---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It's a battered old suitcase and a hotel…"
description: "\"It's a battered old suitcase and a hotel someplace and a wound that will never heal.\" — Tom Waits"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/19e/tom-waits-916_battered_it-s-a-battered-old-suitcase-and-a-hotel_495488.jpg"
---

#  It's a battered old suitcase and a hotel someplace and a…

![“It's a battered old suitcase and a hotel someplace and a wound that will never heal.” quote by Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/19e/tom-waits-916_battered_it-s-a-battered-old-suitcase-and-a-hotel_495488.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/19e/tom-waits-916_battered_it-s-a-battered-old-suitcase-and-a-hotel_495488.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/19e/tom-waits-916_battered_it-s-a-battered-old-suitcase-and-a-hotel_495488.jpg)

> “It's a battered old suitcase and a hotel someplace and a wound that will never heal.”

[Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

A metaphor for lingering pain and transient life, suggesting past wounds persist despite changing surroundings.

**In simple terms:** Past hurts stay with us despite new places.

Key Takeaway

Acknowledge and heal old wounds.

Themes

pain transience memory

Mood

melancholic reflective

Type

ly lypoetic

When to use this quote

- travel
- hospitality
- personal loss
- healing journeys

Key Concepts

nostalgia emotional baggage

Questions to Reflect On

- What lingering hurt do you carry?
- How does changing scenery affect your pain?

A Different Perspective

Healing may be impossible without confronting the source.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Hotel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hotel/) [Inspiring travel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspiring-travel/) [Journey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/journey/) [Sweepers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sweepers/) [Travel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/travel/) [Wounds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wounds/)

## Related quotes

> [It's a battered old suitcase to a hotel someplace, and a wound that will never heal. No prima donna, the perfume is on an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/it-s-a-battered-old-suitcase-to-a-hotel-someplace-and-a-wound-that/)

[Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/)

> [One day, I found my dad's dressing-gown in an old suitcase, and it transported me back to when I was five and thought he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-browne/one-day-i-found-my-dad-s-dressing-gown-in-an-old-suitcase-and-it/)

[Anthony Browne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-browne/)

> [“All of yesterday's ballers are today's road sweepers.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/habeeb-akande/all-of-yesterday-s-ballers-are-today-s-road-sweepers/)

[Habeeb Akande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/habeeb-akande/)

> [Fear no more the heat o' th' sun Nor the furious winters' rages; Thou thy worldly task hast done, Home art gone, and ta'en…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/fear-no-more-the-heat-o-th-sun-nor-the-furious-winters-rages-thou-thy/)

[William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/)

> [Some critics are like chimney-sweepers; they put out the fire below, and frighten the swallows from their nests above; they scrape a long time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/some-critics-are-like-chimney-sweepers-they-put-out-the-fire-below/)

[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/)

> [Golden lads and girls all must as chimney sweepers come to dust.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/golden-lads-and-girls-all-must-as-chimney-sweepers-come-to-dust/)

[William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/)

> [Under ideal conditions, the barrister and the bhangi (sweeper) should both get the same payment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/under-ideal-conditions-the-barrister-and-the-bhangi-sweeper-should/)

[Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/)

> [I wrote my first book in a toilet in a factory where I was a floor sweeper.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoff-thompson/i-wrote-my-first-book-in-a-toilet-in-a-factory-where-i-was-a-floor/)

[Geoff Thompson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoff-thompson/)

> [Malcolm X found the language that communicated across the board, from college professor to floor sweeper, all at the same time, without demeaning the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-henrik-clarke/malcolm-x-found-the-language-that-communicated-across-the-board-from/)

[John Henrik Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-henrik-clarke/)

> [The only good that I can see in the demonstration of the truth of "Spiritualism" is to furnish an additional argument against suicide. Better…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-huxley/the-only-good-that-i-can-see-in-the-demonstration-of-the-truth-of/)

[Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-huxley/)

> [Cleaning up the country cannot be the sole responsibility of sweepers. Do citizens have no role in this? We have to change this mindset.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/narendra-modi/cleaning-up-the-country-cannot-be-the-sole-responsibility-of-sweepers/)

[Narendra Modi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/narendra-modi/)

> [The national State divides its inhabitants into three classes: State citizens, State subjects, and foreigners. It must be held in greater honour to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/the-national-state-divides-its-inhabitants-into-three-classes-state/)

[Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/)

> [Any eyes on me - a late-night street sweeper, some dude texting in his parked car, the homeless guy talking to himself - make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rodney-mullen/any-eyes-on-me-a-late-night-street-sweeper-some-dude-texting-in-his/)

[Rodney Mullen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rodney-mullen/)

> [I am very fit and by playing sweeper I can control the speed of the game.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruud-gullit/i-am-very-fit-and-by-playing-sweeper-i-can-control-the-speed-of-the/)

[Ruud Gullit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruud-gullit/)

> [You can be anything you want to be. You can be a street sweeper, if you want. Just be the best blasted street sweeper…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-dinkins/you-can-be-anything-you-want-to-be-you-can-be-a-street-sweeper-if-you/)

[David Dinkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-dinkins/)

## More by Tom Waits

> [Most of us have the residue of thousands of songs in our ears, that if you end up songwriting, I think you're mostly smoking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/most-of-us-have-the-residue-of-thousands-of-songs-in-our-ears-that-if/)

[Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/)

> [Bill Hicks - blowtorch, excavator, truthsayer, and brain specialist. He will correct your vision. Others will drive on the road he built.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/bill-hicks-blowtorch-excavator-truthsayer-and-brain-specialist-he/)

[Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/)

> [Don't plant your days they turn into weeds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/don-t-plant-your-days-they-turn-into-weeds/)

[Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/)

> [“T’ain’t no sin to take off your skin, and dance around in your bones.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/t-ain-t-no-sin-to-take-off-your-skin-and-dance-around-in-your-bones/)

[Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/)

> [“an all time favorite: "The large print giveth, the small print taketh away.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/an-all-time-favorite-the-large-print-giveth-the-small-print-taketh/)

[Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/)

> [I'll tell you all my secrets but I lie about my past…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/i-ll-tell-you-all-my-secrets-but-i-lie-about-my-past/)

[Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/)

> [For a songwriter, you don't really go to songwriting school; you learn by listening to tunes. And you try to understand them and take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/for-a-songwriter-you-don-t-really-go-to-songwriting-school-you-learn/)

[Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/)

> [I'm trying to learn how to write faster.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/i-m-trying-to-learn-how-to-write-faster/)

[Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/)

> [The world is a hellish place, and bad writing is destroying the quality of our suffering.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/the-world-is-a-hellish-place-and-bad-writing-is-destroying-the/)

[Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/)

> [I'm always looking for sounds that are pleasing at the time. The sound of a helicopter is really annoying until you're drowning, and it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/i-m-always-looking-for-sounds-that-are-pleasing-at-the-time-the-sound/)

[Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/)

> [I was born in the back seat of a Yellow Cab in a hospital loading zone and with the meter still running. I emerged…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/i-was-born-in-the-back-seat-of-a-yellow-cab-in-a-hospital-loading/)

[Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/)

> [There's not much difference between what I appear to be on stage and what I am. I think people like that, that I'm not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/there-s-not-much-difference-between-what-i-appear-to-be-on-stage-and/)

[Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/)

> [Most of the things you absorb you will ultimately secrete.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/most-of-the-things-you-absorb-you-will-ultimately-secrete/)

[Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/)

> [The devil knows the Bible like the back of his hand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/the-devil-knows-the-bible-like-the-back-of-his-hand/)

[Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/)

> [I bark my voice out through a closed throat, pretty much. It's more, perhaps, like a dog in some ways. It does have its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/i-bark-my-voice-out-through-a-closed-throat-pretty-much-it-s-more/)

[Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/)

[Explore all 328 Tom Waits quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/)

## More Battered quotes

> [I was in a conversation and someone said: "You know, we were talking about the whole issue of transgender and how it has become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oprah-winfrey/i-was-in-a-conversation-and-someone-said-you-know-we-were-talking/)

[Oprah Winfrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oprah-winfrey/)

> [I've reread 'The Secret Garden' every year as an adult. I have a battered copy on my bookshelf - it's really quite a mess!…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-potter/i-ve-reread-the-secret-garden-every-year-as-an-adult-i-have-a/)

[Ellen Potter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-potter/)

> [Every man beholds his human condition with a degree of melancholy. As a ship aground is battered by the waves, so man, imprisonedin mortal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/every-man-beholds-his-human-condition-with-a-degree-of-melancholy-as/)

[Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/)

> [I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/i-am-not-unmindful-that-some-of-you-have-come-here-out-of-great/)

[Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/)

> [There's no battered woman alive who didn't know in advance that the man was bad.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-schlessinger/there-s-no-battered-woman-alive-who-didn-t-know-in-advance-that-the/)

[Laura Schlessinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-schlessinger/)

> [“Oh course he had come for her, her cranky white knight with his battered but not broken K9 partner in tow.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katie-ruggle/oh-course-he-had-come-for-her-her-cranky-white-knight-with-his/)

Katie Ruggle

> [I found myself being more and more involved with people who were rejected by society - with drug addicts, alcoholism, battered this, battered that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/princess-diana/i-found-myself-being-more-and-more-involved-with-people-who-were/)

[Princess Diana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/princess-diana/)

> [Historical memory is a potent weapon in fighting against the desert of organized forgetting and implies a rethinking of the role that artists, intellectuals,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/historical-memory-is-a-potent-weapon-in-fighting-against-the-desert/)

[Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/)

> [“We live in a world in which women are battered and are unable to flee from the men who beat them, although their door…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natascha-kampusch/we-live-in-a-world-in-which-women-are-battered-and-are-unable-to-flee/)

[Natascha Kampusch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natascha-kampusch/)

> [It is not the walls that make the city, but the people who live within them. The walls of London may be battered, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-vi/it-is-not-the-walls-that-make-the-city-but-the-people-who-live-within/)

George VI

> [I was born, I think, with the desire to make beautiful books — brave books that would preserve the glories of the Dream untarnished,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-branch-cabell/i-was-born-i-think-with-the-desire-to-make-beautiful-books-brave/)

[James Branch Cabell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-branch-cabell/)

> [Have you ever sent a loved son on vacation, and had him returned to you in a pine box, so horribly battered and water-logged…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mamie-till/have-you-ever-sent-a-loved-son-on-vacation-and-had-him-returned-to/)

[Mamie Till](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mamie-till/)

> [Being bullied by a serial bully is equivalent to being stalked or being battered by a partner or being abused as a child and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-field/being-bullied-by-a-serial-bully-is-equivalent-to-being-stalked-or/)

[Tim Field](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-field/)

> [The Buddha described his teaching as "going against the stream." The unflinching light of mindful awareness reveals the extent to which we are tossed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-batchelor/the-buddha-described-his-teaching-as-going-against-the-stream-the/)

[Stephen Batchelor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-batchelor/)

> [Keep unscathed the good name; keep out of peril the honor without which even your battered old soldier who is hobbling into his grave…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-bulwer-lytton-1st-baron-lytton/keep-unscathed-the-good-name-keep-out-of-peril-the-honor-without/)

[Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-bulwer-lytton-1st-baron-lytton/)

Browse all 101 Battered quotes

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "It's a battered old suitcase and a hotel someplace and a wound that will never heal.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Tom Waits"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/it-s-a-battered-old-suitcase-and-a-hotel-someplace-and-a-wound-that/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Battered"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/it-s-a-battered-old-suitcase-and-a-hotel-someplace-and-a-wound-that/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/19e/tom-waits-916_battered_it-s-a-battered-old-suitcase-and-a-hotel_495488.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/19e/tom-waits-916_battered_it-s-a-battered-old-suitcase-and-a-hotel_495488.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/19e/tom-waits-916_battered_it-s-a-battered-old-suitcase-and-a-hotel_495488.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“It's a battered old suitcase and a hotel someplace and a wound that will never heal.” — Tom Waits",
                "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": "Tom Waits",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "It's a battered old suitcase and...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/it-s-a-battered-old-suitcase-and-a-hotel-someplace-and-a-wound-that/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/it-s-a-battered-old-suitcase-and-a-hotel-someplace-and-a-wound-that/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```