He looked very old. He looked, James thought, getting his head now against the Lighthouse, now against the waste of waters running away into the open, like some old stone lying on the sand; he looked as if he had become physically what was always at the back of both of their minds–that loneliness which was for both of them the truth about things. Virginia Woolf
About This Quote

It is hard to understand what this quote means. I think it is about the feeling that he felt when he saw this old man, who was his father. His father looked very old, but he looked like a stone lying on the sand. James felt he had become what was always at the back of their minds—that loneliness which was for both of them the truth about things.

Source: To The Lighthouse

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