--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Art is the terms of an armistice signed…" description: "\"Art is the terms of an armistice signed with fate.\" — Bernard DeVoto" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a81/bernard-devoto-23837_armistice_art-is-the-terms-of-an-armistice-signed_994334.png" --- # Art is the terms of an armistice signed with fate. ![“Art is the terms of an armistice signed with fate.” quote by Bernard DeVoto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a81/bernard-devoto-23837_armistice_art-is-the-terms-of-an-armistice-signed_994334.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a81/bernard-devoto-23837_armistice_art-is-the-terms-of-an-armistice-signed_994334.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a81/bernard-devoto-23837_armistice_art-is-the-terms-of-an-armistice-signed_994334.png) > “Art is the terms of an armistice signed with fate.” [Bernard DeVoto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-devoto/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Art is a fragile peace made with destiny, a temporary truce that masks deeper uncertainty. **In simple terms:** Art is a fragile peace with fate. Key Takeaway Accept uncertainty, keep creating. Themes art fate uncertainty creativity Mood reflective melancholic Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - personal expression - cultural critique - political satire Key Concepts existentialism temporary peace Questions to Reflect On - How does art negotiate destiny? - When does peace become complacency? A Different Perspective Art cannot fully resolve fate’s unpredictability. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Armistice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/armistice/) [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Fate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fate/) ## Related quotes > [I have a soft spot for art that, in terms of subject matter and material, is in bad taste.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/i-have-a-soft-spot-for-art-that-in-terms-of-subject-matter-and/) [Jerry Saltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-saltz/) > [There is no need to express art in terms of nature. It can perfectly well be expressed in terms of geometry and the exact…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-vantongerloo/there-is-no-need-to-express-art-in-terms-of-nature-it-can-perfectly/) Georges Vantongerloo > [Comic art is just different. It's art on its own terms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-simon/comic-art-is-just-different-it-s-art-on-its-own-terms/) [Joe Simon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-simon/) > [“Ceasefire only postpones war, disarmament instills peace. Armistice empowers armament, demilitarization plants peace.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/ceasefire-only-postpones-war-disarmament-instills-peace-armistice/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [I've been in contact with Marshal Badoglio. We agree that Italy must be saved from the abyss toward which Fascism is driving her. If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ugo-cavallero/i-ve-been-in-contact-with-marshal-badoglio-we-agree-that-italy-must/) [Ugo Cavallero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ugo-cavallero/) > [“Though the issue of collaboration, whether active or passive, remains a highly emotive matter in France, the fact was that, in the summer of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-fenby/though-the-issue-of-collaboration-whether-active-or-passive-remains-a/) [Jonathan Fenby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-fenby/) > [“Emotionally and politically, Syngman Rhee could not accept the armistice terms. They left his nation and people divided; they left a million South Koreans…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-r-fehrenbach-2/emotionally-and-politically-syngman-rhee-could-not-accept-the/) [T.R. Fehrenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-r-fehrenbach-2/) > [Lord, bid war's trumpet cease; Fold the whole earth in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-wendell-holmes-jr/lord-bid-war-s-trumpet-cease-fold-the-whole-earth-in-peace/) [Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-wendell-holmes-jr/) > [Armistice Day has become Veterans' Day. Armistice Day was sacred. Veterans' Day is not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/armistice-day-has-become-veterans-day-armistice-day-was-sacred/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed, will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sound of lullabies? The great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neal-a-maxwell/when-the-real-history-of-mankind-is-fully-disclosed-will-it-feature/) [Neal A. Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neal-a-maxwell/) > [Yet war doesn't end with armistice, it only ends with forgiveness and reconciliation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-cleave/yet-war-doesn-t-end-with-armistice-it-only-ends-with-forgiveness-and/) [Chris Cleave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-cleave/) > [“The last deaths of the Great War on the western front occurred at midnight on the twelfth in Hamont, a Belgian town near the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-e-persico/the-last-deaths-of-the-great-war-on-the-western-front-occurred-at/) [Joseph E. Persico](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-e-persico/) > [All the people of all the nations which had fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/all-the-people-of-all-the-nations-which-had-fought-in-the-first-world/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [I do think it is harder to acknowledge our strengths, or to forgive ourselves and each other for our shortcomings, when there has not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-cleave/i-do-think-it-is-harder-to-acknowledge-our-strengths-or-to-forgive/) [Chris Cleave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-cleave/) > [We have won an armistice on a single battlefield, not peace in our world. We may not now relax our guard nor cease our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwight-d-eisenhower/we-have-won-an-armistice-on-a-single-battlefield-not-peace-in-our/) [Dwight D. Eisenhower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwight-d-eisenhower/) ## More by Bernard DeVoto > [Art is man determined to die sane.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-devoto/art-is-man-determined-to-die-sane/) [Bernard DeVoto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-devoto/) > [Let us candidly admit that there are shameful blemishes on the American past, of which the worst by far is rum. Nevertheless, we have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-devoto/let-us-candidly-admit-that-there-are-shameful-blemishes-on-the/) [Bernard DeVoto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-devoto/) > [The dawn of knowledge is usually the false dawn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-devoto/the-dawn-of-knowledge-is-usually-the-false-dawn/) [Bernard DeVoto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-devoto/) > [Sure the people are stupid: the human race is stupid. Sure Congress is an inefficient instrument of government. But the people are not stupid…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-devoto/sure-the-people-are-stupid-the-human-race-is-stupid-sure-congress-is/) [Bernard DeVoto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-devoto/) > [A novelist has mad a fictional representation of life. I doing so, he has revealed to us more significance, it may be, than he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-devoto/a-novelist-has-mad-a-fictional-representation-of-life-i-doing-so-he/) [Bernard DeVoto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-devoto/) > [New England is a finished place. Its destiny is that of Florence or Venice, not Milan while the American empire careens onward toward its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-devoto/new-england-is-a-finished-place-its-destiny-is-that-of-florence-or/) [Bernard DeVoto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-devoto/) > [The achieved West had given the United States something that no people had ever had before, an internal, domestic empire.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-devoto/the-achieved-west-had-given-the-united-states-something-that-no/) [Bernard DeVoto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-devoto/) > [The best reason for putting anything down on paper is that one may then change it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-devoto/the-best-reason-for-putting-anything-down-on-paper-is-that-one-may/) [Bernard DeVoto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-devoto/) > [The water of life was given to us to make us see for a while that we are more nearly men and women, more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-devoto/the-water-of-life-was-given-to-us-to-make-us-see-for-a-while-that-we/) [Bernard DeVoto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-devoto/) > [You can no more keep a martini in the refrigerator than you can keep a kiss there. The proper union of gin and vermouth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-devoto/you-can-no-more-keep-a-martini-in-the-refrigerator-than-you-can-keep/) [Bernard DeVoto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-devoto/) > [One may lack words to express the impact of beauty but no one who has felt it remains untouched. It is renewal, enlargement, intensification.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-devoto/one-may-lack-words-to-express-the-impact-of-beauty-but-no-one-who-has/) [Bernard DeVoto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-devoto/) > [Between the amateur and the professional . . . there is a difference not only in degree but in kind. The skillful man is,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-devoto/between-the-amateur-and-the-professional-there-is-a-difference-not/) [Bernard DeVoto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-devoto/) > [The trouble with Reason is that it becomes meaningless at the exact point where it refuses to act.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-devoto/the-trouble-with-reason-is-that-it-becomes-meaningless-at-the-exact/) [Bernard DeVoto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-devoto/) > [You can no more keep a Martini in the refrigerator than you can keep a kiss there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-devoto/you-can-no-more-keep-a-martini-in-the-refrigerator-than-you-can-keep-2/) [Bernard DeVoto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-devoto/) > [“They came to Virginia City as soon as the true value of the Comstock was perceived. They constituted, no doubt, a deplorable source of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-devoto/they-came-to-virginia-city-as-soon-as-the-true-value-of-the-comstock/) [Bernard DeVoto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-devoto/) [Explore all 25 Bernard DeVoto quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-devoto/) ## More Armistice quotes > [We have won an armistice on a single battlefield, not peace in our world. We may not now relax our guard nor cease our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwight-d-eisenhower/we-have-won-an-armistice-on-a-single-battlefield-not-peace-in-our/) [Dwight D. Eisenhower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwight-d-eisenhower/) > [I do think it is harder to acknowledge our strengths, or to forgive ourselves and each other for our shortcomings, when there has not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-cleave/i-do-think-it-is-harder-to-acknowledge-our-strengths-or-to-forgive/) [Chris Cleave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-cleave/) > [All the people of all the nations which had fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/all-the-people-of-all-the-nations-which-had-fought-in-the-first-world/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [“The last deaths of the Great War on the western front occurred at midnight on the twelfth in Hamont, a Belgian town near the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-e-persico/the-last-deaths-of-the-great-war-on-the-western-front-occurred-at/) [Joseph E. Persico](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-e-persico/) > [Yet war doesn't end with armistice, it only ends with forgiveness and reconciliation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-cleave/yet-war-doesn-t-end-with-armistice-it-only-ends-with-forgiveness-and/) [Chris Cleave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-cleave/) > [When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed, will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sound of lullabies? The great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neal-a-maxwell/when-the-real-history-of-mankind-is-fully-disclosed-will-it-feature/) [Neal A. Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neal-a-maxwell/) > [Armistice Day has become Veterans' Day. Armistice Day was sacred. Veterans' Day is not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/armistice-day-has-become-veterans-day-armistice-day-was-sacred/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [Lord, bid war's trumpet cease; Fold the whole earth in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-wendell-holmes-jr/lord-bid-war-s-trumpet-cease-fold-the-whole-earth-in-peace/) [Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-wendell-holmes-jr/) > [“Emotionally and politically, Syngman Rhee could not accept the armistice terms. They left his nation and people divided; they left a million South Koreans…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-r-fehrenbach-2/emotionally-and-politically-syngman-rhee-could-not-accept-the/) [T.R. Fehrenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-r-fehrenbach-2/) > [“Though the issue of collaboration, whether active or passive, remains a highly emotive matter in France, the fact was that, in the summer of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-fenby/though-the-issue-of-collaboration-whether-active-or-passive-remains-a/) [Jonathan Fenby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-fenby/) > [I've been in contact with Marshal Badoglio. We agree that Italy must be saved from the abyss toward which Fascism is driving her. If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ugo-cavallero/i-ve-been-in-contact-with-marshal-badoglio-we-agree-that-italy-must/) [Ugo Cavallero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ugo-cavallero/) > [“Ceasefire only postpones war, disarmament instills peace. Armistice empowers armament, demilitarization plants peace.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/ceasefire-only-postpones-war-disarmament-instills-peace-armistice/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [Valentine's Day is like Armistice Day - you declare a truce.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milton-berle/valentine-s-day-is-like-armistice-day-you-declare-a-truce/) [Milton Berle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milton-berle/) > [This is not a peace. It is an armistice for twenty years.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferdinand-foch/this-is-not-a-peace-it-is-an-armistice-for-twenty-years/) [Ferdinand Foch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ferdinand-foch/) > [Peace is only possible when one of the warring sides takes the first step, the hazardous initiative, the risk of opening up dialogue, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-derrida/peace-is-only-possible-when-one-of-the-warring-sides-takes-the-first/) [Jacques Derrida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-derrida/) [Browse all 44 Armistice quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/armistice/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Art is the terms of an armistice signed with fate.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Bernard DeVoto" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-devoto/art-is-the-terms-of-an-armistice-signed-with-fate/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Armistice" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-devoto/art-is-the-terms-of-an-armistice-signed-with-fate/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a81/bernard-devoto-23837_armistice_art-is-the-terms-of-an-armistice-signed_994334.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a81/bernard-devoto-23837_armistice_art-is-the-terms-of-an-armistice-signed_994334.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a81/bernard-devoto-23837_armistice_art-is-the-terms-of-an-armistice-signed_994334.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Art is the terms of an armistice signed with fate.” — Bernard DeVoto", "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": "Bernard DeVoto", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-devoto/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Art is the terms of an...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-devoto/art-is-the-terms-of-an-armistice-signed-with-fate/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-devoto/art-is-the-terms-of-an-armistice-signed-with-fate/#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 } } ] } ```