The past is gone, what is hoped for is absent and there is only the hour in which you are

“The past is gone, what is hoped for is absent and there is only the hour in which you are” is a proverb Hamid quotes as an expression of the outlook attributed to Moroccans in contrast with David’s nostalgia. Its insistence on the present gives the saying force in a scene where Richard is weighing how to approach Driss’s father and what David may be concealing.

Meaning and Context

The narrator presents the proverb as a counterpoint to David’s belief that the past was superior to the present. That nostalgia is described as selective: David especially idealizes the British nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century. By contrast, the proverb turns attention away from both what has passed and what is hoped for, leaving only the present hour. The passage distinguishes this orientation from the desert men’s pessimism: their expectation of the worst is characterized as practical astuteness, whereas David’s pessimism is rooted in preference for an idealized past.

The Saying in the Scene

Hamid quotes the proverb while Richard considers the diplomatic difficulty before him: David has resisted a real investigation, suggesting that he is hiding something, but Driss’s father cannot be allowed to know that. The saying therefore appears amid uncertainty about what can be known and how to proceed, though the text does not present it as direct advice from Hamid to Richard. After Hamid’s words, Richard sits beside him and clacks his glass against Hamid’s; the proverb’s reflective emphasis on the present hour is set within this small gesture of companionship.