--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We have to discard the past and, as one…" description: "\"“We have to discard the past and, as one builds floor by floor, window by window, and the building rises, so do we keep shedding -- first, broken tiles..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c46/pablo-neruda-435_darkness_we-have-to-discard-the-past-and-as-one-b_2140750.jpg" --- # We have to discard the past and, as one builds floor by… ![“We have to discard the past and, as one builds floor by floor, window by window, and the building rises, so do we keep shedding -- first, broken tiles, then proud doors, until, from the past, dust falls as if it would crash against the floor, smoke rises as if it were on fire, and each new day…” quote by Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c46/pablo-neruda-435_darkness_we-have-to-discard-the-past-and-as-one-b_2140750.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c46/pablo-neruda-435_darkness_we-have-to-discard-the-past-and-as-one-b_2140750.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c46/pablo-neruda-435_darkness_we-have-to-discard-the-past-and-as-one-b_2140750.jpg) > ““We have to discard the past and, as one builds floor by floor, window by window, and the building rises, so do we keep shedding -- first, broken tiles, then proud doors, until, from the past, dust falls as if it would crash against the floor, smoke rises as if it were on fire, and each new day gleams like an empty plate. There is nothing, there was always nothing. It all has to be filled with a new, expanding fruitfulness; then, down falls yesterday as in a well falls yesterday's water, into the cistern of all that is now without a voice, without fire. It is difficult to get bones used to disappearing, to teach eyes to close, but we do it unwittingly. Everything was alive, alive, alive,alive like a scarlet fish, but time passed with cloth and darkness and kept wiping away the flash of the fish. Water water water, the past goes on falling although it keeps a grip on thorns and on roots. It went, it went, and now memories mean nothing. Now the heavy eyelid shut out the light of the eye and what was once alive is now no longer living; what we were, we are not. And with words, although the letters still have transparency and sound, they change, and the mouth changes; the same mouth is now another mouth; they change, lips, skin, circulation; another soul took on our skeleton; what once was in us now is not. It left, but if they call, we reply "I am here," and we realize we are not, that what was once, was and is lost, lost in the past, and now does not come back." -"Past”” [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. Life continuously rebuilds itself, shedding old identities and memories like broken tiles, allowing new growth and meaning to emerge from the void. **In simple terms:** We constantly renew by letting go of the past. Key Takeaway Embrace change and release old patterns. Themes renewal impermanence identity Mood melancholic hopeful Type reflective poetic When to use this quote - grief processing - personal reinvention - creative renewal Key Concepts existentialism transformation Questions to Reflect On - What parts of your past are you ready to discard? - How can you build new foundations after loss? A Different Perspective The dense imagery may overwhelm readers seeking clear guidance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Darkness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/darkness/) [New day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new-day/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [We have to discard the past / and, as one builds / floor by floor, window by window, / and the building rises, /…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/we-have-to-discard-the-past-and-as-one-builds-floor-by-floor-window/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [We all end up living secret lives. We create what we are willing to admire and admiring what we shouldn't confess to the secret…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-theroux/we-all-end-up-living-secret-lives-we-create-what-we-are-willing-to/) [Alexander Theroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-theroux/) > [It's hard to avoid the past but one goes forward.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-summers/it-s-hard-to-avoid-the-past-but-one-goes-forward/) [Andy Summers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-summers/) > [The past goes right on pulling me apart, though I can scarcely remember the people or the issues.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-past-goes-right-on-pulling-me-apart-though-i-can-scarcely/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [“Your future is brighter than your past. 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I don't know how long. I had no watch. They don't make that kind of time in watches anyway.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/time-passed-again-i-don-t-know-how-long-i-had-no-watch-they-don-t/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) > [Dor shook his head. “The phrase. What does it mean?” Sarah wondered if he was kidding. “Time flies? You know, like, time goes really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-albom/dor-shook-his-head-the-phrase-what-does-it-mean-sarah-wondered-if-he/) [Mitch Albom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-albom/) > [“How the time passed away, slipped into nightfall as if it had never been!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/how-the-time-passed-away-slipped-into-nightfall-as-if-it-had-never/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Time passed, worlds diverged.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-caldwell-dustin-thomason/time-passed-worlds-diverged/) Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason > [“So, with all the sleep, my memories, reading my crime story, and the alternation of light and darkness, time passed. Of course I had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/so-with-all-the-sleep-my-memories-reading-my-crime-story-and-the/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [Time passed so much more slowly than space.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-ostenso/time-passed-so-much-more-slowly-than-space/) [Martha Ostenso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-ostenso/) ## 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. 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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 Darkness quotes > [“Narrative cannot sustain formlessness any more than light can sustain darkness - it is the antithesis of formlessness, and so it can never truly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/narrative-cannot-sustain-formlessness-any-more-than-light-can-sustain/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [“Wait here, wait here!" he cried and jumped up and began to run for help toward a cluster of lights he saw in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/wait-here-wait-here-he-cried-and-jumped-up-and-began-to-run-for-help/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [Strange - is it not? That of the myriads who Before us passed the door of Darkness through, Not one returns to tell us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/strange-is-it-not-that-of-the-myriads-who-before-us-passed-the-door/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [When you're scared - and I mean really scared, not just hearing a noise in the night, or standing toe to toe with someone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-gordon-smith/when-you-re-scared-and-i-mean-really-scared-not-just-hearing-a-noise/) [Alexander Gordon Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-gordon-smith/) > [Clear moments are so short. There is much more darkness. More ocean than terra firma. More shadow than form.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-zagajewski/clear-moments-are-so-short-there-is-much-more-darkness-more-ocean/) [Adam Zagajewski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-zagajewski/) > [I even see the cinema itself as a woman, with its alternation of light and darkness, of appearing and disappearing images](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/federico-fellini/i-even-see-the-cinema-itself-as-a-woman-with-its-alternation-of-light/) [Federico Fellini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/federico-fellini/) > [I guess he'll have to figure out someday that he is supposed to have this dark side, that it is part of what it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/i-guess-he-ll-have-to-figure-out-someday-that-he-is-supposed-to-have/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [“I promise to respect and protect your aloneness, knowing that everything created must have its period of darkness: child and bulb, poem and personality.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-morrow-lindbergh/i-promise-to-respect-and-protect-your-aloneness-knowing-that/) [anne morrow lindbergh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-morrow-lindbergh/) > [The beauty of darkness is how it lets you see.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-beauty-of-darkness-is-how-it-lets-you-see/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [“Even in darkness your lips taste of sunshine”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francesca-lia-block/even-in-darkness-your-lips-taste-of-sunshine/) [Francesca Lia Block](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francesca-lia-block/) > [“Defy me not for gleam can only shine in my existence" said Darkness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/defy-me-not-for-gleam-can-only-shine-in-my-existence-said-darkness/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“What does he look like? 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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 [Browse all 8,219 Darkness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/darkness/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“We have to discard the past and, as one builds floor by floor, window by window, and the building rises, so do we keep shedding -- first, broken tiles, then proud doors, until, from the past, dust falls as if it would crash against the floor, smoke rises as if it were on fire, and each new day gleams like an empty plate. There is nothing, there was always nothing. It all has to be filled with a new, expanding fruitfulness; then, down falls yesterday as in a well falls yesterday's water, into the cistern of all that is now without a voice, without fire. It is difficult to get bones used to disappearing, to teach eyes to close, but we do it unwittingly. Everything was alive, alive, alive,alive like a scarlet fish, but time passed with cloth and darkness and kept wiping away the flash of the fish. Water water water, the past goes on falling although it keeps a grip on thorns and on roots. It went, it went, and now memories mean nothing. Now the heavy eyelid shut out the light of the eye and what was once alive is now no longer living; what we were, we are not. And with words, although the letters still have transparency and sound, they change, and the mouth changes; the same mouth is now another mouth; they change, lips, skin, circulation; another soul took on our skeleton; what once was in us now is not. 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