Spring passes and one remembers one's innocence. Summer passes and one remembers one's exuberance. Autumn passes and one remembers one's reverence. Winter passes and one remembers one's perseverance.

Using the cycle of the seasons as a metaphor for the cycle of a human life, the lines map spring to innocence, summer to exuberant vitality, autumn to reverent reflection, and winter to perseverance through hardship. The repeated “passes” underscores time’s inevitability, while “one remembers” suggests that meaning is often made retrospectively: we understand earlier selves most clearly after they are gone. The progression also implies that each stage carries a distinct moral or emotional lesson, and that endurance (winter) is not merely decline but a culminating virtue. The quote invites readers to treat change as natural and to honor each phase for what it teaches.