--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The descent beckons as the ascent beckoned" description: "\"The descent beckons as the ascent beckoned\" — William Carlos Williams" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47e/william-carlos-williams-1841_ascent_the-descent-beckons-as-the-ascent-beckon_686144.png" --- # The descent beckons as the ascent beckoned ![“The descent beckons as the ascent beckoned” quote by William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47e/william-carlos-williams-1841_ascent_the-descent-beckons-as-the-ascent-beckon_686144.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47e/william-carlos-williams-1841_ascent_the-descent-beckons-as-the-ascent-beckon_686144.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47e/william-carlos-williams-1841_ascent_the-descent-beckons-as-the-ascent-beckon_686144.png) > “The descent beckons as the ascent beckoned” [William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) ## 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 contrasts the pull of decline with the allure of rising, suggesting both are compelling forces. **In simple terms:** Descent and ascent both attract. Key Takeaway Recognize the pull of both rise and fall. Themes contrast choice human nature Mood reflective melancholic Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - career decisions - personal growth - spiritual practice Key Concepts philosophy psychology poetry Questions to Reflect On - What draws you to decline versus ascent? - How can you balance both urges? A Different Perspective One side may be more destructive than beneficial. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ascent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ascent/) [Ascent Beckoned](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ascent-beckoned-5419777/) [Beckons Ascent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beckons-ascent-5419779/) [Descent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/descent/) [Descent Beckons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/descent-beckons-5419778/) ## Related quotes > [No one should deny the danger of the descent, but it can be risked. No one need risk it, but it is certain that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/no-one-should-deny-the-danger-of-the-descent-but-it-can-be-risked-no/) [Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/) > [When we trust ourselves, ascents become descents, difficulties turn into easinesses, rocks transform into sands and swords into melting candles!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/when-we-trust-ourselves-ascents-become-descents-difficulties-turn/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [My individual, psychological descent coincided, ironically, with my ascent into the public eye.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joni-mitchell/my-individual-psychological-descent-coincided-ironically-with-my/) [Joni Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joni-mitchell/) > [Christ is at once the spotless descent of God into men and the sinless ascent of man into God, and the Holy Spirit is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-g-lake/christ-is-at-once-the-spotless-descent-of-god-into-men-and-the/) [John G. Lake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-g-lake/) > [The descent into the depths always seems to precede the ascent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/the-descent-into-the-depths-always-seems-to-precede-the-ascent/) [Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/) > [“THE DESCENT SEEMED faster than the ascent: standard in travel as well as in life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/faye-kellerman/the-descent-seemed-faster-than-the-ascent-standard-in-travel-as-well/) [Faye Kellerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/faye-kellerman/) > [Every worthy act is difficult. Ascent is always difficult. Descent is easy and often slippery.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/every-worthy-act-is-difficult-ascent-is-always-difficult-descent-is/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [There is a descent from God through the world to animals, and an ascent from animals through the world to God. He is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giordano-bruno/there-is-a-descent-from-god-through-the-world-to-animals-and-an/) [Giordano Bruno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giordano-bruno/) > [It now seems plain to me that that theory ought to be vacated in favor of a new and truer one...the Descent of Man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/it-now-seems-plain-to-me-that-that-theory-ought-to-be-vacated-in/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [We cannot find God without God. We cannot reach God without God. We cannot satisfy God without God - which is another way of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/os-guinness/we-cannot-find-god-without-god-we-cannot-reach-god-without-god-we/) [Os Guinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/os-guinness/) > [Hope changes everything. It changes winter into summer, darkness into dawn, descent into ascent, barrenness into creativity, agony into joy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daisaku-ikeda/hope-changes-everything-it-changes-winter-into-summer-darkness-into/) [Daisaku Ikeda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daisaku-ikeda/) > [The descent into matter must be complete before the ascent to spirit can commence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dion-fortune/the-descent-into-matter-must-be-complete-before-the-ascent-to-spirit/) [Dion Fortune](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dion-fortune/) > [“The beginning of Christendom, is, strictly, at a point out of time. A metphysical trigonometry finds it among the spiritual Secrets, at the meeting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-beginning-of-christendom-is-strictly-at-a-point-out-of-time-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I have been scientifically studying the traits and dispositions of the "lower animals" (so-called,) and contrasting them with the traits and dispositions of man.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/i-have-been-scientifically-studying-the-traits-and-dispositions-of/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [there is no ascent to the heights without prior descent into darkness, no new life without some form of death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/there-is-no-ascent-to-the-heights-without-prior-descent-into-darkness/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) ## More by William Carlos Williams > [“unsignificantly off the coast there was a splash quite unnoticed this was Icarus drowning”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/unsignificantly-off-the-coast-there-was-a-splash-quite-unnoticed-this/) [William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) > [Death will be late to bring us aid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/death-will-be-late-to-bring-us-aid/) [William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) > [What power has love but forgiveness?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/what-power-has-love-but-forgiveness/) [William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) > [I think all writing is a disease. You can't stop it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/i-think-all-writing-is-a-disease-you-can-t-stop-it/) [William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) > [The beauty is in the eye of the beholder.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/the-beauty-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder/) [William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) > [“You're a romanticist. What do you think a man is, a papaya? To digest your dinner? In pill form?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/you-re-a-romanticist-what-do-you-think-a-man-is-a-papaya-to-digest/) [William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) > [Imagination though it cannot wipe out the sting of remorse can instruct the mind in its proper uses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/imagination-though-it-cannot-wipe-out-the-sting-of-remorse-can/) [William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) > [“Fools have big wombs.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/fools-have-big-wombs/) [William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) > [“It's just a moment, we die every night.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/it-s-just-a-moment-we-die-every-night/) [William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) > [A new music is a new mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/a-new-music-is-a-new-mind/) [William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) > [A new world is only a new mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/a-new-world-is-only-a-new-mind/) [William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) > [A poem is this:/A nuance of sound/delicately operating/upon a cataract of sense/...the particulars/of a song waking/upon a bed of sound.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/a-poem-is-this-a-nuance-of-sound-delicately-operating-upon-a-cataract/) [William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) > [Prose may carry a load of ill-defined matters like a ship. But poetry is the machine which drives it, pruned to a perfect economy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/prose-may-carry-a-load-of-ill-defined-matters-like-a-ship-but-poetry/) [William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) > [It is not what you say that matters but the manner in which you say it; there lies the secret of the ages.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/it-is-not-what-you-say-that-matters-but-the-manner-in-which-you-say/) [William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) > [“And a church spire sketched on the sky, of sheet metal and open beams, to resemble a church spire”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/and-a-church-spire-sketched-on-the-sky-of-sheet-metal-and-open-beams/) [William Carlos Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) [Explore all 204 William Carlos Williams quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/) ## More Ascent quotes > [The ascent of any route begins, in dreams at least, the autumn before. Our minds ring, involuntarily, with the alluring names of mountains, aiguilles,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-rebuffat/the-ascent-of-any-route-begins-in-dreams-at-least-the-autumn-before/) [Gaston Rebuffat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-rebuffat/) > [Without shedding of blood there is no anything. Everything, it seems to me, has to be purchased by selfsacrifice. Our race has marked every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucy-maud-montgomery/without-shedding-of-blood-there-is-no-anything-everything-it-seems-to/) [Lucy Maud Montgomery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucy-maud-montgomery/) > [No one should deny the danger of the descent, but it can be risked. No one need risk it, but it is certain that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/no-one-should-deny-the-danger-of-the-descent-but-it-can-be-risked-no/) [Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/) > [The member of a culture ... purposely avoids the relationship of intimacy; he wants the object somehow depicted and fictionalized. ... He is embarrassed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-m-weaver/the-member-of-a-culture-purposely-avoids-the-relationship-of-intimacy/) [Richard M. Weaver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-m-weaver/) > [The real goal of a spiritual tradition should not be ascent, but openness, vulnerability, and this does not require great experiences but, on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/morris-berman/the-real-goal-of-a-spiritual-tradition-should-not-be-ascent-but/) [Morris Berman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/morris-berman/) > [As I express my gratitude, I become more deeply aware of it. And the greater my awareness, the greater my need to express it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-steindl-rast/as-i-express-my-gratitude-i-become-more-deeply-aware-of-it-and-the/) [David Steindl-Rast](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-steindl-rast/) > [The growth of all the plants of the garden from seeds and roots keep us mindful, in accordance with of the Parable of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-stokes/the-growth-of-all-the-plants-of-the-garden-from-seeds-and-roots-keep/) [John Stokes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-stokes/) > [There is wonder and a certain wicked pleasure in these giddy ascents and terrible falls, especially as they happen to other people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kenneth-galbraith/there-is-wonder-and-a-certain-wicked-pleasure-in-these-giddy-ascents/) [John Kenneth Galbraith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-kenneth-galbraith/) > [I at once commenced the ascent through a shower of arrows.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-crook/i-at-once-commenced-the-ascent-through-a-shower-of-arrows/) [George Crook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-crook/) > [Sometimes, when I get a good picture, it feels like I have taken another nervous step into increasingly rarified air. Each good-news picture, no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-mann/sometimes-when-i-get-a-good-picture-it-feels-like-i-have-taken/) [Sally Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-mann/) > [The ascent to greatness, however steep and dangerous, may entertain an active spirit with the consciousness and exercise of its own power: but the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/the-ascent-to-greatness-however-steep-and-dangerous-may-entertain-an/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [“Any movement toward Christ is ascent, and any direction away from Him is down.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-w-tozer/any-movement-toward-christ-is-ascent-and-any-direction-away-from-him/) [A.W. Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-w-tozer/) > [How much time, creative energy, and emotion do we expend resisting change because we assume growth must always be painful? Much personal growth is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-ban-breathnach/how-much-time-creative-energy-and-emotion-do-we-expend-resisting/) [Sarah Ban Breathnach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-ban-breathnach/) > [The strategy of semantic ascent is that it carries the discussion into a domain where both parties are better agreed on the objects (viz.,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willard-van-orman-quine/the-strategy-of-semantic-ascent-is-that-it-carries-the-discussion/) [Willard Van Orman Quine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willard-van-orman-quine/) > [Despair is good. Despair can be the nadir of one life and the starting point of an ascent into another, better one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-koontz/despair-is-good-despair-can-be-the-nadir-of-one-life-and-the-starting/) [Dean Koontz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-koontz/) [Browse all 168 Ascent quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ascent/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The descent beckons as the ascent beckoned", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "William Carlos Williams" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/the-descent-beckons-as-the-ascent-beckoned/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Ascent" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/the-descent-beckons-as-the-ascent-beckoned/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47e/william-carlos-williams-1841_ascent_the-descent-beckons-as-the-ascent-beckon_686144.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47e/william-carlos-williams-1841_ascent_the-descent-beckons-as-the-ascent-beckon_686144.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47e/william-carlos-williams-1841_ascent_the-descent-beckons-as-the-ascent-beckon_686144.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The descent beckons as the ascent beckoned” — William Carlos Williams", "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 Carlos Williams", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-carlos-williams/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The descent beckons as the ascent...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/the-descent-beckons-as-the-ascent-beckoned/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-carlos-williams/the-descent-beckons-as-the-ascent-beckoned/#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 } } ] } ```