# data[].attributes.body
"He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths — so that he could “come over” some afternoon to a stranger’s garden"(Fitzgerald 78).

In this quote, Gatsby holds the past with him so much that he was willing to wait five years just to see Daisy again.

# data[].attributes.body
"I wouldn't ask too much of her", I ventured. "You can't repeat the past."... "I'm going to fix everything just the way it was before." (Fitzgerald 110)

- In this quote, Nick is trying to warn Gatsby not to have high expectations for Daisy because she may not have the same feelings for him as she did five years ago. This resembles the theme "past" because it symbolizes how Gatsby is still living in the past as he mentions was going to make everything the way it was before.

# data[].attributes.body
"...--to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther...And one fine morning---
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past" (Fitzgerald 180).

This quote means that Gatsby was always trying to retreat into the past. Whenever something was wrong with his relationship he talked about how he wished things would go back to how they were 5 years ago. He never realized that he couldn't go back in time and that things were not going to go back to how they were and that he had to move on and figure out how to live in the future.

# data[].attributes.body
Gatsby has to stop wanting to live in the past but he also has to watch out for it because the past will catch up to him as it does. When he lies about his past Daisy finds out and that is what drove her away.

Live your future not re-create the past

# data[].attributes.body
"I love you now - Isn't that enough? I can't help what's past." (Fitzgerald 132)

- In this quote Daisy is talking to Gatsby explaining that she made decisions in her past that put her in the position she is in now. She wants Gatsby to forget the past and focus on whats happening now.