--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: What made us dream that he could comb…" description: "\"What made us dream that he could comb gray hair?\" — William Butler Yeats" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5eb/william-butler-yeats-350_combs_what-made-us-dream-that-he-could-comb-gr_812459.png" --- # What made us dream that he could comb gray hair? ![“What made us dream that he could comb gray hair?” quote by William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5eb/william-butler-yeats-350_combs_what-made-us-dream-that-he-could-comb-gr_812459.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5eb/william-butler-yeats-350_combs_what-made-us-dream-that-he-could-comb-gr_812459.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5eb/william-butler-yeats-350_combs_what-made-us-dream-that-he-could-comb-gr_812459.png) > “What made us dream that he could comb gray hair?” [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He questions why we imagine a future where even aging seems manageable, hinting at absurdity. **In simple terms:** He wonders about the absurdity of hoping for youthful vigor. Key Takeaway Accept life's natural course. Themes aging illusion humor Mood wry contemplative Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - personal aging - societal expectations - media narratives Key Concepts existential absurdity human desire Questions to Reflect On - Do you resist aging? - What does “gray hair” symbolize for you? A Different Perspective May overlook genuine desire for vitality. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Comb Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/comb-gray-274910/) [Combs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/combs/) [Dream](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dream/) [Dream Comb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dream-comb-274911/) [Dreams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dreams/) [Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gray/) [Gray hair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gray-hair/) [Hair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hair/) [Made](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/made/) ## Related quotes > [As a senior, you may be wondering what you want to do with your life after high school. College? Travel? Get a job? Options…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hunter-s-thompson/as-a-senior-you-may-be-wondering-what-you-want-to-do-with-your-life/) [Hunter S. Thompson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hunter-s-thompson/) > [The person who doesn't scatter the morning dew will not comb gray hairs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hunter-s-thompson/the-person-who-doesn-t-scatter-the-morning-dew-will-not-comb-gray/) [Hunter S. Thompson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hunter-s-thompson/) > [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/) > [What subsists to-day by violence continues to-morrow by acquiescence and is perpetuated by tradition; till at last the hoary abuse shakes the gray hairs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-everett/what-subsists-to-day-by-violence-continues-to-morrow-by-acquiescence/) [Edward Everett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-everett/) > [These wrinkles are nothing These gray hairs are nothing, This stomach which sags with old food, these bruised and swollen ankles, my darkening brain,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-strand/these-wrinkles-are-nothing-these-gray-hairs-are-nothing-this-stomach/) [Mark Strand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-strand/) > [Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/even-to-your-old-age-and-gray-hairs-i-am-he-i-am-he-who-will-sustain/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [When you're young and you're comin' up, and you dream of gettin' this record deal, and then you actually get it, and, you know,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-budden/when-you-re-young-and-you-re-comin-up-and-you-dream-of-gettin-this/) [Joe Budden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-budden/) > [When children ask you questions about gray hairs, and wrinkles in the face, and sighs that have no words, and smiles too bright to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-parker/when-children-ask-you-questions-about-gray-hairs-and-wrinkles-in-the/) [Joseph Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-parker/) > [“I’m getting gray hair in all sorts of crazy places. Like all over my carpet. 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Gray hair and wrinkles aren't considered a bad thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nigel-barker/for-guys-growing-older-is-fine-gray-hair-and-wrinkles-aren-t/) [Nigel Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nigel-barker/) > [My age makes all my wrinkles and gray hair make sense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tig-notaro/my-age-makes-all-my-wrinkles-and-gray-hair-make-sense/) [Tig Notaro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tig-notaro/) > ["Grandmother" doesn't mean that you have gray hair and you retire and stay home cooking cakes for your grandchildren.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carine-roitfeld/grandmother-doesn-t-mean-that-you-have-gray-hair-and-you-retire-and/) [Carine Roitfeld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carine-roitfeld/) > [We grow gray in our spirit long before we grow gray in our hair.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/we-grow-gray-in-our-spirit-long-before-we-grow-gray-in-our-hair/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [This modern craze for putting the young in positions of authority - headmasters in their thirties, bishops without a gray hair on their heads,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-goudge/this-modern-craze-for-putting-the-young-in-positions-of-authority/) [Elizabeth Goudge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-goudge/) ## More by William Butler Yeats > [Time can but make her beauty over again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/time-can-but-make-her-beauty-over-again/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [I would have touched it like a child But knew my finger could but have touched Cold stone and water. I grew wild, Even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/i-would-have-touched-it-like-a-child-but-knew-my-finger-could-but/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [You know what the Englishman's idea of compromise is? He says, Some people say there is a God. Some people say there is no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/you-know-what-the-englishman-s-idea-of-compromise-is-he-says-some/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Beloved, let your eyes half close, and your heart beat Over my heart, and your hair fall over my breast, Drowning love's lonely hour…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/beloved-let-your-eyes-half-close-and-your-heart-beat-over-my-heart/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [That toil of growing up; The ignominy of boyhood; the distress Of boyhood changing into man; The unfinished man and his pain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/that-toil-of-growing-up-the-ignominy-of-boyhood-the-distress-of/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [I see a schoolboy when I think of him, With face and nose pressed to a sweet-shop window.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/i-see-a-schoolboy-when-i-think-of-him-with-face-and-nose-pressed-to-a/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Only God, my dear, Could love you for yourself alone And not your yellow hair.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/only-god-my-dear-could-love-you-for-yourself-alone-and-not-your/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [We can only begin to live when we conceive life as Tragedy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/we-can-only-begin-to-live-when-we-conceive-life-as-tragedy/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [I know that I shall meet my fate somewhere among the clouds above; those that I fight I do not hate, those that I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/i-know-that-i-shall-meet-my-fate-somewhere-among-the-clouds-above/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Great literature has always been written in a like spirit, and is, indeed, the Forgiveness of Sin, and when we find it becoming the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/great-literature-has-always-been-written-in-a-like-spirit-and-is/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Where the wave of moonlight glosses The dim gray sands with light, Far off by furthest Rosses We foot it all the night, Weaving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/where-the-wave-of-moonlight-glosses-the-dim-gray-sands-with-light-far/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [His element is so fine Being sharpened by his death, To drink from the wine-breath While our gross palates drink from the whole wine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/his-element-is-so-fine-being-sharpened-by-his-death-to-drink-from-the/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [We poets would die of loneliness but for women, and we choose our men friends that we may have somebody to talk about women…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/we-poets-would-die-of-loneliness-but-for-women-and-we-choose-our-men/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Love is created and preserved by intellectual analysis, for we love only that which is unique, and it belongs to contemplation, not to action,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/love-is-created-and-preserved-by-intellectual-analysis-for-we-love/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Who dreamed that beauty passes like a dream? For these red lips, with all their mournful pride, Mournful that no new wonder may betide,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/who-dreamed-that-beauty-passes-like-a-dream-for-these-red-lips-with/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) [Explore all 652 William Butler Yeats quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) ## More Combs quotes > [“The magi, as you know, were wise men — wonderfully wise men — who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/the-magi-as-you-know-were-wise-men-wonderfully-wise-men-who-brought/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [The little bee returns with evening's gloom, To join her comrades in the braided hive, Where, housed beside their might honey-comb, They dream their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-tennyson-turner/the-little-bee-returns-with-evening-s-gloom-to-join-her-comrades-in/) [Charles Tennyson Turner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-tennyson-turner/) > [When the honey's out of the comb, there's no putting it back.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-jordan/when-the-honey-s-out-of-the-comb-there-s-no-putting-it-back/) [Robert Jordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-jordan/) > [Fair maid, white and red, Comb me smooth, and stroke my head; And every hair a sheave shall be, And every sheave a golden…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-peele/fair-maid-white-and-red-comb-me-smooth-and-stroke-my-head-and-every/) [George Peele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-peele/) > [Sean Combs is the person whom I look up to and appreciate as a father.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/quincy-brown/sean-combs-is-the-person-whom-i-look-up-to-and-appreciate-as-a-father/) [Quincy Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/quincy-brown/) > [I'm working on the world, revised, improved edition, featuring fun for fools blues for brooders, combs for bald pates, tricks for old dogs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wislawa-szymborska/i-m-working-on-the-world-revised-improved-edition-featuring-fun-for/) [Wislawa Szymborska](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wislawa-szymborska/) > [At root, vulgar just means popular on a mass scale. It is the semantic opposite of pretentious or snobby. It is humility with a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/at-root-vulgar-just-means-popular-on-a-mass-scale-it-is-the-semantic/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [Actually, I comb my hair quite often. Of course, I use an electric toothbrush.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phyllis-diller/actually-i-comb-my-hair-quite-often-of-course-i-use-an-electric/) [Phyllis Diller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phyllis-diller/) > [ My approach is to be honest-really honest-and consistent. That is what any growth will take. It is an issue I think \[young\] generation can… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michaela-angela-davis/my-approach-is-to-be-honest-really-honest-and-consistent-that-is-what/) [Michaela Angela Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michaela-angela-davis/) > [It's always the same, Combs walks, Koening singles, Ruth hits one out of the park, Gehrig doubles, Lazzeri triples. Then Dugan goes in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-dugan/it-s-always-the-same-combs-walks-koening-singles-ruth-hits-one-out-of/) [Joe Dugan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-dugan/) > [A person who combs his hair over his bald spot, hoping no one will notice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rich-hall/a-person-who-combs-his-hair-over-his-bald-spot-hoping-no-one-will/) [Rich Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rich-hall/) > [I always seem to be chosen to do very flattering things like the beard comb over or go to the bathroom with the door…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-gaffigan/i-always-seem-to-be-chosen-to-do-very-flattering-things-like-the/) [Jim Gaffigan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-gaffigan/) > [A scab'd horse cannot abide the comb.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-herbert/a-scab-d-horse-cannot-abide-the-comb/) [George Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-herbert/) > [Donald Trump got in some trouble for saying that John McCain is not a war hero, and said, 'I like people that weren't captured.'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jimmy-fallon/donald-trump-got-in-some-trouble-for-saying-that-john-mccain-is-not-a/) [Jimmy Fallon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jimmy-fallon/) > [Linnæus, setting out for Lapland, surveys his "comb" and "spare shirt," "leathern breeches" and "gauze cap to keep off gnats," with as much complacency…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/linn-us-setting-out-for-lapland-surveys-his-comb-and-spare-shirt/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) [Browse all 68 Combs quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/combs/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "What made us dream that he could comb gray hair?", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "William Butler Yeats" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/what-made-us-dream-that-he-could-comb-gray-hair/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Combs" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/what-made-us-dream-that-he-could-comb-gray-hair/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5eb/william-butler-yeats-350_combs_what-made-us-dream-that-he-could-comb-gr_812459.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5eb/william-butler-yeats-350_combs_what-made-us-dream-that-he-could-comb-gr_812459.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5eb/william-butler-yeats-350_combs_what-made-us-dream-that-he-could-comb-gr_812459.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“What made us dream that he could comb gray hair?” — William Butler Yeats", "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": "William Butler Yeats", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "What made us dream that he...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/what-made-us-dream-that-he-could-comb-gray-hair/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/what-made-us-dream-that-he-could-comb-gray-hair/#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 } } ] } ```