--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The pyramid once passed there was still a…" description: "\"The pyramid once passed there was still a short way to go before we confronted the Sphinx, in the middle of what our contemporaries have left him of hi..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b9/pierre-loti-20466_before_the-pyramid-once-passed-there-was-still_2644401.jpg" --- # The pyramid once passed there was still a short way to go… ![“The pyramid once passed there was still a short way to go before we confronted the Sphinx, in the middle of what our contemporaries have left him of his desert.” quote by Pierre Loti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b9/pierre-loti-20466_before_the-pyramid-once-passed-there-was-still_2644401.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b9/pierre-loti-20466_before_the-pyramid-once-passed-there-was-still_2644401.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b9/pierre-loti-20466_before_the-pyramid-once-passed-there-was-still_2644401.jpg) > “The pyramid once passed there was still a short way to go before we confronted the Sphinx, in the middle of what our contemporaries have left him of his desert.” [Pierre Loti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-loti/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The traveler nears the Sphinx, reflecting on the fleeting nature of progress amid ancient deserts. **In simple terms:** Approaching a great monument, we notice how far we’ve come. Key Takeaway Appreciate milestones while recognizing impermanence. Themes exploration history progress impermanence Mood contemplative nostalgic Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - tourism - archaeology - personal growth Key Concepts time legacy human ambition Questions to Reflect On - What does the Sphinx symbolize for you? - How do you measure progress? A Different Perspective Focus on the past may hinder present action. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Contemporaries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contemporaries/) [Desert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desert/) [Pyramid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pyramid/) [Sphinx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sphinx/) ## Related quotes > [We haven't come a long way, we've come a short way. If we hadn't come a short way, no one would be calling us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-janeway/we-haven-t-come-a-long-way-we-ve-come-a-short-way-if-we-hadn-t-come-a/) [Elizabeth Janeway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-janeway/) > [Oh, grown-ups cannot understand, And grown-ups never will, How short the way to fairyland Across the purple hill.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-noyes/oh-grown-ups-cannot-understand-and-grown-ups-never-will-how-short-the/) [Alfred Noyes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-noyes/) > [By experience we find out a short way by a long wandering.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-ascham/by-experience-we-find-out-a-short-way-by-a-long-wandering/) [Roger Ascham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-ascham/) > [Short is the way from need to greed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-joshua-heschel/short-is-the-way-from-need-to-greed/) [Abraham Joshua Heschel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-joshua-heschel/) > [“Contemporaries cannot be good judges.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/italo-calvino/contemporaries-cannot-be-good-judges/) [Italo Calvino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/italo-calvino/) > [Of all the men who were said to be my contemporaries, it seemed to me that John Brown was the only one who had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/of-all-the-men-who-were-said-to-be-my-contemporaries-it-seemed-to-me/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [Here's how I work: It's 2013, and most marketers are operating like it's 2009. I'm always trying to market like it's 2015, but not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-vaynerchuk/here-s-how-i-work-it-s-2013-and-most-marketers-are-operating-like-it/) [Gary Vaynerchuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-vaynerchuk/) > [If you would be accounted great by your contemporaries, be not too much greater than they.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/if-you-would-be-accounted-great-by-your-contemporaries-be-not-too/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [“If you live at the same time as great contemporaries, you become a flower getting rain live.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/if-you-live-at-the-same-time-as-great-contemporaries-you-become-a/) [Mehmet Murat ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [It is difficult to judge one's contemporaries; perhaps it is impossible to understand them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/odilon-redon/it-is-difficult-to-judge-one-s-contemporaries-perhaps-it-is/) [Odilon Redon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/odilon-redon/) > [“The fact about contemporaries is that they're doing the same thing on another railway line: one resents their distracting one, flashing past, the wrong…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/the-fact-about-contemporaries-is-that-they-re-doing-the-same-thing-on/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [In comedy, looking back is more important than looking around at your contemporaries because they are too much influenced by the same time period…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-steinberg/in-comedy-looking-back-is-more-important-than-looking-around-at-your/) [David Steinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-steinberg/) > [I never had ambitions to see how rich I could get. 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I love their work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jackie-shroff/i-follow-the-work-of-my-contemporaries-i-love-their-work/) [Jackie Shroff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jackie-shroff/) > [I suppose I'm led to do so by the fact of what happened to my contemporaries - people whom I've admired, people who I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-woodcock/i-suppose-i-m-led-to-do-so-by-the-fact-of-what-happened-to-my/) [George Woodcock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-woodcock/) ## More by Pierre Loti > [The moon of a bright silver, which dazzles by its shining, illumines a world which surely is no longer ours; for it resembles in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-loti/the-moon-of-a-bright-silver-which-dazzles-by-its-shining-illumines-a/) [Pierre Loti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-loti/) > [I do not exactly remember at what period I started my museum which absorbed so much of my time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-loti/i-do-not-exactly-remember-at-what-period-i-started-my-museum-which/) [Pierre Loti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-loti/) > [It is with the approach of winter that cats...wear their richest fur and assume an air of sumptuous and delightful opulence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-loti/it-is-with-the-approach-of-winter-that-cats-wear-their-richest-fur/) [Pierre Loti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-loti/) > [I am sure that the sad days and happenings were rare, and that I lived the joyous and careless life of other children; but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-loti/i-am-sure-that-the-sad-days-and-happenings-were-rare-and-that-i-lived/) [Pierre Loti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-loti/) > [My sister and my brother, of whom I have not spoken before, were considerably older than I; it seemed almost as if we belonged…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-loti/my-sister-and-my-brother-of-whom-i-have-not-spoken-before-were/) [Pierre Loti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-loti/) > [It is said that many children who live in the central provinces, away from the ocean, have a great longing to see it. 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I recognized a picture of it immediately, without hesitation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-loti/egypt-the-egypt-of-antiquity-at-a-later-time-exercised-a-mysterious/) [Pierre Loti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-loti/) > [But it is true that sometimes an enveloping darkness aids one to clearer vision; as in a panorama building, for example, where the obscurity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-loti/but-it-is-true-that-sometimes-an-enveloping-darkness-aids-one-to/) [Pierre Loti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-loti/) > [“We communed together a moment, one with the other—I was deeply fascinated. At our first encounter I am sure I had a nebulous presentiment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-loti/we-communed-together-a-moment-one-with-the-other-i-was-deeply/) [Pierre Loti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-loti/) > [Painting and music were the only things I worked at industriously and faithfully.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-loti/painting-and-music-were-the-only-things-i-worked-at-industriously-and/) [Pierre Loti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-loti/) [Explore all 27 Pierre Loti quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-loti/) ## More Before quotes > [If you ask an introvert a question, wait until she thinks about it. Introverts think before speaking, not through speaking. 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Before I discovered it, I was walking around,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/banks/music-is-almost-like-a-therapy-for-me-it-helps-keep-me-centered-and/) [Banks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/banks/) > [My first company, Pure Software, was exciting and innovative in the first few years and bureaucratic and painful in the last few before it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reed-hastings/my-first-company-pure-software-was-exciting-and-innovative-in-the/) [Reed Hastings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reed-hastings/) > [For the Russian masses, the proletarians, knew for certain, and already saw during the war, and in part before their very eyes, that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-gorter/for-the-russian-masses-the-proletarians-knew-for-certain-and-already/) [Herman Gorter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-gorter/) > [The Constitution is very clear on the - on the declaration of war or reacting to international crimes - crimes against nations. 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