--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We must be reconciled, for what we left…" description: "\"“We must be reconciled, for what we left behind us can never be ours again.”\" — Wallace Stegner" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ffe/wallace-stegner-1352_left_we-must-be-reconciled-for-what-we-left-b_2367674.png" --- # We must be reconciled, for what we left behind us can… ![“We must be reconciled, for what we left behind us can never be ours again.” quote by Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ffe/wallace-stegner-1352_left_we-must-be-reconciled-for-what-we-left-b_2367674.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ffe/wallace-stegner-1352_left_we-must-be-reconciled-for-what-we-left-b_2367674.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ffe/wallace-stegner-1352_left_we-must-be-reconciled-for-what-we-left-b_2367674.png) > ““We must be reconciled, for what we left behind us can never be ours again.”” [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Leaving behind the past makes it unattainable, urging acceptance of change and loss. **In simple terms:** You cannot reclaim what you have left behind. Key Takeaway Accept loss and move forward. Themes loss acceptance impermanence Mood melancholic contemplative Type literary reflective When to use this quote - grief counseling - career transition - relationship breakup - moving house Key Concepts nostalgia attachment transience Questions to Reflect On - What are you holding onto that you must release? - How can you honor the past without being trapped by it? A Different Perspective Clinging to the past can hinder growth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Left behind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/left-behind/) ## Related quotes > [Propensities and principles must be reconciled by some means.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-bronte/propensities-and-principles-must-be-reconciled-by-some-means/) [Charlotte Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-bronte/) > [Where two principles really do meet which cannot be reconciled with one another, then each man declares the other a fool and a heretic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-wittgenstein/where-two-principles-really-do-meet-which-cannot-be-reconciled-with/) [Ludwig Wittgenstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-wittgenstein/) > [He who forgiveth, and is reconciled unto his enemy, shall receive his reward from God; for he loveth not the unjust doers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/he-who-forgiveth-and-is-reconciled-unto-his-enemy-shall-receive-his/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [“Love! love!.. thou art never to be reconciled with discretion!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antoine-fran-ois-pr-vost/love-love-thou-art-never-to-be-reconciled-with-discretion/) [Antoine François Prévost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antoine-fran-ois-pr-vost/) > [Peace on earth, and mercy mild God and sinners reconciled.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-wesley/peace-on-earth-and-mercy-mild-god-and-sinners-reconciled/) [Charles Wesley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-wesley/) > [The minute we get reconciled to a person, how willing we are to throw aside little needless punctilios and pronounce his name right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-minute-we-get-reconciled-to-a-person-how-willing-we-are-to-throw/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Perhaps she was both child and woman, darkness and light, past and present, life and death - all the opposites contained and reconciled in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paule-marshall/perhaps-she-was-both-child-and-woman-darkness-and-light-past-and/) [Paule Marshall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paule-marshall/) > [A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-schiller/a-merely-fallen-enemy-may-rise-again-but-the-reconciled-one-is-truly/) [Friedrich Schiller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-schiller/) > [“COL1.21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled COL1.22 In the body…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/col1-21-and-you-that-were-sometime-alienated-and-enemies-in-your-mind/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [A holy person is someone who is whole; who has, as it were, reconciled his opposites.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/a-holy-person-is-someone-who-is-whole-who-has-as-it-were-reconciled/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [I had reconciled myself to being happily out to pasture, a bit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-mcgovern/i-had-reconciled-myself-to-being-happily-out-to-pasture-a-bit/) [Elizabeth McGovern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-mcgovern/) > [“you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind,  a doing evil deeds, 22he has now reconciled  b in his body of flesh by his death,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-who-once-were-alienated-and-hostile-in-mind-a-doing-evil-deeds/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“God himself is pleading through us for people to be reconciled to him, if we prepare our body for him”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/god-himself-is-pleading-through-us-for-people-to-be-reconciled-to-him/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [Since science and religion provide two different perspectives on the human situation, they must ultimately be able to be reconciled.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-griffith/since-science-and-religion-provide-two-different-perspectives-on-the/) [Jeremy Griffith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-griffith/) > [I'm going to lock those two in a room, and they are either coming out reconciled or in a body bag. 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