APAD: You can't go home again

Meaning: If you try to return to a place from your past it won't be the same as

it was.

 

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It sounds like another version of "one does not step in the same river twice."

 

My friend Bill used to be a sucker for many useless sentimental songs rehashing

similar ideas, e.g., "you can no longer go back to the past." He couldn't get

enough of the tear-jerking lyrics delivered in simple yet bitter-sweet melodies.

Invariably, they seemed to tell him that he was the victim, the abandoned, the

rejected, and the disinherited and he was entitled to indulge in self-pity. For

a naive, senstitive youth with some inferiority complex, that music was as

powerful as bolts of lightning and as addictive as a drug.

 

In comparision, the epitaph of the pagan philosopher Epictetus should cheer everyone up:

 

    Here lies Epictetus,

    a slave maimed in body,

    the ultimate in poverty,

    and favored by the gods.

所有跟帖： 

• 回不去的从前！Great writing! I‘ve to go home again this new year:)) -暖冬cool夏- ♀ (0 bytes) () 11/18/2023 postreply 11:05:54

• I want to go back to China to visit my parents too. ：） -盈盈一笑间- ♀ (0 bytes) () 11/18/2023 postreply 12:40:37

• You both are lucky. Enjoy! -7grizzly- ♀ (0 bytes) () 11/18/2023 postreply 13:25:55

• Thank you. -7grizzly- ♀ (0 bytes) () 11/18/2023 postreply 14:40:08

• Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead -盈盈一笑间- ♀ (335 bytes) () 11/18/2023 postreply 12:29:36

• I used to get 'Philippians' and 'Philippines' mixed up :-) -7grizzly- ♀ (0 bytes) () 11/18/2023 postreply 13:25:10

• The epitaph of the pagan philosopher Epictetus is impressive -盈盈一笑间- ♀ (0 bytes) () 11/18/2023 postreply 12:51:08

• I always thought so :-) It's worth repeating. -7grizzly- ♀ (0 bytes) () 11/18/2023 postreply 14:39:16

• This is why I'm not a fan of visiting China frequently, -唐宋韵- ♂ (0 bytes) () 11/18/2023 postreply 13:24:53

• ...given that many things there seem dazzling. -唐宋韵- ♂ (0 bytes) () 11/18/2023 postreply 13:26:48

• Nor do I but for another reason. -7grizzly- ♀ (72 bytes) () 11/18/2023 postreply 13:46:43

• Nothing stays the same -waterfowl- ♂ (0 bytes) () 11/18/2023 postreply 14:18:32

• as a song claims: Only you can say what you gonna do. -7grizzly- ♀ (0 bytes) () 11/18/2023 postreply 15:12:49

• ”one does not step in the same river twice“ more popular:)) -卫宁- ♂ (0 bytes) () 11/18/2023 postreply 17:35:52

• and "you can't go home again" sounds briefer &more idiomatic -7grizzly- ♀ (0 bytes) () 11/18/2023 postreply 20:58:13

• 物是人非？ -godog- ♂ (0 bytes) () 11/18/2023 postreply 22:01:38

• 物非人也非 :-))) -7grizzly- ♀ (0 bytes) () 11/19/2023 postreply 09:19:02