--- 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..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7f9/pablo-neruda-435_broken_we-have-to-discard-the-past-and-as-one-b_799337.jpg" --- # We have to discard the past / and, as one builds / floor… ![“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... and each new day / gleams / like an empty / plate.” quote by Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7f9/pablo-neruda-435_broken_we-have-to-discard-the-past-and-as-one-b_799337.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7f9/pablo-neruda-435_broken_we-have-to-discard-the-past-and-as-one-b_799337.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7f9/pablo-neruda-435_broken_we-have-to-discard-the-past-and-as-one-b_799337.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... and each new day / gleams / like an empty / plate.” [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. Progress requires shedding old flaws and building anew, layer by layer. **In simple terms:** Shedding old parts builds progress. Key Takeaway Embrace change, rebuild continuously. Themes growth renewal transformation Mood hopeful determined Type poetic motivational When to use this quote - career change - habit formation - creative projects Key Concepts metaphor of construction personal evolution Questions to Reflect On - What old habits must you discard? - How will you celebrate new foundations? A Different Perspective Change can be painful and uncertain. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Broken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/broken/) [Building](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/building/) [Discard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discard/) [Discard Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discard-past-4456124/) [Doors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doors/) [Each new day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/each-new-day/) [Empty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/empty/) [Firsts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/firsts/) [Gleam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gleam/) [New day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new-day/) [Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past/) [Plates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/plates/) [Proud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/proud/) [Renewal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/renewal/) [Rises Shedding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rises-shedding-6124105/) [Shedding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shedding/) [Tiles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tiles/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Window](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/window/) ## Related quotes > [“We have to discard the past and, as one builds floor by floor, window by window, and the building rises, so do we keep…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/we-have-to-discard-the-past-and-as-one-builds-floor-by-floor-window-2/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [In your morning prayer each new day, ask Heavenly Father to guide you to recognize an opportunity to serve one of His precious children.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-russell-ballard/in-your-morning-prayer-each-new-day-ask-heavenly-father-to-guide-you/) [M. 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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. 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But lives can also be mended. Put back together well, they won't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-goodier/broken-by-hardships-disappointments-and-tragedy-people-can-become/) [Steve Goodier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-goodier/) > [You don't want to fix things that aren't broken, so that kind of stops you from make changes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-weidman/you-don-t-want-to-fix-things-that-aren-t-broken-so-that-kind-of-stops/) [Chris Weidman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-weidman/) > [How else but through a broken heart may Lord Christ enter in?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/how-else-but-through-a-broken-heart-may-lord-christ-enter-in/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [The worst advice? 'Don't listen to the critics.' I think that you really ought to listen to the critics, because sometimes they're telling you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/the-worst-advice-don-t-listen-to-the-critics-i-think-that-you-really/) [Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) > [Marriage is a desperate thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-selden/marriage-is-a-desperate-thing/) [John Selden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-selden/) > [The child who ran weeping to you with a cut finger is now brought home, smiling gamely, with a broken collarbone and incredible contusions-…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pam-brown/the-child-who-ran-weeping-to-you-with-a-cut-finger-is-now-brought/) [Pam Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pam-brown/) > [There is no pain like the first time you get your heart broken.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ne-yo/there-is-no-pain-like-the-first-time-you-get-your-heart-broken/) [Ne-Yo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ne-yo/) > [Broken china lasts longer than unbroken.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jules-renard/broken-china-lasts-longer-than-unbroken/) [Jules Renard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jules-renard/) > [My life was incoherent to me. I felt it quivering, spitting out broken teeth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paula-fox/my-life-was-incoherent-to-me-i-felt-it-quivering-spitting-out-broken/) [Paula Fox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paula-fox/) > [Don't fix what's not broken.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-atkins/don-t-fix-what-s-not-broken/) [Robert Atkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-atkins/) > [“ving self and others is an every second of every day of every week, of every month, of every year gift that should not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sanjo-jendayi/ving-self-and-others-is-an-every-second-of-every-day-of-every-week-of/) [Sanjo Jendayi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sanjo-jendayi/) > [Your head's like mine, like all our heads; big enough to contain every god and devil there ever was. 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