“ Beautiful things grow to a certain height and then they fail and fade off, breathing out memories as they decay. ”
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned (1922). copy citation
| Author | F. Scott Fitzgerald |
|---|---|
| Source | The Beautiful and Damned |
| Topic | beauty memory decay |
| Date | 1922 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | https://www.gutenberg.org/files/9830/9830-h/9830-h.htm |
Context
“she exclaimed as they sought the wide pillared porch. "Do you think they've left a breath of 1860 here? This has become a thing of 1914."
"Don't you want to preserve old things?"
"But you can't, Anthony. Beautiful things grow to a certain height and then they fail and fade off, breathing out memories as they decay. And just as any period decays in our minds, the things of that period should decay too, and in that way they're preserved for a while in the few hearts like mine that react to them. That graveyard at Tarrytown, for instance.” source
"Don't you want to preserve old things?"
"But you can't, Anthony. Beautiful things grow to a certain height and then they fail and fade off, breathing out memories as they decay. And just as any period decays in our minds, the things of that period should decay too, and in that way they're preserved for a while in the few hearts like mine that react to them. That graveyard at Tarrytown, for instance.” source
Meaning and analysis
