Last night Quote by William Makepeace Thackeray
““Miss Sedley was almost as flurried at the act of defiance as Miss Jemima had been; for, consider, it was but one minute that she had left school, and the impressions of six years are not got over in that space of time. Nay, with some persons those awes and terrors of youth last for ever and ever. I know, for instance, an old gentleman of sixty-eight, who said to me one morning at breakfast, with a very agitated countenance, 'I dreamed last night that I was flogged by Dr Raine.' Fancy had carried him back five-and-fifty years in the course of that evening. Dr Raine and his rod were just as awful to him in his heart then, at sixty-eight, as they had been at thirteen. If the Doctor, with a large birch, had appeared bodily to him, even at the age of threescore and eight, and had said in awful voice, 'Boy, take down your pants...' Well, well...””
About This Quote
Source Novel: Vanity Fair, 1848
The passage reflects how intense childhood experiences can linger into old age, shaping perception and fear.
In simple terms: Childhood fears can persist lifelong.
Key Takeaway
Recognize and address lingering childhood trauma.
Themes
memory
psychology
aging
Mood
reflective
melancholic
Type
literary
psychological
When to use this quote
- therapeutic counseling
- personal reflection
- intergenerational dialogue
Key Concepts
trauma
nostalgia
psychological imprint
Questions to Reflect On
- What childhood experiences still affect you?
- Can confronting past fears change present behavior?
A Different Perspective
Some may argue that not all childhood memories have lasting impact.
![“[Peggotty] gave me one piece of intelligence which affected me very much, namely, that there had been a sale of the furniture at our old home, and that Mr. and Miss Murdstone were gone away, and the house was shut up, to be let or sold. I had no part in it while they remained there, but it pained…” quote by Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/c92/charles-dickens-34_childhood_peggotty-gave-me-one-piece-of-intelligen_965375.jpg)
