--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I think continually of those who were…" description: "\"I think continually of those who were truly great . Who, from the womb, remembered the soul 's history Through corridors of light where the hours are s..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/859/stephen-spender-10665_ambition_i-think-continually-of-those-who-were-tr_64769.jpg" --- # I think continually of those who were truly great . Who… ![“I think continually of those who were truly great . Who, from the womb, remembered the soul 's history Through corridors of light where the hours are suns , Endless and singing. Whose lovely ambition Was that their lips, still touched with fire , Should tell of the spirit clothed from head to foot…” quote by Stephen Spender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/859/stephen-spender-10665_ambition_i-think-continually-of-those-who-were-tr_64769.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/859/stephen-spender-10665_ambition_i-think-continually-of-those-who-were-tr_64769.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/859/stephen-spender-10665_ambition_i-think-continually-of-those-who-were-tr_64769.jpg) > “I think continually of those who were truly great . Who, from the womb, remembered the soul 's history Through corridors of light where the hours are suns , Endless and singing. Whose lovely ambition Was that their lips, still touched with fire , Should tell of the spirit clothed from head to foot in song .” [Stephen Spender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-spender/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The poem reflects on the timeless legacy of truly great individuals whose inner spirit endures beyond death, illuminating humanity like perpetual light. **In simple terms:** Great souls leave an enduring, luminous legacy. Key Takeaway Legacy transcends mortality. Themes legacy spirituality immortality inspiration humanity Mood reverent aweful hopeful Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - historical reflection - personal meditation - artistic inspiration - philosophical discourse Key Concepts soul memory light song Practical Applications - creative writing - motivational speaking Questions to Reflect On - How does one honor the memory of the great? - What does it mean to be 'truly great'? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ambition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambition/) [Continually Truly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/continually-truly-868047/) [Corridors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/corridors/) [Endless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/endless/) [Feet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feet/) [Fire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fire/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Hours](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hours/) [Light](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/light/) [Lips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lips/) [Lovely](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lovely/) [Remembered](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/remembered/) [Remembered Soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/remembered-soul-868046/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Singing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/singing/) [Song](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/song/) [Soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soul/) [Spirit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spirit/) [Spirituality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spirituality/) [Stills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stills/) [Sun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sun/) [Think Continually](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/think-continually-868048/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Touched](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/touched/) [Womb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/womb/) [Womb Remembered](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/womb-remembered-868045/) ## Related quotes > [I think continually of those who were truly great.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-spender/i-think-continually-of-those-who-were-truly-great/) [Stephen Spender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-spender/) > [I think continually of those who were truly great...Born of the sun they traveled a short while towards the sun, and left the vivid…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-spender/i-think-continually-of-those-who-were-truly-great-born-of-the-sun/) [Stephen Spender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-spender/) > [“I remembered you with my soul clenched”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/i-remembered-you-with-my-soul-clenched/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [Nothing can stop you from thinking. The human mind is designed to think continually.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-cohen/nothing-can-stop-you-from-thinking-the-human-mind-is-designed-to/) [Leonard Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-cohen/) > [Think continually about what you want, not about the things you fear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/think-continually-about-what-you-want-not-about-the-things-you-fear/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [You become what you think about most. When you continually focus on the fear of failure, failure will become real for you. Look instead…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-marston/you-become-what-you-think-about-most-when-you-continually-focus-on/) [Ralph Marston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-marston/) > [The reason why so many of my photographs in the book were taken in stairwells and corridors was that that was the only bit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-ridgers/the-reason-why-so-many-of-my-photographs-in-the-book-were-taken-in/) [Derek Ridgers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-ridgers/) > [I agree about Shaw - he is haunted by the mystery he flouts. He is an atheist who trembles in the haunted corridor.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/i-agree-about-shaw-he-is-haunted-by-the-mystery-he-flouts-he-is-an/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [In the chummy corridors of the liberal media establishment, no self-satisfying myth is more prevalent than the notion that there are two types of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-brent-bozell-iii/in-the-chummy-corridors-of-the-liberal-media-establishment-no-self/) [L. Brent Bozell III](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-brent-bozell-iii/) > [A man who can be happy with the crumbs of light in the dark corridors of life infinitely deserves the brightest Sun!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/a-man-who-can-be-happy-with-the-crumbs-of-light-in-the-dark-corridors/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [I hear the wind blowing across the desert and I see the moons of a winter night rising like great ships in the void.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-herbert/i-hear-the-wind-blowing-across-the-desert-and-i-see-the-moons-of-a/) [Frank Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-herbert/) > [Across the gulf of centuries, the blind smile of Homer is turned upon our age. Along the echoing corridors of time, the roar of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-c-clarke/across-the-gulf-of-centuries-the-blind-smile-of-homer-is-turned-upon/) [Arthur C. Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-c-clarke/) > [After such knowledge, what forgiveness?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/after-such-knowledge-what-forgiveness/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Success will smile at the man who refuses to lie down at the corridor of failure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-murdock/success-will-smile-at-the-man-who-refuses-to-lie-down-at-the-corridor/) [Mike Murdock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-murdock/) > [The certain pathway to all things that you want is through the corridor of joy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-hicks/the-certain-pathway-to-all-things-that-you-want-is-through-the/) [Esther Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-hicks/) ## More by Stephen Spender > [History is the ship carrying living memories to the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-spender/history-is-the-ship-carrying-living-memories-to-the-future/) [Stephen Spender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-spender/) > [All that you can imagine you already know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-spender/all-that-you-can-imagine-you-already-know/) [Stephen Spender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-spender/) > [Since we are what we are, what shall we be But what we are? We are, we have Six feet and seventy years, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-spender/since-we-are-what-we-are-what-shall-we-be-but-what-we-are-we-are-we/) [Stephen Spender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-spender/) > [One of my great surprises when I was in America was about twenty-five years ago in Harvard, hearing Randall Jarrell deliver a bitter attack…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-spender/one-of-my-great-surprises-when-i-was-in-america-was-about-twenty-five/) [Stephen Spender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-spender/) > [What is precious is never to forget, The delight of the blood drawn from ancient springs, Breaking through rocks in worlds before our earth;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-spender/what-is-precious-is-never-to-forget-the-delight-of-the-blood-drawn/) [Stephen Spender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-spender/) > [I think continually of those who were truly great.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-spender/i-think-continually-of-those-who-were-truly-great/) [Stephen Spender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-spender/) > [If you get to a certain age, all people want to know about you is people you knew. ...An American student once said to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-spender/if-you-get-to-a-certain-age-all-people-want-to-know-about-you-is/) [Stephen Spender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-spender/) > [There is a certain justice in criticism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-spender/there-is-a-certain-justice-in-criticism/) [Stephen Spender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-spender/) > [Involved in my own entrails and a crust Turning a pitted surface towards a space, I am a world that watches through a sky…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-spender/involved-in-my-own-entrails-and-a-crust-turning-a-pitted-surface/) [Stephen Spender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-spender/) > [Although Poets are vain and ambitious, their vanity and ambition are of the purest kind attainable in this world. They are ambitious to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-spender/although-poets-are-vain-and-ambitious-their-vanity-and-ambition-are/) [Stephen Spender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-spender/) > [Great poetry is always written by somebody straining to go beyond what he can do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-spender/great-poetry-is-always-written-by-somebody-straining-to-go-beyond/) [Stephen Spender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-spender/) > [My brothers and sister and I were brought up in an atmosphere which I would describe as 'Puritan decadence'. Puritanism names the behaviour which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-spender/my-brothers-and-sister-and-i-were-brought-up-in-an-atmosphere-which-i/) [Stephen Spender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-spender/) > [“Him I delight in accepts joy as joy; He is richened by sorrow as a river by its bends”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-spender/him-i-delight-in-accepts-joy-as-joy-he-is-richened-by-sorrow-as-a/) [Stephen Spender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-spender/) > [I think of those who were truly great. The names of those who in their lives fought for life, Who wore at their hearts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-spender/i-think-of-those-who-were-truly-great-the-names-of-those-who-in-their/) [Stephen Spender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-spender/) > [Bright clasp of her whole hand around my finger My daughter as we walk together now. All my life I'll feel a ring invisibly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-spender/bright-clasp-of-her-whole-hand-around-my-finger-my-daughter-as-we/) [Stephen Spender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-spender/) [Explore all 64 Stephen Spender quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-spender/) ## More Ambition quotes > [Ambition drives you on, ability certainly helps, but the fickle finger of fate and luck are great things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fergus-henderson/ambition-drives-you-on-ability-certainly-helps-but-the-fickle-finger/) [Fergus Henderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fergus-henderson/) > [One needs more than ambition and talent to make a success of anything, really. There must be love and a vocation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessye-norman/one-needs-more-than-ambition-and-talent-to-make-a-success-of-anything/) [Jessye Norman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessye-norman/) > [I just think my own ambition would not allow me to sit on the gifts that my creator had given me. And so that's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janelle-monae/i-just-think-my-own-ambition-would-not-allow-me-to-sit-on-the-gifts/) [Janelle Monae](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janelle-monae/) > [A man's worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-man-s-worth-is-no-greater-than-the-worth-of-his-ambitions/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'm hungry and ambitious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julen-lopetegui/i-m-hungry-and-ambitious/) [Julen Lopetegui](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julen-lopetegui/) > [“I was ambitious and desperate to direct my first film, so I capitulated and blew it. Never again. Never fucking again.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-ferguson/i-was-ambitious-and-desperate-to-direct-my-first-film-so-i/) [Craig Ferguson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-ferguson/) > [I was always attracted most to joining City, and I am pleased to be at such a good club with such a big ambition…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edin-dzeko/i-was-always-attracted-most-to-joining-city-and-i-am-pleased-to-be-at/) [Edin Dzeko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edin-dzeko/) > [Work towards your goal and dont watch the post size,its either they hate,or like you.there is no room for both sides.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-buabeng/work-towards-your-goal-and-dont-watch-the-post-size-its-either-they/) [Isaac Buabeng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-buabeng/) > [“But young men have not only this frivolous ambition of being thought masters of execution, inciting them on the one hand, but also their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/but-young-men-have-not-only-this-frivolous-ambition-of-being-thought/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I almost never have a plan for myself... I'm not ambitious in that way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-plimpton/i-almost-never-have-a-plan-for-myself-i-m-not-ambitious-in-that-way/) [Martha Plimpton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-plimpton/) > [I play for high stakes and given an audience - there is no act too daring or too noble.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/i-play-for-high-stakes-and-given-an-audience-there-is-no-act-too/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [There's nothing worse than a leader who lacks ambition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/there-s-nothing-worse-than-a-leader-who-lacks-ambition/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If i can't even protect my captain's dream, then whatever ambition i have is nothing but talk..](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoro/if-i-can-t-even-protect-my-captain-s-dream-then-whatever-ambition-i/) [Zoro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoro/) > [It may seem unattainable but if you put actions, your heart and your mind into it, you will prevail.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/london-mond/it-may-seem-unattainable-but-if-you-put-actions-your-heart-and-your/) [London Mond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/london-mond/) > [Obligation is what's leading us to toward successful, and what keeps us moving towards the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wazim-shaw/obligation-is-what-s-leading-us-to-toward-successful-and-what-keeps/) [Wazim Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wazim-shaw/) [Browse all 4,601 Ambition quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambition/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I think continually of those who were truly great . 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