) [Peter Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-hitchens/) > [“The day you finally start dealing with your past is the day you stop dragging it into the present. I’m still dealing. I’m still…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-guerrero/the-day-you-finally-start-dealing-with-your-past-is-the-day-you-stop/) [Diane Guerrero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-guerrero/) > [For me, the new pictures are what I'm thinking about every day. The past is the past, no? Every day is a new challenge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-demarchelier/for-me-the-new-pictures-are-what-i-m-thinking-about-every-day-the/) [Patrick Demarchelier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-demarchelier/) > [Do you know what the past day symbolized? It symbolized a lesson, a lesson that was taught and was left to you to learn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/do-you-know-what-the-past-day-symbolized-it-symbolized-a-lesson-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Alas, why does my mind have to walk through the dust of the past every day?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sri-chinmoy/alas-why-does-my-mind-have-to-walk-through-the-dust-of-the-past-every/) [Sri Chinmoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sri-chinmoy/) > [Let not sleep fall upon thy eyes till thou has thrice reviewed the transactions of the past day. Where have I turned aside from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pythagoras/let-not-sleep-fall-upon-thy-eyes-till-thou-has-thrice-reviewed-the/) [Pythagoras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pythagoras/) ## More by Marcel Proust > [“machinery' of life at Versailles; and was able, too, to persuade herself that her silence, a shade of good humour or of arrogance on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/machinery-of-life-at-versailles-and-was-able-too-to-persuade-herself/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [ “For her \[Françoise\], wealth was like a necessary condition without which virtue would lack both merit and charm. She made so little distinction between… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/for-her-fran-oise-wealth-was-like-a-necessary-condition-without-which/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [Knowing does not always allow us to prevent, but at least the things that we know, we hold them, if not in our hands,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/knowing-does-not-always-allow-us-to-prevent-but-at-least-the-things/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [Death is in truth an illness from which we recover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/death-is-in-truth-an-illness-from-which-we-recover/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [The bonds that unite another person to our self exist only in our mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/the-bonds-that-unite-another-person-to-our-self-exist-only-in-our-mind/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [...a writer's works, like the water in an artesian well, mount to a height which is in proportion to the depth to which suffering…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/a-writer-s-works-like-the-water-in-an-artesian-well-mount-to-a-height/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“Then from those profound slumbers we awake in a dawn, not knowing who we are, being nobody, newly born, ready for anything, the brain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/then-from-those-profound-slumbers-we-awake-in-a-dawn-not-knowing-who/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“Art extracted from the most familiar reality does indeed exist and its domain is perhaps the largest of any.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/art-extracted-from-the-most-familiar-reality-does-indeed-exist-and/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [I find very reasonable the Celtic belief that the souls of our dearly departed are trapped in some inferior being, in an animal, aplant,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/i-find-very-reasonable-the-celtic-belief-that-the-souls-of-our-dearly/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“When you heard anyone in the middle of a talk which was being deliberately kept off the Affair announce furtively some piece of political…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/when-you-heard-anyone-in-the-middle-of-a-talk-which-was-being/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“We betroth ourselves by proxy, and then feel obliged to marry the intermediary.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/we-betroth-ourselves-by-proxy-and-then-feel-obliged-to-marry-the/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“But the old lady on the contrary, far from justifying her daughter’s fears, felt every time someone of her own age “disappeared” that she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/but-the-old-lady-on-the-contrary-far-from-justifying-her-daughter-s/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [Often it is just lack of imagination that keeps a man from suffering very much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/often-it-is-just-lack-of-imagination-that-keeps-a-man-from-suffering/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“When we are nice to others, we generally lose all claim to their respect.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/when-we-are-nice-to-others-we-generally-lose-all-claim-to-their/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“Nobility is often no more than the inner aspect which our egotistical feelings assume when we have not yet named and classified them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/nobility-is-often-no-more-than-the-inner-aspect-which-our-egotistical/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) [Explore all 1,113 Marcel Proust quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) ## More Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) Christopher K. 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And yet should this day from the past, traversing the translucency of the intervening epochs, rise to the surface and spread itself inside us until it covers us entirely, then for a moment names resume their former meaning, people their former aspect, we ourselves our state of mind at the time, and we feel, with a vague suffering which however is endurable and will not last for long, the problems which have long ago become insoluble and which caused us such anguish at the time…Incessant upheavals raise to the surface ancient deposits.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Marcel Proust" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/days-in-the-past-cover-up-little-by-little-those-that-preceded-them/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Books" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/days-in-the-past-cover-up-little-by-little-those-that-preceded-them/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c79/marcel-proust-114_books_days-in-the-past-cover-up-little-by-litt_2771433.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c79/marcel-proust-114_books_days-in-the-past-cover-up-little-by-litt_2771433.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c79/marcel-proust-114_books_days-in-the-past-cover-up-little-by-litt_2771433.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Days in the past cover up little by little those that preceded them and are themselves buried beneath those…” — Marcel Proust", "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": "Marcel Proust", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Days in the past cover up...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/days-in-the-past-cover-up-little-by-little-those-that-preceded-them/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/days-in-the-past-cover-up-little-by-little-those-that-preceded-them/#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 } } ] } ```