--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Of all the arts in which the wise excel…" description: "\"Of all the arts in which the wise excel, nature's chief masterpiece is writing well.\" — Andre Breton" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/576/andr-breton-2478_art_of-all-the-arts-in-which-the-wise-excel_66609.jpg" --- # Of all the arts in which the wise excel, nature's chief… ![“Of all the arts in which the wise excel, nature's chief masterpiece is writing well.” quote by Andre Breton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/576/andr-breton-2478_art_of-all-the-arts-in-which-the-wise-excel_66609.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/576/andr-breton-2478_art_of-all-the-arts-in-which-the-wise-excel_66609.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/576/andr-breton-2478_art_of-all-the-arts-in-which-the-wise-excel_66609.jpg) > “Of all the arts in which the wise excel, nature's chief masterpiece is writing well.” [Andre Breton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andr-breton/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Writing is portrayed as the pinnacle of human artistry, surpassing all other crafts in its capacity to capture and reflect the natural world. **In simple terms:** Writing is the highest art. Key Takeaway Writing epitomizes mastery. Themes creativity human expression nature mastery communication Mood inspired reflective Type aphorism philosophical When to use this quote - teaching writing - literary criticism - creative workshops - personal journaling Key Concepts language literature artistic skill Practical Applications - enhancing communication - preserving cultural narratives Questions to Reflect On - What makes writing a uniquely human endeavor? - How does writing reflect nature's influence? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Masterpiece](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/masterpiece/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Wisdom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wisdom/) [Wise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wise/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) [Writing well](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing-well/) ## Related quotes > [Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-sheffield-1st-duke-of-buckingham-and-normanby/nature-s-chief-masterpiece-is-writing-well/) John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby > [Olive Kitteridge' is a masterpiece: The writing is so perfect you don't even notice it; the story is so vivid it's less like reading…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melissa-bank/olive-kitteridge-is-a-masterpiece-the-writing-is-so-perfect-you-don-t/) [Melissa Bank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melissa-bank/) > [By Cunning & Craft is a masterpiece of writing about writing. If, like Scheherazade, you had to spin out a story under threat of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nora-gallagher/by-cunning-craft-is-a-masterpiece-of-writing-about-writing-if-like/) [Nora Gallagher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nora-gallagher/) > [The goal of a passionate artist is to try and make a masterpiece each and every time, yet be wise enough to know you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donato-giancola/the-goal-of-a-passionate-artist-is-to-try-and-make-a-masterpiece-each/) Donato Giancola > [It's hard for me to feel bad when I'm writing well.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meg-wolitzer/it-s-hard-for-me-to-feel-bad-when-i-m-writing-well/) [Meg Wolitzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meg-wolitzer/) > [I write every day. Even if I'm not writing well, I write through it. I can fix a bad page. I can't fix a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nora-roberts/i-write-every-day-even-if-i-m-not-writing-well-i-write-through-it-i/) [Nora Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nora-roberts/) > [The primary requisite for writing well about food is a good appetite.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-primary-requisite-for-writing-well-about-food-is-a-good-appetite/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I may be writing well, I may be writing poorly, but I enjoy the act of writing and sometimes when it turns out okay,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-lipton/i-may-be-writing-well-i-may-be-writing-poorly-but-i-enjoy-the-act-of/) [James Lipton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-lipton/) > [Rewriting is the essence of writing well - where the game is won or lost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-zinsser/rewriting-is-the-essence-of-writing-well-where-the-game-is-won-or-lost/) [William Zinsser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-zinsser/) > [“Horace Greeley cautioned one upstate hopeful: “You do not realize how little the mere talent of writing well has to do with success or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-wallace/horace-greeley-cautioned-one-upstate-hopeful-you-do-not-realize-how/) [Mike Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-wallace/) > [Writing well isn't just a question of winsome expression, but of having found something big and true to say and having found the right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-gopnik/writing-well-isn-t-just-a-question-of-winsome-expression-but-of/) [Adam Gopnik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-gopnik/) > [Clutter is the disease of American writing,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-zinsser/clutter-is-the-disease-of-american-writing/) [William Zinsser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-zinsser/) > [My prescription for writer's block is to face the fact that there is no such thing… Writing well is difficult, but one can always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mallon/my-prescription-for-writer-s-block-is-to-face-the-fact-that-there-is/) [Thomas Mallon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-mallon/) > [I don't believe in writer's block, writing well is very easy; it's writing horribly, the horrible work necessary to do to get to writing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-young/i-don-t-believe-in-writer-s-block-writing-well-is-very-easy-it-s/) [Dean Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-young/) > [As to the differences between game work and novel writing, well, obviously the former is a lot less lonely - you're in and out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-k-morgan/as-to-the-differences-between-game-work-and-novel-writing-well/) [Richard K. Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-k-morgan/) ## More by Andre Breton > [Under his (Marc Chagall, ed.) sole impulse metaphor made its triumphal entry into modern painting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andr-breton/under-his-marc-chagall-ed-sole-impulse-metaphor-made-its-triumphal/) [Andre Breton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andr-breton/) > [Psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express -- verbally, by means of the written word, or in any other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andr-breton/psychic-automatism-in-its-pure-state-by-which-one-proposes-to-express/) [Andre Breton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andr-breton/) > [The art of Frida Kahlo is a ribbon around a bomb.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andr-breton/the-art-of-frida-kahlo-is-a-ribbon-around-a-bomb/) [Andre Breton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andr-breton/) > [“Let us not mince words: The marvelous is always beautiful, anything marvelous is beauitful, in fact only the marvelous is beautiful”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andr-breton/let-us-not-mince-words-the-marvelous-is-always-beautiful-anything/) [Andre Breton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andr-breton/) > [“There has never been any forbidden fruit. Only temptation is divine. To feel the need to vary the object of this temptation, to replace…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andr-breton/there-has-never-been-any-forbidden-fruit-only-temptation-is-divine-to/) [André Breton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andr-breton/) > [“It was really a star, a star you were heading toward. You can't fail to reach it. Hearing you speak, I felt that nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andr-breton/it-was-really-a-star-a-star-you-were-heading-toward-you-can-t-fail-to/) [André Breton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andr-breton/) > [“All my life my heart has yearned for a thing I cannot name.” andre breton”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andr-breton/all-my-life-my-heart-has-yearned-for-a-thing-i-cannot-name-andre/) [andre breton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andr-breton/) > [“Unless you have been inside a sanitarium you do not know that madmen are made there, just as criminals are made in our reformatories.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andr-breton/unless-you-have-been-inside-a-sanitarium-you-do-not-know-that-madmen/) [André Breton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andr-breton/) > [A game: say something. Close your eyes and say something. Anything, a number, a name. Like this (she closes her eyes): Two, two what?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andr-breton/a-game-say-something-close-your-eyes-and-say-something-anything-a/) [Andre Breton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andr-breton/) > [...with the end of my breath, which is the beginning of yours.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andr-breton/with-the-end-of-my-breath-which-is-the-beginning-of-yours/) [Andre Breton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andr-breton/) > [Past and future monopolize the poet’s sensory and intellectual faculties, detached from the immediate spectacle. These two philtres become utterly clear the moment one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andr-breton/past-and-future-monopolize-the-poet-s-sensory-and-intellectual/) [Andre Breton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andr-breton/) > [If I place love above everything, it is because for me it is the most desperate, the most despairing state of affairs imaginable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andr-breton/if-i-place-love-above-everything-it-is-because-for-me-it-is-the-most/) [Andre Breton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andr-breton/) > [I am the soul in limbo.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andr-breton/i-am-the-soul-in-limbo/) [Andre Breton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andr-breton/) > [Surrealism will usher you into death, which is a secret society. It will glove your hand, burying therein the profound M with which the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andr-breton/surrealism-will-usher-you-into-death-which-is-a-secret-society-it/) [Andre Breton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andr-breton/) > [Surrealism will usher you into death, which is a secret society. It will glove your hand, burying therein the profound M with which the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andr-breton/surrealism-will-usher-you-into-death-which-is-a-secret-society-it-2/) [Andre Breton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andr-breton/) [Explore all 141 Andre Breton quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andr-breton/) ## More Art quotes > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. Accordingly...they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/before-noah-men-having-only-water-to-drink-could-not-find-the-truth/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [“Hear the sum of the whole matter in the compass of one brief word — every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/hear-the-sum-of-the-whole-matter-in-the-compass-of-one-brief-word/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [I think most artists feel like they're outside society - no matter how many accolades they receive, or how much money is in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-rose/i-think-most-artists-feel-like-they-re-outside-society-no-matter-how/) [Aaron Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-rose/) > [The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/the-capacity-to-be-puzzled-is-the-premise-of-all-creation-be-it-in/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) Taf Teh > [The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/) [Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/) > [During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/during-human-progress-every-science-is-evolved-out-of-its/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. They walk different paths. Artists create the best outputs when they're having fun. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-dragon/i-think-a-business-guy-is-different-from-an-artist-they-walk/) [G-Dragon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-dragon/) > [“The only thing--I tell you this straight from the heart--that disgusts me in Salzburg is that one can't have any proper social intercourse with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/the-only-thing-i-tell-you-this-straight-from-the-heart-that-disgusts/) [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/) > [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [Art isn't done to decorate apartments, but to wage war against the enemy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/art-isn-t-done-to-decorate-apartments-but-to-wage-war-against-the/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) [Browse all 48,643 Art quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Of all the arts in which the wise excel, nature's chief masterpiece is writing well.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Andre Breton" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andr-breton/of-all-the-arts-in-which-the-wise-excel-nature-s-chief-masterpiece-is/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andr-breton/of-all-the-arts-in-which-the-wise-excel-nature-s-chief-masterpiece-is/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/576/andr-breton-2478_art_of-all-the-arts-in-which-the-wise-excel_66609.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/576/andr-breton-2478_art_of-all-the-arts-in-which-the-wise-excel_66609.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/576/andr-breton-2478_art_of-all-the-arts-in-which-the-wise-excel_66609.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Of all the arts in which the wise excel, nature's chief masterpiece is writing well.” — Andre Breton", "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": "Andre Breton", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andr-breton/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Of all the arts in which...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andr-breton/of-all-the-arts-in-which-the-wise-excel-nature-s-chief-masterpiece-is/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andr-breton/of-all-the-arts-in-which-the-wise-excel-nature-s-chief-masterpiece-is/#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 } } ] } ```