--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I'm very drawn to the way in which a life…" description: "\"I'm very drawn to the way in which a life lived can be an art of sorts or a failed art, and a life-lived-told can be art as well.\" — David Shields" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54b/david-shields-8815_art_i-m-very-drawn-to-the-way-in-which-a-lif_263457.jpg" --- # I'm very drawn to the way in which a life lived can be an… ![“I'm very drawn to the way in which a life lived can be an art of sorts or a failed art, and a life-lived-told can be art as well.” quote by David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54b/david-shields-8815_art_i-m-very-drawn-to-the-way-in-which-a-lif_263457.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54b/david-shields-8815_art_i-m-very-drawn-to-the-way-in-which-a-lif_263457.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54b/david-shields-8815_art_i-m-very-drawn-to-the-way-in-which-a-lif_263457.jpg) > “I'm very drawn to the way in which a life lived can be an art of sorts or a failed art, and a life-lived-told can be art as well.” [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Life can be crafted like art, whether successful or not, and storytelling turns experience into art. **In simple terms:** Life is an art form. Key Takeaway Treat experiences as creative expression. Themes creativity reflection existence Mood thoughtful introspective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - writing - teaching - personal growth Key Concepts narrative theory existentialism Questions to Reflect On - Do you view setbacks as artistic failures? - How can storytelling improve self‑understanding? A Different Perspective Art may overlook practical necessities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Art life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-life/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Drawn Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drawn-way-2125201/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Life Lived](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-lived/) [Lived](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lived/) [Lived Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lived-art-2079385/) [Told Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/told-art-1756249/) [Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/) [Well](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/well/) ## Related quotes > [A life lived for art, is never a life wasted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/macklemore/a-life-lived-for-art-is-never-a-life-wasted/) [Macklemore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/macklemore/) > [I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-m-not-bad-i-m-just-drawn-that-way/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The Baron told her that only art meant anything.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gorey/the-baron-told-her-that-only-art-meant-anything/) [Edward Gorey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gorey/) > [“Artists shouldn't wait until they are told what their art should be, they shouldn't follow trends or allow other people to influence their work,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-james-pritchard/artists-shouldn-t-wait-until-they-are-told-what-their-art-should-be/) [Andrew James Pritchard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-james-pritchard/) > [The sole substitute for an experience which we have not ourselves lived through is art and literature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/the-sole-substitute-for-an-experience-which-we-have-not-ourselves/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [I lived for art, I lived for love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giacomo-puccini/i-lived-for-art-i-lived-for-love/) [Giacomo Puccini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giacomo-puccini/) > [“The sole substitute for an experience we have not ourselves lived through is art and literature.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-i-solzhenitsyn/the-sole-substitute-for-an-experience-we-have-not-ourselves-lived/) [Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-i-solzhenitsyn/) > [Only a life lived for others is a life worthwile..](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/only-a-life-lived-for-others-is-a-life-worthwile/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [“I take account of my life and find that I have lived a lot and learned very little.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-conroy/i-take-account-of-my-life-and-find-that-i-have-lived-a-lot-and/) [Pat Conroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-conroy/) > [My personal life is lived as 'me,' but my professional life is lived as other people. In other words, when I go to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-shawn/my-personal-life-is-lived-as-me-but-my-professional-life-is-lived-as/) [Wallace Shawn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-shawn/) > [Life is lived on the edge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-smith/life-is-lived-on-the-edge/) [Will Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-smith/) > [“The only life lost, is the life not lived.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-w-greenlee/the-only-life-lost-is-the-life-not-lived/) [E.W. Greenlee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-w-greenlee/) > [A life not lived for others is not a life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mother-teresa/a-life-not-lived-for-others-is-not-a-life/) [Mother Teresa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mother-teresa/) > [“... finally realizing that life was to be lived, rather than hoarded against an unseen tomorrow.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-hobb/finally-realizing-that-life-was-to-be-lived-rather-than-hoarded/) [Robin Hobb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-hobb/) > [“A life lived in moderation is a story nobody would read, much less live”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-a-keene/a-life-lived-in-moderation-is-a-story-nobody-would-read-much-less-live/) [D.A. Keene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-a-keene/) ## More by David Shields > [To be honest, there are parts of 'How Literature Saved My Life' that began as interviews. Someone was telling me that they think the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/to-be-honest-there-are-parts-of-how-literature-saved-my-life-that/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [People like Ian McEwan and Jonathan Franzen completely bore me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/people-like-ian-mcewan-and-jonathan-franzen-completely-bore-me/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [You're one of 6.5 billion people now on the planet, and 99.9 percent of your genes are the same as everyone else's.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/you-re-one-of-6-5-billion-people-now-on-the-planet-and-99-9-percent/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [We're completely confused about the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction. To me, the moment you compose, you're fictionalising; the moment you remember, you're dreaming.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/we-re-completely-confused-about-the-boundaries-between-fiction-and/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [Your art is most alive and dangerous when you use it against yourself. That's why I pick at my scabs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/your-art-is-most-alive-and-dangerous-when-you-use-it-against-yourself/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [Everything I write, I believe instinctively, is to some extent collage. Meaning, ultimately, is a matter of adjacent data.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/everything-i-write-i-believe-instinctively-is-to-some-extent-collage/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [Swimming is by far the best tonic I've found for my back. I'm not a good swimmer - I do the breaststroke or elementary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/swimming-is-by-far-the-best-tonic-i-ve-found-for-my-back-i-m-not-a/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [I've always liked this idea that writing should comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable to create trouble. The value of a work of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/i-ve-always-liked-this-idea-that-writing-should-comfort-the-afflicted/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [The beauty of reality-based art - art underwritten by reality hunger - is that it's perfectly situated between life itself and (unattainable) "life as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/the-beauty-of-reality-based-art-art-underwritten-by-reality-hunger-is/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [“A great book allows me to leap over that wall: in a deep, significant conversation with another consciousness, I feel human and unalone.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/a-great-book-allows-me-to-leap-over-that-wall-in-a-deep-significant/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [The novel is dead. Long live the antinovel, built from scraps.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/the-novel-is-dead-long-live-the-antinovel-built-from-scraps/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [I am exhausted by traditional memoir. I am exhausted by the architecture of the conventional novel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/i-am-exhausted-by-traditional-memoir-i-am-exhausted-by-the/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [I couldn't tell a story if my life depended on it. I'm the world's worst joke-teller.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/i-couldn-t-tell-a-story-if-my-life-depended-on-it-i-m-the-world-s/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [The absence of plot leaves the reader room to think about other things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/the-absence-of-plot-leaves-the-reader-room-to-think-about-other-things/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [I think there are people who are born storytellers. I think of someone like T. C. Boyle or Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I think really,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/i-think-there-are-people-who-are-born-storytellers-i-think-of-someone/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) [Explore all 77 David Shields quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) ## 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](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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": "I'm very drawn to the way in which a life lived can be an art of sorts or a failed art, and a life-lived-told can be art as well.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "David Shields" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/i-m-very-drawn-to-the-way-in-which-a-life-lived-can-be-an-art-of/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/i-m-very-drawn-to-the-way-in-which-a-life-lived-can-be-an-art-of/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54b/david-shields-8815_art_i-m-very-drawn-to-the-way-in-which-a-lif_263457.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54b/david-shields-8815_art_i-m-very-drawn-to-the-way-in-which-a-lif_263457.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54b/david-shields-8815_art_i-m-very-drawn-to-the-way-in-which-a-lif_263457.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I'm very drawn to the way in which a life lived can be an art of sorts or a failed art, and a…” — David Shields", "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": "David Shields", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I'm very drawn to the way...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/i-m-very-drawn-to-the-way-in-which-a-life-lived-can-be-an-art-of/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/i-m-very-drawn-to-the-way-in-which-a-life-lived-can-be-an-art-of/#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 } } ] } ```