“Shall we never never get rid of this Past?… It lies upon the Present like a giant's dead body.”

Source: The House of the Seven Gables

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Do you have more details about the quote "Shall we never never get rid of this Past?… It lies upon the Present like a giant's dead body." by Nathaniel Hawthorne?
Nathaniel Hawthorne photo
Nathaniel Hawthorne 128
American novelist and short story writer (1804 – 1879) 1804–1864

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"No," Anita said thoughtfully. "It would seem like the present. He has a broader present. But his present lies ahead, not back. Our present is related to the past. Only the past is certain, to us. To him, the future is certain. And he probably doesn't remember the past, any more than any animal remembers what happened."
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“We live in the age of idols. The pagan past, never dead, flames again in our mystic hierarchies of stardom.”

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