--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: He would get up and go out into a world…" description: "\"“He would get up and go out into a world which seemed very unfamiliar, but with a tantalizing unfamiliarity like the world of boyhood to which an old m..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0d/robert-penn-warren-2118_old-man_he-would-get-up-and-go-out-into-a-world_1430417.jpg" --- # He would get up and go out into a world which seemed very… ![“He would get up and go out into a world which seemed very unfamiliar, but with a tantalizing unfamiliarity like the world of boyhood to which an old man returns.” quote by Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0d/robert-penn-warren-2118_old-man_he-would-get-up-and-go-out-into-a-world_1430417.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0d/robert-penn-warren-2118_old-man_he-would-get-up-and-go-out-into-a-world_1430417.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0d/robert-penn-warren-2118_old-man_he-would-get-up-and-go-out-into-a-world_1430417.jpg) > ““He would get up and go out into a world which seemed very unfamiliar, but with a tantalizing unfamiliarity like the world of boyhood to which an old man returns.”” [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. An elderly person re‑enters a world that feels both strange and alluring, reminiscent of youthful discovery. **In simple terms:** Old age meets new, exciting unknowns. Key Takeaway Embrace unfamiliar experiences. Themes age discovery nostalgia Mood reflective hopeful Type literary inspirational When to use this quote - retirement - travel - learning new hobbies - intergenerational mentorship Key Concepts existentialism renewal Questions to Reflect On - How can you stay open to new experiences? - What does “boyhood” symbolize for you? A Different Perspective The unfamiliarity may feel overwhelming, causing resistance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Old man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-man/) [Perspective](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perspective/) [Youth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/youth/) ## Related quotes > [“It would also require a conscious effort to look at the world from unfamiliar standpoints and admit that the West has no monopoly on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-luce/it-would-also-require-a-conscious-effort-to-look-at-the-world-from/) [Edward Luce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-luce/) > [A man returns to his sin like a dog returns to its vomit. He is compelled to and knows not why. If he would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marv-stark/a-man-returns-to-his-sin-like-a-dog-returns-to-its-vomit-he-is/) [Marv Stark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marv-stark/) > [All history consists of successive excursions from a single starting-point, to which man returns again and again to organize yet another search for a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldo-leopold/all-history-consists-of-successive-excursions-from-a-single-starting/) [Aldo Leopold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldo-leopold/) > [“He remembered how satisfied he had been as a youngster, and that with the little he had had - a dog, a stick, an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-malamud/he-remembered-how-satisfied-he-had-been-as-a-youngster-and-that-with/) [Bernard Malamud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-malamud/) > [A man may carry the whole scheme of Christian truth in his mind from boyhood to old age without the slightest effect upon his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-g-holland/a-man-may-carry-the-whole-scheme-of-christian-truth-in-his-mind-from/) [J. G. Holland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-g-holland/) > [“The child comes home and the parent puts the hooks in him. The old man, or the woman, as the case may be, hasn’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/the-child-comes-home-and-the-parent-puts-the-hooks-in-him-the-old-man/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) > [“He wants to dream like a young man with the wisdom of a old man, he wants his home and securities, he wants to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-seger/he-wants-to-dream-like-a-young-man-with-the-wisdom-of-a-old-man-he/) [Bob Seger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-seger/) > [“IN the year 1888 Herr von Pasenow was seventy, and there were people who felt an extraordinary and inexplicable repulsion when they saw him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-broch/in-the-year-1888-herr-von-pasenow-was-seventy-and-there-were-people/) [Hermann Broch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-broch/) > [“You think people was meaner then than they are now? the deputy said. The old man was looking out at the flooded town. No,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/you-think-people-was-meaner-then-than-they-are-now-the-deputy-said/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [There was an Old Man of Messina, Whose daughter was named Opsibeena; She wore a small wig, and rode out on a pig, To…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-lear/there-was-an-old-man-of-messina-whose-daughter-was-named-opsibeena/) [Edward Lear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-lear/) > [My old man was ruthless. He terrorised us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-hunt/my-old-man-was-ruthless-he-terrorised-us/) [Mark Hunt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-hunt/) > [Therefore, brethren, pray until God gives us revelation so that "knowing this" in our spirit we may truly confess "that our old man has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/watchman-nee/therefore-brethren-pray-until-god-gives-us-revelation-so-that-knowing/) [Watchman Nee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/watchman-nee/) > [That old man dies prematurely whose memory records no benefits conferred. They only have lived long who have lived virtuously.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-brinsley-sheridan/that-old-man-dies-prematurely-whose-memory-records-no-benefits/) [Richard Brinsley Sheridan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-brinsley-sheridan/) > [The old men of the village of Mahotière say that the Mistress of the Water is a mulatto woman. At midnight she comes out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-roumain/the-old-men-of-the-village-of-mahoti-re-say-that-the-mistress-of-the/) [Jacques Roumain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-roumain/) > [“You’d better keep her tied.” “Why?” A yawn stretched Hunter’s dark face. “Because she’s looking skittish.” “She’s naked.” Sheathing his knife, Hunter flopped on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-anderson/you-d-better-keep-her-tied-why-a-yawn-stretched-hunter-s-dark-face/) [Catherine Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-anderson/) ## More by Robert Penn Warren > [If you are an idealist, it does not matter what you do or what goes on around you because it isn't real anyway.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/if-you-are-an-idealist-it-does-not-matter-what-you-do-or-what-goes-on/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) > [“The child comes home and the parent puts the hooks in him. The old man, or the woman, as the case may be, hasn’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/the-child-comes-home-and-the-parent-puts-the-hooks-in-him-the-old-man/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) > [The poem is a little myth of man's capacity of making life meaningful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/the-poem-is-a-little-myth-of-man-s-capacity-of-making-life-meaningful/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) > [“There is nothing more alone than being in a car at night in the rain. I was in the car. And I was glad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/there-is-nothing-more-alone-than-being-in-a-car-at-night-in-the-rain/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) > [“No, the Boss corrected, I'm not a lawyer. I know some law. ... but I'm not a lawyer. That's why I can see what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/no-the-boss-corrected-i-m-not-a-lawyer-i-know-some-law-but-i-m-not-a/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) > [ \[A\]nd soon now we shall go out of the house and go into the convulsion of the world, out of history into history and… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/a-nd-soon-now-we-shall-go-out-of-the-house-and-go-into-the-convulsion/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) > [“Those were the ones which would turn loose their grip on the branch before long-- not in any breeze, the fibers would just relax,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/those-were-the-ones-which-would-turn-loose-their-grip-on-the-branch/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) > [“Sometimes sleep gets to be a serious and complete thing. You stop going to sleep in order that you may be able to get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/sometimes-sleep-gets-to-be-a-serious-and-complete-thing-you-stop/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) > [“He thought of night coming on. He thought of the loneliness of tonight, this first night in the ground. This, he thought, was the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/he-thought-of-night-coming-on-he-thought-of-the-loneliness-of-tonight/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) > [I reckon I am a smart aleck, but it is just a way to pass the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/i-reckon-i-am-a-smart-aleck-but-it-is-just-a-way-to-pass-the-time/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) > [The poem is not a thing we see; it is, rather, a light by which we may see.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/the-poem-is-not-a-thing-we-see-it-is-rather-a-light-by-which-we-may/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) > [The asking and the answering which history provides may help us to understand, even to frame, the logic of experience to which we shall…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/the-asking-and-the-answering-which-history-provides-may-help-us-to/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) > [Process as process is neither morally good nor morally bad. We may judge results but not process. The morally bad agent may perform the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/process-as-process-is-neither-morally-good-nor-morally-bad-we-may/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) > [The end of man is knowledge, but there is one thing he can't know. He can't know whether knowledge will save him or kill…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/the-end-of-man-is-knowledge-but-there-is-one-thing-he-can-t-know-he/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) > [For the truth is a terrible thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/for-the-truth-is-a-terrible-thing/) [Robert Penn Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) [Explore all 184 Robert Penn Warren quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/) ## More Old man quotes > [“You’d better keep her tied.” “Why?” A yawn stretched Hunter’s dark face. “Because she’s looking skittish.” “She’s naked.” Sheathing his knife, Hunter flopped on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-anderson/you-d-better-keep-her-tied-why-a-yawn-stretched-hunter-s-dark-face/) [Catherine Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-anderson/) > [The old men of the village of Mahotière say that the Mistress of the Water is a mulatto woman. At midnight she comes out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-roumain/the-old-men-of-the-village-of-mahoti-re-say-that-the-mistress-of-the/) [Jacques Roumain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-roumain/) > [That old man dies prematurely whose memory records no benefits conferred. They only have lived long who have lived virtuously.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-brinsley-sheridan/that-old-man-dies-prematurely-whose-memory-records-no-benefits/) [Richard Brinsley Sheridan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-brinsley-sheridan/) > [Therefore, brethren, pray until God gives us revelation so that "knowing this" in our spirit we may truly confess "that our old man has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/watchman-nee/therefore-brethren-pray-until-god-gives-us-revelation-so-that-knowing/) [Watchman Nee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/watchman-nee/) > [My old man was ruthless. He terrorised us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-hunt/my-old-man-was-ruthless-he-terrorised-us/) [Mark Hunt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-hunt/) > [There was an Old Man of Messina, Whose daughter was named Opsibeena; She wore a small wig, and rode out on a pig, To…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-lear/there-was-an-old-man-of-messina-whose-daughter-was-named-opsibeena/) [Edward Lear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-lear/) > [“You think people was meaner then than they are now? the deputy said. The old man was looking out at the flooded town. No,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/you-think-people-was-meaner-then-than-they-are-now-the-deputy-said/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“IN the year 1888 Herr von Pasenow was seventy, and there were people who felt an extraordinary and inexplicable repulsion when they saw him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-broch/in-the-year-1888-herr-von-pasenow-was-seventy-and-there-were-people/) [Hermann Broch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-broch/) > [“He wants to dream like a young man with the wisdom of a old man, he wants his home and securities, he wants to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-seger/he-wants-to-dream-like-a-young-man-with-the-wisdom-of-a-old-man-he/) [Bob Seger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-seger/) > [The true love suddenly broken, not only but like the old man who has lost the stick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-true-love-suddenly-broken-not-only-but-like-the-old-man-who-has/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I’m 59 and people call me middle aged. How many 118 year old men do you know?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-cryer/i-m-59-and-people-call-me-middle-aged-how-many-118-year-old-men-do/) [Barry Cryer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-cryer/) > [The barman sidled toward them out of a back room. He was a grump-looking old man with a great deal of a long gray…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-barman-sidled-toward-them-out-of-a-back-room-he-was-a-grump/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/you-don-t-get-to-choose-if-you-get-hurt-in-this-world-old-man-but-you/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [A tall, thin old man waving a scorecard from the corner of his dugout. That's baseball.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernie-harwell/a-tall-thin-old-man-waving-a-scorecard-from-the-corner-of-his-dugout/) [Ernie Harwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernie-harwell/) > [God has given this way of life to Israel: to abstain from everything which is contrary to nature, that is to say, anger, fits…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/poemen/god-has-given-this-way-of-life-to-israel-to-abstain-from-everything/) [Poemen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/poemen/) [Browse all 2,184 Old man quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-man/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“He would get up and go out into a world which seemed very unfamiliar, but with a tantalizing unfamiliarity like the world of boyhood to which an old man returns.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Robert Penn Warren" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/he-would-get-up-and-go-out-into-a-world-which-seemed-very-unfamiliar/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Old man" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/he-would-get-up-and-go-out-into-a-world-which-seemed-very-unfamiliar/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0d/robert-penn-warren-2118_old-man_he-would-get-up-and-go-out-into-a-world_1430417.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0d/robert-penn-warren-2118_old-man_he-would-get-up-and-go-out-into-a-world_1430417.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0d/robert-penn-warren-2118_old-man_he-would-get-up-and-go-out-into-a-world_1430417.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“He would get up and go out into a world which seemed very unfamiliar, but with a tantalizing unfamiliarity…” — Robert Penn Warren", "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": "Robert Penn Warren", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-penn-warren/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“He would get up and go...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/he-would-get-up-and-go-out-into-a-world-which-seemed-very-unfamiliar/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-penn-warren/he-would-get-up-and-go-out-into-a-world-which-seemed-very-unfamiliar/#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 } } ] } ```