--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We shed as we pick up, like travellers…" description: "\"We shed as we pick up, like travellers who must carry everything in their arms, and what we let fall will be picked up by those behind. The procession ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/944/tom-stoppard-437_arms_we-shed-as-we-pick-up-like-travellers-wh_216314.png" --- # We shed as we pick up, like travellers who must carry… ![“We shed as we pick up, like travellers who must carry everything in their arms, and what we let fall will be picked up by those behind. The procession is very long and life is very short. We die on the march. but there is nothing outside the march so nothing can be lost to it.” quote by Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/944/tom-stoppard-437_arms_we-shed-as-we-pick-up-like-travellers-wh_216314.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/944/tom-stoppard-437_arms_we-shed-as-we-pick-up-like-travellers-wh_216314.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/944/tom-stoppard-437_arms_we-shed-as-we-pick-up-like-travellers-wh_216314.png) > “We shed as we pick up, like travellers who must carry everything in their arms, and what we let fall will be picked up by those behind. The procession is very long and life is very short. We die on the march. but there is nothing outside the march so nothing can be lost to it.” [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Life is a continual exchange of burdens; nothing is truly lost within the collective march. **In simple terms:** We share burdens, nothing truly lost. Key Takeaway Share load, accept impermanence. Themes burden exchange impermanence collective Mood reflective philosophical Type literary existential When to use this quote - family - workplace - community projects Key Concepts interdependence transience human condition Questions to Reflect On - How do you decide what to let go? - What does “nothing can be lost” mean to you? A Different Perspective May ignore individual loss. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Traveller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/traveller/) ## Related quotes > [“We shed as we pick up, like travelers who must carry everything in their arms, and what we let fall will be picked up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/we-shed-as-we-pick-up-like-travelers-who-must-carry-everything-in/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [“The procession is very long and life is very short. We die on the march. But there is nothing outside the march so nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-gleick/the-procession-is-very-long-and-life-is-very-short-we-die-on-the/) [James Gleick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-gleick/) > [“We shed as we pick up, like travellers who must carry everything in their arms, and what we let fall will be picked up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/we-shed-as-we-pick-up-like-travellers-who-must-carry-everything-in-2/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [March is outside the door Flaming some old desire As man turns uneasily from his fire.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccord/march-is-outside-the-door-flaming-some-old-desire-as-man-turns/) [David McCord](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccord/) > [I have learned that the swiftest traveller is he that goes afoot.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/i-have-learned-that-the-swiftest-traveller-is-he-that-goes-afoot/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [A Sufi manual, the Kashf-al-Mahjub, says that, towards the end of his journey, the dervish becomes the Way not the wayfarer, i.e. a place…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-chatwin/a-sufi-manual-the-kashf-al-mahjub-says-that-towards-the-end-of-his/) [Bruce Chatwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-chatwin/) > [I allude to Back to the Future in the 1985 story to let folks know it was an inspiration and because it literally was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kiese-laymon/i-allude-to-back-to-the-future-in-the-1985-story-to-let-folks-know-it/) [Kiese Laymon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kiese-laymon/) > [We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pico-iyer/we-travel-to-open-our-hearts-and-eyes-and-learn-more-about-the-world/) [Pico Iyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pico-iyer/) > [My homeland is not a suitcase, and I am no traveller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahmoud-darwish/my-homeland-is-not-a-suitcase-and-i-am-no-traveller/) [Mahmoud Darwish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahmoud-darwish/) > [I still recommend reading travel guides as an insight to a traveller's perspective on fantasy worlds. 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After that, you lose your edge, the language becomes clumsy, rigid.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/you-should-not-translate-for-more-than-two-hours-at-a-time-after-that/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [No matter how imperfect things are, if you've got a free press everything is correctable, and without it everything is concealable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/no-matter-how-imperfect-things-are-if-you-ve-got-a-free-press/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [We must be born with an intuition of mortality. Before we know the word for it. Before we know that there are words. Out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/we-must-be-born-with-an-intuition-of-mortality-before-we-know-the/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [Eternity's a terrible thought. 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