--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Our bodies were trash. We leave them on…" description: "\"“Our bodies were trash. We leave them on the shore.”\" — Anne Sexton" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/426/anne-sexton-645_shore_our-bodies-were-trash-we-leave-them-on-t_1374018.png" --- # Our bodies were trash. We leave them on the shore. ![“Our bodies were trash. We leave them on the shore.” quote by Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/426/anne-sexton-645_shore_our-bodies-were-trash-we-leave-them-on-t_1374018.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/426/anne-sexton-645_shore_our-bodies-were-trash-we-leave-them-on-t_1374018.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/426/anne-sexton-645_shore_our-bodies-were-trash-we-leave-them-on-t_1374018.png) > ““Our bodies were trash. We leave them on the shore.”” [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Our bodies are discarded like waste, reflecting feelings of disposability and loss. **In simple terms:** Bodies are treated as trash. Key Takeaway Respect the body’s worth. Themes mortality identity alienation Mood somber reflective Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - hospital settings - end‑of‑life care - environmental cleanup - personal reflection Key Concepts existentialism self-worth environmental metaphor Questions to Reflect On - How does viewing the body as waste affect self‑care? - What practices honor the body’s value? A Different Perspective The metaphor may overlook the body’s resilience and capacity for renewal. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bodies Trash](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bodies-trash-4740131/) [Leave Shore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/leave-shore-718350/) [Shore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shore/) [Trash](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trash/) [Trash Leave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trash-leave-4740132/) ## Related quotes > [If you want to discover new oceans, you must first have the courage to leave shore.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/if-you-want-to-discover-new-oceans-you-must-first-have-the-courage-to/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [Its hard to reach the ocean if you dont leave the shore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/unknow/its-hard-to-reach-the-ocean-if-you-dont-leave-the-shore/) [Unknow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/unknow/) > [ “\[Do not get too attached to life\] for it is like a sailor's leave on the shore and at any time, the captain may… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/do-not-get-too-attached-to-life-for-it-is-like-a-sailor-s-leave-on/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) > [You'll never discover new horizons if you're afraid to leave the shore.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nishan-panwar/you-ll-never-discover-new-horizons-if-you-re-afraid-to-leave-the-shore/) [Nishan Panwar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nishan-panwar/) > [“Men can not discover oceans until they leave the shore.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/men-can-not-discover-oceans-until-they-leave-the-shore/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Well, now If little by little you stop loving me I shall stop loving you Little by little If suddenly you forget me Do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/well-now-if-little-by-little-you-stop-loving-me-i-shall-stop-loving-2/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [If you think it long and mad the wind of banners that passes through my life And you decide to leave me at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-think-it-long-and-mad-the-wind-of-banners-that-passes-through/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Lacan is a tyrant who must be driven from our shores. 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Tattered plastic sheeting still hangs askew here and there. Blackened aerosol cans…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-bass/i-m-surprised-when-i-walk-right-into-yet-another-abandoned-hunters/) [Rick Bass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-bass/) > [Some would call me an environmentalist. I don't know why. I reuse the water that falls in my backyard in the winter. I reuse…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ed-begley-jr/some-would-call-me-an-environmentalist-i-don-t-know-why-i-reuse-the/) [Ed Begley, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ed-begley-jr/) ## More by Anne Sexton > [Blind with love, my daughter has cried nightly for horses, those long-necked marchers and churners that she has mastered, any and all, reigning them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/blind-with-love-my-daughter-has-cried-nightly-for-horses-those-long/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [I am crazy as hell, but I know it. And knowing it is a kind of sanity that makes the sickness worse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/i-am-crazy-as-hell-but-i-know-it-and-knowing-it-is-a-kind-of-sanity/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [And what of the dead? They lie without shoes in the stone boats. They are more like stone than the sea would be if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/and-what-of-the-dead-they-lie-without-shoes-in-the-stone-boats-they/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [The Witch's Life" When I was a child there was an old woman in our neighborhood whom we called The Witch. All day she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/the-witch-s-life-when-i-was-a-child-there-was-an-old-woman-in-our/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [I have forgiven all the old actors for dying. 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Out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/i-want-to-kiss-god-on-his-nose-and-watch-him-sneeze-and-so-do-you-not/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [I, in my brand new body, which was not a woman's yet, told the stars my questions and thought God could really see the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/i-in-my-brand-new-body-which-was-not-a-woman-s-yet-told-the-stars-my/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [Father, you died once, salted down at fifty-nine, packed down like a big snow angel, wasn't that enough?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/father-you-died-once-salted-down-at-fifty-nine-packed-down-like-a-big/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [When I'm writing, I know I'm doing the thing I was born to do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/when-i-m-writing-i-know-i-m-doing-the-thing-i-was-born-to-do/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [Cinderella and the prince lived, they say, happily ever after, like two dolls in a museum case never bothered by diapers or dust, never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/cinderella-and-the-prince-lived-they-say-happily-ever-after-like-two/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [“Quite collected at cocktail parties, meanwhile in my head I'm undergoing open-heart surgery.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/quite-collected-at-cocktail-parties-meanwhile-in-my-head-i-m/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [I cannot walk an inch / without trying to walk to God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/i-cannot-walk-an-inch-without-trying-to-walk-to-god/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [Now that I have written many words, and let out so many loves, for so many, and been altogether what I always was a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/now-that-i-have-written-many-words-and-let-out-so-many-loves-for-so/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) [Explore all 428 Anne Sexton quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) ## More Shore quotes > [Throughout our history, the words of the Declaration have inspired immigrants from around the world to set sail to our shores. 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Though we drink till we burst, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/like-the-water-of-a-deep-stream-love-is-always-too-much-we-did-not/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [We live in a state with a wonderful climate and plenty of natural beauty, from the shores of Cumberland Island to the Chattahoochee River…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roy-barnes/we-live-in-a-state-with-a-wonderful-climate-and-plenty-of-natural/) [Roy Barnes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roy-barnes/) > [It is moonlight. Alone in the silence I ascend my stairs once more, While waves remote in pale blue starlight Crash on a white…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-aiken/it-is-moonlight-alone-in-the-silence-i-ascend-my-stairs-once-more/) [Conrad Aiken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-aiken/) > [Is there some lesson on how to be friends? I think what it means is that central to living a life that is good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-rakoff/is-there-some-lesson-on-how-to-be-friends-i-think-what-it-means-is/) [David Rakoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-rakoff/) > [In the road ships must ride in 30, 40, or 50 fathom water, not above half a mile from the shore at farthest: and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-dampier/in-the-road-ships-must-ride-in-30-40-or-50-fathom-water-not-above/) [William Dampier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-dampier/) > [That devilish Iron Horse, whose ear-rending neigh is heard throughout the town, has muddied the Boiling Spring with his foot, and he it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/that-devilish-iron-horse-whose-ear-rending-neigh-is-heard-throughout/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [They call them the haunted shores, these stretches of Devonshire and Cornwall and Ireland which rear up against the westward ocean. Mists gather here,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dodie-smith/they-call-them-the-haunted-shores-these-stretches-of-devonshire-and/) [Dodie Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dodie-smith/) > [Probably to a shark, about the funniest thing there is is a wounded seal, trying to swim to shore, because WHERE DOES HE THINK…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-handey/probably-to-a-shark-about-the-funniest-thing-there-is-is-a-wounded/) [Jack Handey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-handey/) > [Well if you from New Jersey, you always knew that going to Jersey Shore was way different from where you lived at. I live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/redman/well-if-you-from-new-jersey-you-always-knew-that-going-to-jersey/) [Redman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/redman/) > [The working people are bound to their native shores.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benito-mussolini/the-working-people-are-bound-to-their-native-shores/) [Benito Mussolini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benito-mussolini/) > [There are tides of justice surging to the unknown shores of right; Stars of truth that seek a setting in the dark, untutored night.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-lynch/there-are-tides-of-justice-surging-to-the-unknown-shores-of-right/) [Arthur Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-lynch/) > [Other men puffed, snorted, and splashed. George passed through the ocean with the silent dignity of a torpedo. Other men swallowed water, here a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/other-men-puffed-snorted-and-splashed-george-passed-through-the-ocean/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 975 Shore quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shore/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Our bodies were trash. 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