--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The aged are terrible - mere heaps of…" description: "\"The aged are terrible - mere heaps of cinders on the grass from which none can tell how tall the flames once were or what company gathered round them.\"..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b4/rebecca-west-1248_age_the-aged-are-terrible-mere-heaps-of-cind_1252590.jpg" --- # The aged are terrible - mere heaps of cinders on the grass… ![“The aged are terrible - mere heaps of cinders on the grass from which none can tell how tall the flames once were or what company gathered round them.” quote by Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b4/rebecca-west-1248_age_the-aged-are-terrible-mere-heaps-of-cind_1252590.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b4/rebecca-west-1248_age_the-aged-are-terrible-mere-heaps-of-cind_1252590.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b4/rebecca-west-1248_age_the-aged-are-terrible-mere-heaps-of-cind_1252590.jpg) > “The aged are terrible - mere heaps of cinders on the grass from which none can tell how tall the flames once were or what company gathered round them.” [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote uses a vivid metaphor to convey how the past's legacy is obscured, leaving only remnants that hide its former intensity and communal significance. **In simple terms:** History’s impact fades into vague remnants, losing its original power. Key Takeaway Remember and honor the full depth of past events. Themes memory history loss legacy obscurity Mood reflective somber Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - heritage preservation - museum curation - educational curricula - public commemorations Key Concepts historical erasure collective forgetting symbolic decay Questions to Reflect On - What stories are we forgetting in our societies? - How can we keep the true scale of past events alive? A Different Perspective Metaphors may oversimplify complex histories. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Age](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/age/) [Aged Terrible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aged-terrible-3953733/) [Business](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/business/) [Cinders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cinders-320374/) [Cinders Grass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cinders-grass-3953734/) [Company](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/company/) [Flames](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flames/) [Grass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grass/) [Heaps Cinders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heaps-cinders-3953732/) [Mere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mere/) [Mere Heaps](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mere-heaps-3953735/) [Old age](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-age/) [Rounds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rounds/) [Tall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tall/) [Terrible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/terrible/) ## Related quotes > [Hatreds are the cinders of affection.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-raleigh/hatreds-are-the-cinders-of-affection/) [Walter Raleigh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-raleigh/) > [“Love had meant nothing to him but sawdust and cinders.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/love-had-meant-nothing-to-him-but-sawdust-and-cinders/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [The fire which seems out often sleeps beneath the cinders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-fire-which-seems-out-often-sleeps-beneath-the-cinders/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“They came back To widows, To fatherless children, To screams, to sobbing. The men came back As little clay jars Full of sharp cinders.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/they-came-back-to-widows-to-fatherless-children-to-screams-to-sobbing/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [“What about... Cinder?... It's an unassuming name, but also... powerful. Because of where she came from. She survived that fire. She was reborn from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marissa-meyer/what-about-cinder-it-s-an-unassuming-name-but-also-powerful-because/) [Marissa Meyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marissa-meyer/) > [Desire attained is not desire, But as the cinders of the fire.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-raleigh/desire-attained-is-not-desire-but-as-the-cinders-of-the-fire/) [Walter Raleigh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-raleigh/) > [“Why, after all, did she do these things? Why seek pinnacles and stand drenched in fire? Might it consume her anyhow! Burn her to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/why-after-all-did-she-do-these-things-why-seek-pinnacles-and-stand/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“Cinders patter, falling with the snow. We creep infinitesimally northward through the dirty chaos of a world in the process of making itself. Praise…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/cinders-patter-falling-with-the-snow-we-creep-infinitesimally/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“My heart has turned black bitumen out of the sadness, but I know it will never burn out. I will never have cinders of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tsholofelo-lehaha/my-heart-has-turned-black-bitumen-out-of-the-sadness-but-i-know-it/) [Tsholofelo Lehaha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tsholofelo-lehaha/) > [“Cinders, I would've thought you of all people would know better. 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Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-j-smith/) > [I knew that I had turned my world back to cinders, sunk my lovely ship with my own stupid, wicked hands.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-stewart/i-knew-that-i-had-turned-my-world-back-to-cinders-sunk-my-lovely-ship/) [Mary Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-stewart/) > [Ye youths and virgins, when your generous blood Has drunk the warmth of fifteen summers, now The loves invite; now to new rapture wakes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-armstrong/ye-youths-and-virgins-when-your-generous-blood-has-drunk-the-warmth/) [John Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-armstrong/) ## More by Rebecca West > [I see the main problem of my life, and indeed anybody's life, as the balancing of competitive freedoms ... a sense of mutual obligations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/i-see-the-main-problem-of-my-life-and-indeed-anybody-s-life-as-the/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [“There is, of course, no reason for the existence of the male sex except that sometimes one needs help with moving the piano.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/there-is-of-course-no-reason-for-the-existence-of-the-male-sex-except/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [“At the top of a hill our automobile stuck in a snowdrift. 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I often have a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/if-there-is-a-god-i-don-t-think-he-would-demand-that-anyone-bow-down/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [Any authentic work of art must start an argument between the artist and his audience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/any-authentic-work-of-art-must-start-an-argument-between-the-artist/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [... there has never been a period in history when there have been necessary killings which has not been instantly followed by a period…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/there-has-never-been-a-period-in-history-when-there-have-been/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) [Explore all 264 Rebecca West quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) ## More Age quotes > [I need a bath." He chuckled. "You smell of smoke, as do I." The duke turned, leaning heavily on his cane. 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