--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I don't want to go on being a root in the…" description: "\"I don't want to go on being a root in the dark, vacillating, stretched out, shivering with sleep, downward, in the soaked guts of the earth, absorbing ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cae/pablo-neruda-435_dark_i-don-t-want-to-go-on-being-a-root-in-th_1367406.jpg" --- # I don't want to go on being a root in the dark… ![“I don't want to go on being a root in the dark, vacillating, stretched out, shivering with sleep, downward, in the soaked guts of the earth, absorbing and thinking, eating each day.” quote by Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cae/pablo-neruda-435_dark_i-don-t-want-to-go-on-being-a-root-in-th_1367406.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cae/pablo-neruda-435_dark_i-don-t-want-to-go-on-being-a-root-in-th_1367406.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cae/pablo-neruda-435_dark_i-don-t-want-to-go-on-being-a-root-in-th_1367406.jpg) > “I don't want to go on being a root in the dark, vacillating, stretched out, shivering with sleep, downward, in the soaked guts of the earth, absorbing and thinking, eating each day.” [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The poet expresses a yearning to escape a stagnant, oppressive existence and seek vitality. **In simple terms:** Desire to leave a bleak, unfulfilling life. Key Takeaway Seek change and purpose beyond stagnation. Themes existential despair renewal Mood melancholic hopeful Type poetic inspirational When to use this quote - personal crisis - creative block - mental health struggles Key Concepts nihilism hope self‑realization Questions to Reflect On - What would you change to feel more alive? - How can you break the cycle of stagnation? A Different Perspective Hope alone may not lift one out of darkness without action. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Dark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dark/) [Each day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/each-day/) [Earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/earth/) [Eating](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eating/) [Guts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/guts/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Roots](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/roots/) [Sleep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sleep/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) ## Related quotes > [Were you thinking about eating me?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/were-you-thinking-about-eating-me/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [I didn't have any eating disorder or food addiction, but I struggle like every single person with my weight every day. Honestly, a day…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurie-david/i-didn-t-have-any-eating-disorder-or-food-addiction-but-i-struggle/) [Laurie David](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurie-david/) > [“First step: Change your relationship to food! Stop thinking of food as a fun activity. Stop thinking of food as a socializing thing. Stop…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yossif-etok/first-step-change-your-relationship-to-food-stop-thinking-of-food-as/) Yossif Etok > [All of a sudden, I'm thinking that if I keep eating the way I'm eating, I'm not going to live long and I'm going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-simmons/all-of-a-sudden-i-m-thinking-that-if-i-keep-eating-the-way-i-m-eating/) [Richard Simmons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-simmons/) > [If each day falls inside each night, there exists a well where clarity is imprisoned. We need to sit on the rim of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/if-each-day-falls-inside-each-night-there-exists-a-well-where-clarity/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [Hands make the world each day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/hands-make-the-world-each-day/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [She would consider each day a miracle - which indeed it is, when you consider the number of unexpected things that could happen in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/she-would-consider-each-day-a-miracle-which-indeed-it-is-when-you/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [There should be a period of time during each practice session when you perform. Invite some friends in to your practice room and play…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arnold-jacobs/there-should-be-a-period-of-time-during-each-practice-session-when/) Arnold Jacobs > [Always seek to excel yourself. Put yourself in competition with yourself each day. Each morning look back upon your work of yesterday and then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-sheldon/always-seek-to-excel-yourself-put-yourself-in-competition-with/) [Charles Sheldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-sheldon/) > [If you find what you do each day seems to have no link to any higher purpose, you probably want to rethink what you're…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-find-what-you-do-each-day-seems-to-have-no-link-to-any-higher/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Something is wrong if workers do not look around each day, find things that are tedious or boring, and then rewrite the procedures. Even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taiichi-ohno/something-is-wrong-if-workers-do-not-look-around-each-day-find-things/) [Taiichi Ohno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taiichi-ohno/) > [One of the most powerful concepts, one which is a sure cure for lack of confidence, is the thought that God is with you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-vincent-peale/one-of-the-most-powerful-concepts-one-which-is-a-sure-cure-for-lack/) [Norman Vincent Peale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-vincent-peale/) > [Thought determines action. Do not let your whole life be a reaction to the things that happen around you each day. Let your life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-kelly/thought-determines-action-do-not-let-your-whole-life-be-a-reaction-to/) [Matthew Kelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-kelly/) > [Mechanical instruments, potentially a vehicle of rational human purposes, are scarcely a blessing when they enable the gossip of the village idiot and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/mechanical-instruments-potentially-a-vehicle-of-rational-human/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Physicist Isador Isaac Rabi, who won a Nobel Prize for inventing a technique that permitted scientists to probe the structure of atoms and molecules…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-saul-wurman/physicist-isador-isaac-rabi-who-won-a-nobel-prize-for-inventing-a/) [Richard Saul Wurman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-saul-wurman/) ## More by Pablo Neruda > [For me writing is like breathing. I could not live without breathing and I could not live without writing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/for-me-writing-is-like-breathing-i-could-not-live-without-breathing/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [You know how this is: if I look at the crystal moon, at the red branch of the slow autumn at my window, if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/you-know-how-this-is-if-i-look-at-the-crystal-moon-at-the-red-branch/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [Our love was born outside the walls, in the wind, in the night, in the earth, and that's why the clay and the flower,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/our-love-was-born-outside-the-walls-in-the-wind-in-the-night-in-the/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [“I remember only a day that was perhaps never intended for me, it was an incessant day, without origins, Thursday. I was a man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/i-remember-only-a-day-that-was-perhaps-never-intended-for-me-it-was/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [“We had, as men, time So our thirst could slowly be satisfied, the ancestral longing to enumerate things and sum them up, to render…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/we-had-as-men-time-so-our-thirst-could-slowly-be-satisfied-the/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [We bear the sole, relentless tenderness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/we-bear-the-sole-relentless-tenderness/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [I don't know who it is who lives or dies, who rests or wakes, but it is your heart that distributes all the graces…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/i-don-t-know-who-it-is-who-lives-or-dies-who-rests-or-wakes-but-it-is/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [“Body of a woman, white hills, white thighs, you look like a world, lying in surrender. My rough peasant's body digs in you and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/body-of-a-woman-white-hills-white-thighs-you-look-like-a-world-lying/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [We open the halves of a miracle, and a clotting of acids brims into the starry divisions: creation's original juices, irreducible, changeless, alive: so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/we-open-the-halves-of-a-miracle-and-a-clotting-of-acids-brims-into/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [“Take bread away from me, if you wish, take air away, but do not take from me your laughter. Do not take away the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/take-bread-away-from-me-if-you-wish-take-air-away-but-do-not-take/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [Perhaps the earth can teach us As when everything seems dead And later proves to be alive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/perhaps-the-earth-can-teach-us-as-when-everything-seems-dead-and/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [“I am no longer in love with her, that's certain, but maybe I love her. Love is so short, forgetting is so long.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/i-am-no-longer-in-love-with-her-that-s-certain-but-maybe-i-love-her/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [“Body of a woman, white hills, white thighs, you look like a world, lying in surrender.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/body-of-a-woman-white-hills-white-thighs-you-look-like-a-world-lying-2/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [“ I Like For You To Be Still I like for you to be still It is as though you are absent And you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/i-like-for-you-to-be-still-i-like-for-you-to-be-still-it-is-as-though/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [“Tonight I Can Write”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/tonight-i-can-write/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) [Explore all 457 Pablo Neruda quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) ## More Dark quotes > [Crony capitalism is essentially a condition in which... public officials are giving favours to people in the private sector in payment of political favours.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-greenspan/crony-capitalism-is-essentially-a-condition-in-which-public-officials/) [Alan Greenspan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-greenspan/) > [“I could see her will leaving and death seeping through her skin to skewer her soul.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-d-stroube/i-could-see-her-will-leaving-and-death-seeping-through-her-skin-to/) [J.D. 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Do you see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-gentile/twinking-tears-in-a-sea-of-black-soft-light-in-a-world-of-darkness/) Nicole Gentile > [Even in the dark your shadow is like a guide to me! you are my rising sun that brings forth hope just as it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nkemjika-linus/even-in-the-dark-your-shadow-is-like-a-guide-to-me-you-are-my-rising/) [Nkemjika Linus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nkemjika-linus/) [Browse all 10,198 Dark quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dark/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I don't want to go on being a root in the dark, vacillating, stretched out, shivering with sleep, downward, in the soaked guts of the earth, absorbing and thinking, eating each day.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Pablo Neruda" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/i-don-t-want-to-go-on-being-a-root-in-the-dark-vacillating-stretched/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Dark" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/i-don-t-want-to-go-on-being-a-root-in-the-dark-vacillating-stretched/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cae/pablo-neruda-435_dark_i-don-t-want-to-go-on-being-a-root-in-th_1367406.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cae/pablo-neruda-435_dark_i-don-t-want-to-go-on-being-a-root-in-th_1367406.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cae/pablo-neruda-435_dark_i-don-t-want-to-go-on-being-a-root-in-th_1367406.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I don't want to go on being a root in the dark, vacillating, stretched out, shivering with sleep, downward…” — Pablo Neruda", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Pablo Neruda", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I don't want to go on...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/i-don-t-want-to-go-on-being-a-root-in-the-dark-vacillating-stretched/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/i-don-t-want-to-go-on-being-a-root-in-the-dark-vacillating-stretched/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```