--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When the past is recaptured by the…" description: "\"When the past is recaptured by the imagination, breath is put back into life.\" — Marguerite Duras" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e2/marguerite-duras-2040_imagination_when-the-past-is-recaptured-by-the-imagi_2335527.jpg" --- # When the past is recaptured by the imagination, breath is… ![“When the past is recaptured by the imagination, breath is put back into life.” quote by Marguerite Duras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e2/marguerite-duras-2040_imagination_when-the-past-is-recaptured-by-the-imagi_2335527.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e2/marguerite-duras-2040_imagination_when-the-past-is-recaptured-by-the-imagi_2335527.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e2/marguerite-duras-2040_imagination_when-the-past-is-recaptured-by-the-imagi_2335527.jpg) > “When the past is recaptured by the imagination, breath is put back into life.” [Marguerite Duras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-duras/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Imagination revives the past, breathing new life into memories. **In simple terms:** Imagination revives past memories. Key Takeaway Use imagination to renew memories. Themes imagination memory creativity Mood nostalgic creative Type literary inspirational When to use this quote - writing - art therapy - storytelling - historical research - personal reflection Key Concepts psychology of memory narrative therapy Questions to Reflect On - How does imagination reshape your past? - What creative ways can you revisit memories? A Different Perspective Memories may be distorted by imagination. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [Myths are made for the imagination to breath life into them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/myths-are-made-for-the-imagination-to-breath-life-into-them/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [Genius is childhood recaptured.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baudrillard/genius-is-childhood-recaptured/) [Jean Baudrillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baudrillard/) > [Genius is nothing more nor less than childhood recaptured at will.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/genius-is-nothing-more-nor-less-than-childhood-recaptured-at-will/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Just take one thing out and the whole palace, the whole edifice of the human mind collapses. Take effort out of it and desiring…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/just-take-one-thing-out-and-the-whole-palace-the-whole-edifice-of-the/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [We are somehow the children of the planet, we are somehow its finest hour; we bind time, we bind the past, we anticipate the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/we-are-somehow-the-children-of-the-planet-we-are-somehow-its-finest/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [A beard is something that is almost like a mirror to the viewer. When someone sees you wearing a beard, they're seeing something in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohsin-hamid/a-beard-is-something-that-is-almost-like-a-mirror-to-the-viewer-when/) [Mohsin Hamid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohsin-hamid/) > [“The power of imagination is strongest in the place of solitude.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/the-power-of-imagination-is-strongest-in-the-place-of-solitude/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [If you've got creativity, imagination, and intelligence, and you want to be hypnotised, then there's no reason you shouldn't be able to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-barry/if-you-ve-got-creativity-imagination-and-intelligence-and-you-want-to/) [Keith Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-barry/) > [Jonah Lehrer is one of the most talented explainers of science that we’ve got. What a pleasure it is to follow his investigation of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-foer/jonah-lehrer-is-one-of-the-most-talented-explainers-of-science-that/) [Joshua Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-foer/) > [Life is what you make it¦If one refuses to use ones imagination..it will be boring.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/life-is-what-you-make-it-if-one-refuses-to-use-ones-imagination-it/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Merkel has realized that the euro is not working, but she cannot change the narrative she has created because that narrative has caught the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-soros/merkel-has-realized-that-the-euro-is-not-working-but-she-cannot/) [George Soros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-soros/) > [Imagination is the greatest nation in the world!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-proctor/imagination-is-the-greatest-nation-in-the-world/) [Bob Proctor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-proctor/) > [A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/a-rock-pile-ceases-to-be-a-rock-pile-the-moment-a-single-man/) [Antoine de Saint-Exupery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [Social responsibility above the level of family, or at most of tribe, requires imagination-- devotion, loyalty, all the higher virtues -- which a man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/social-responsibility-above-the-level-of-family-or-at-most-of-tribe/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) ## More by Marguerite Duras > [Alcohol doesn't console, it doesn't fill up anyone's psychological gaps, all it replaces is the lack of God. It doesn't comfort man. On the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-duras/alcohol-doesn-t-console-it-doesn-t-fill-up-anyone-s-psychological/) [Marguerite Duras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-duras/) > [I know it's not clothes that make women beautiful or otherwise, nor beauty care, nor expensive creams, nor the distinction of costliness of their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-duras/i-know-it-s-not-clothes-that-make-women-beautiful-or-otherwise-nor/) [Marguerite Duras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-duras/) > [“And modern houses don't have passages, either, for children to play and run about in, and for dogs, umbrellas, coats and satchels. And don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-duras/and-modern-houses-don-t-have-passages-either-for-children-to-play-and/) [Marguerite Duras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-duras/) > [When a woman drinks it's as if an animal were drinking, or a child. Alcoholism is scandalous in a woman, and a female alcoholic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-duras/when-a-woman-drinks-it-s-as-if-an-animal-were-drinking-or-a-child/) [Marguerite Duras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-duras/) > [Some people are like that - closed - they can't learn from anyone. Us, for example, we can't learn anything, neither I from you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-duras/some-people-are-like-that-closed-they-can-t-learn-from-anyone-us-for/) [Marguerite Duras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-duras/) > [I often think of the image only I can see now, and of which I’ve never spoken. It’s always there, in the same silence,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-duras/i-often-think-of-the-image-only-i-can-see-now-and-of-which-i-ve-never/) [Marguerite Duras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-duras/) > [In love there are no vacations. No such thing. Love has to be lived fully with its boredom and all that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-duras/in-love-there-are-no-vacations-no-such-thing-love-has-to-be-lived/) [Marguerite Duras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-duras/) > [“Très vite dans ma vie il a été trop tard.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-duras/tr-s-vite-dans-ma-vie-il-a-t-trop-tard/) [Marguerite Duras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-duras/) > [“she can remember everyone admiring a rare kind of evening they spoke of as something they ought to save from oblivion to describe to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-duras/she-can-remember-everyone-admiring-a-rare-kind-of-evening-they-spoke/) [Marguerite Duras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-duras/) > [All that remains of that minute is time in all its purity, bone-white time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-duras/all-that-remains-of-that-minute-is-time-in-all-its-purity-bone-white/) [Marguerite Duras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-duras/) > [“Paradoxically, the freedom of Paris is associated with a persistent belief that nothing ever changes. Paris, they say, is the city that changes least.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-duras/paradoxically-the-freedom-of-paris-is-associated-with-a-persistent/) [Marguerite Duras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-duras/) > [“─ No le conozco a usted. Nadie puede conocerle, ponerse en su lugar, usted no tiene lugar, no sabe dónde encontrar un lugar. Por…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-duras/no-le-conozco-a-usted-nadie-puede-conocerle-ponerse-en-su-lugar-usted/) [Marguerite Duras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-duras/) > [She represents the un-vowed aspiration of the male human being, his potential infidelity - and infidelity of a very special kind, which would lead…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-duras/she-represents-the-un-vowed-aspiration-of-the-male-human-being-his/) [Marguerite Duras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-duras/) > [“I think it was during this journey that the image became detached, removed from all the rest. It might have existed, a photograph might…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-duras/i-think-it-was-during-this-journey-that-the-image-became-detached/) [Marguerite Duras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-duras/) > [“Among all the other nights upon nights, the girl had spent that one on the boat….when it happened, the burst of Chopin…. There wasn’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-duras/among-all-the-other-nights-upon-nights-the-girl-had-spent-that-one-on/) [Marguerite Duras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-duras/) [Explore all 129 Marguerite Duras quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-duras/) ## More Imagination quotes > [Social responsibility above the level of family, or at most of tribe, requires imagination-- devotion, loyalty, all the higher virtues -- which a man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/social-responsibility-above-the-level-of-family-or-at-most-of-tribe/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/a-rock-pile-ceases-to-be-a-rock-pile-the-moment-a-single-man/) [Antoine de Saint-Exupery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/) > [Imagination is the greatest nation in the world!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-proctor/imagination-is-the-greatest-nation-in-the-world/) [Bob Proctor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-proctor/) > [Merkel has realized that the euro is not working, but she cannot change the narrative she has created because that narrative has caught the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-soros/merkel-has-realized-that-the-euro-is-not-working-but-she-cannot/) [George Soros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-soros/) > [Life is what you make it¦If one refuses to use ones imagination..it will be boring.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/life-is-what-you-make-it-if-one-refuses-to-use-ones-imagination-it/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Jonah Lehrer is one of the most talented explainers of science that we’ve got. What a pleasure it is to follow his investigation of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-foer/jonah-lehrer-is-one-of-the-most-talented-explainers-of-science-that/) [Joshua Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-foer/) > [If you've got creativity, imagination, and intelligence, and you want to be hypnotised, then there's no reason you shouldn't be able to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-barry/if-you-ve-got-creativity-imagination-and-intelligence-and-you-want-to/) [Keith Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-barry/) > [“The power of imagination is strongest in the place of solitude.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/the-power-of-imagination-is-strongest-in-the-place-of-solitude/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [A beard is something that is almost like a mirror to the viewer. When someone sees you wearing a beard, they're seeing something in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohsin-hamid/a-beard-is-something-that-is-almost-like-a-mirror-to-the-viewer-when/) [Mohsin Hamid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohsin-hamid/) > [I like fantasy, but I don't live and breathe fantasy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-schmidt-hissrich/i-like-fantasy-but-i-don-t-live-and-breathe-fantasy/) [Lauren Schmidt Hissrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-schmidt-hissrich/) > [While the world of reality has its limits, the world of your imagination is without boundaries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-dyer/while-the-world-of-reality-has-its-limits-the-world-of-your/) [Wayne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wayne-dyer/) > [Edgy is fine - I'm not a prude by any stretch of the imagination - but what's wrong with a good ol' belly laugh?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-burnett/edgy-is-fine-i-m-not-a-prude-by-any-stretch-of-the-imagination-but/) [Carol Burnett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-burnett/) > [With VR, we have this same vision, which is create this ultimate platform for sharing your imagination. Our huge community of 300,000 developers creates…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-baszucki/with-vr-we-have-this-same-vision-which-is-create-this-ultimate/) [David Baszucki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-baszucki/) > [I like the idea of letting the music do its own work and the stories being more expressionful - if that's a word -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johnny-flynn/i-like-the-idea-of-letting-the-music-do-its-own-work-and-the-stories/) [Johnny Flynn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johnny-flynn/) [Browse all 9,060 Imagination quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When the past is recaptured by the imagination, breath is put back into life.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Marguerite Duras" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-duras/when-the-past-is-recaptured-by-the-imagination-breath-is-put-back/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Imagination" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-duras/when-the-past-is-recaptured-by-the-imagination-breath-is-put-back/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e2/marguerite-duras-2040_imagination_when-the-past-is-recaptured-by-the-imagi_2335527.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e2/marguerite-duras-2040_imagination_when-the-past-is-recaptured-by-the-imagi_2335527.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e2/marguerite-duras-2040_imagination_when-the-past-is-recaptured-by-the-imagi_2335527.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“When the past is recaptured by the imagination, breath is put back into life.” — Marguerite Duras", "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": "Marguerite Duras", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-duras/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "When the past is recaptured by...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-duras/when-the-past-is-recaptured-by-the-imagination-breath-is-put-back/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-duras/when-the-past-is-recaptured-by-the-imagination-breath-is-put-back/#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 } } ] } ```