--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Like any art, what is the most…" description: "\"Like any art, what is the most imprisoning thing is also the most delivering thing. If an actor knows he only has 12 syllables in a line, the challenge..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c9/derek-walcott-2220_actor_like-any-art-what-is-the-most-imprisonin_156763.jpg" --- # Like any art, what is the most imprisoning thing is also… ![“Like any art, what is the most imprisoning thing is also the most delivering thing. If an actor knows he only has 12 syllables in a line, the challenge is, 'How can I interpret the meaning and contain it without going one syllable over?'” quote by Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c9/derek-walcott-2220_actor_like-any-art-what-is-the-most-imprisonin_156763.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c9/derek-walcott-2220_actor_like-any-art-what-is-the-most-imprisonin_156763.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c9/derek-walcott-2220_actor_like-any-art-what-is-the-most-imprisonin_156763.jpg) > “Like any art, what is the most imprisoning thing is also the most delivering thing. If an actor knows he only has 12 syllables in a line, the challenge is, 'How can I interpret the meaning and contain it without going one syllable over?'” [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Constraints in art, like limited syllables, spark creativity and deeper expression. **In simple terms:** Limits can inspire artistic depth. Key Takeaway Use constraints to sharpen creativity. Themes creativity constraints art expression discipline Mood inventive focused Type artistic motivational When to use this quote - poetry writing - theatre - songwriting Key Concepts literary theory performance studies Questions to Reflect On - How do constraints shape your creative process? - When do you need freedom over limits? A Different Perspective Too much restriction can stifle. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Actor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/actor/) [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Delivering Thing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/delivering-thing-1729636/) [How](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/how/) [Imprisoning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imprisoning-1491688/) [Imprisoning Thing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imprisoning-thing-1729632/) [Meaning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meaning/) [Only](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/only/) [Syllables](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/syllables/) [Syllables Line](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/syllables-line-1729634/) ## Related quotes > [“Can there really be a form of verse where all that counts is the number of syllables in a line? No patterning of stress…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-fry/can-there-really-be-a-form-of-verse-where-all-that-counts-is-the/) [Stephen Fry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-fry/) > [A line has to have a certain number of syllables, and the next line has to be its mirror image.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bonnie-mckee/a-line-has-to-have-a-certain-number-of-syllables-and-the-next-line/) [Bonnie McKee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bonnie-mckee/) > [“When we lock things away, we're really imprisoning ourselves.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gordon-korman-capricorn-anderson/when-we-lock-things-away-we-re-really-imprisoning-ourselves/) [Gordon Korman Capricorn Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gordon-korman-capricorn-anderson/) > [Every time I go past a cinema and see a queue out the door, I think, look at those fools, every penny they spend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cory-doctorow/every-time-i-go-past-a-cinema-and-see-a-queue-out-the-door-i-think/) [Cory Doctorow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cory-doctorow/) > [We are imprisoning or giving jail sentences to young people who are smoking marijuana.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernie-sanders/we-are-imprisoning-or-giving-jail-sentences-to-young-people-who-are/) [Bernie Sanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernie-sanders/) > [Unforgiveness is a deeply seated and poisonous bitter root; imprisoning those who harbours it with a hardened heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geraldine-vermaak/unforgiveness-is-a-deeply-seated-and-poisonous-bitter-root/) [Geraldine Vermaak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geraldine-vermaak/) > [When we lock things away," he said with conviction, "we're really imprisoning ourselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gordon-korman/when-we-lock-things-away-he-said-with-conviction-we-re-really/) [Gordon Korman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gordon-korman/) > [What really drives the battle against law enforcement and punishment is not a commitment to treatment, but the widely held view that, first, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-p-walters/what-really-drives-the-battle-against-law-enforcement-and-punishment/) [John P. 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Going to Boy George's house…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chelsea-handler/boy-george-has-been-charged-with-falsely-imprisoning-a-man-who-d-gone/) [Chelsea Handler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chelsea-handler/) > [“To lock these men up or threaten them would be no more effective than imprisoning the milkweed or shouting at the kudzu.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-w-robertson/to-lock-these-men-up-or-threaten-them-would-be-no-more-effective-than/) [Edward W. Robertson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-w-robertson/) ## More by Derek Walcott > [Memory that yearns to join the centre, a limb remembering the body from which it has been severed, like those bamboo thighs of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/memory-that-yearns-to-join-the-centre-a-limb-remembering-the-body/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [Peel your own image from the mirror. Sit. Feast on your life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/peel-your-own-image-from-the-mirror-sit-feast-on-your-life/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [I don't feel I've arrived home until I get on the beach. All my life, the theater of the sea has been a very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/i-don-t-feel-i-ve-arrived-home-until-i-get-on-the-beach-all-my-life/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [“As human beings we’ve certainly suffered the loss of awe, the loss of sacredness, and the loss of the fact that we’re not here—…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/as-human-beings-we-ve-certainly-suffered-the-loss-of-awe-the-loss-of/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [“I shall unlearn feeling, unlearn my gift. 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All my life, I've been aware of her grief about his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/my-mother-who-is-nearly-ninety-now-still-talks-continually-about-my/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [My family background really only consists of my mother. She was a widow. My father died quite young; he must have been thirty-one. Then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/my-family-background-really-only-consists-of-my-mother-she-was-a/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [“I am the man my father loved and was.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/i-am-the-man-my-father-loved-and-was/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [The thing that is believed is a reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/the-thing-that-is-believed-is-a-reality/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [The history of the world - by which, of course, we mean Europe - is a record of intertribal lacerations, of ethnic cleansings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/the-history-of-the-world-by-which-of-course-we-mean-europe-is-a/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [The English language is nobody's special property. It is the property of the imagination: it is the property of the language itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/the-english-language-is-nobody-s-special-property-it-is-the-property/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) > [A noun is not a name you give something. It is something you watch becoming itself, and you have to have the patience to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-walcott/a-noun-is-not-a-name-you-give-something-it-is-something-you-watch/) [Derek Walcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) [Explore all 177 Derek Walcott quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-walcott/) ## More Actor quotes > [I actually think acting is a form of self-hypnosis. You have to be hyper, hyper aware of what's going on around you. 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