--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Whatever teaches us to talk to ourselves…" description: "\"“Whatever teaches us to talk to ourselves is important: whatever teaches us to sing ourselves out of despair. But the painting has also taught me that ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a5/donna-tartt-391_artist_whatever-teaches-us-to-talk-to-ourselves_3088707.jpg" --- # Whatever teaches us to talk to ourselves is important… ![“Whatever teaches us to talk to ourselves is important: whatever teaches us to sing ourselves out of despair. But the painting has also taught me that we can speak to each other across time. And I feel I have something very serious and urgent to say to you, my non-existent reader, and I feel I…” quote by Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a5/donna-tartt-391_artist_whatever-teaches-us-to-talk-to-ourselves_3088707.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a5/donna-tartt-391_artist_whatever-teaches-us-to-talk-to-ourselves_3088707.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a5/donna-tartt-391_artist_whatever-teaches-us-to-talk-to-ourselves_3088707.jpg) > ““Whatever teaches us to talk to ourselves is important: whatever teaches us to sing ourselves out of despair. But the painting has also taught me that we can speak to each other across time. And I feel I have something very serious and urgent to say to you, my non-existent reader, and I feel I should say it as urgently as if I were standing in the room with you. That life—whatever else it is—is short. That fate is cruel but maybe not random. That Nature (meaning Death) always wins but that doesn’t mean we have to bow and grovel to it. That maybe even if we’re not always so glad to be here, it’s our task to immerse ourselves anyway: wade straight through it, right through the cesspool, while keeping eyes and hearts open. And in the midst of our dying, as we rise from the organic and sink back ignominiously into the organic, it is a glory and a privilege to love what Death doesn’t touch. For if disaster and oblivion have followed this painting down through time—so too has love. Insofar as it is immortal (and it is) I have a small, bright, immutable part in that immortality. It exists; and it keeps on existing. And I add my own love to the history of people who have loved beautiful things, and looked out for them, and pulled them from the fire, and sought them when they were lost, and tried to preserve them and save them while passing them along literally from hand to hand, singing out brilliantly from the wreck of time to the next generation of lovers, and the next.”” [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Art connects individuals across time, offering purpose and love despite mortality and suffering. **In simple terms:** Art links us, gives meaning beyond death. Key Takeaway Engage with art to find lasting purpose. Themes mortality art love purpose legacy Mood contemplative hopeful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - museum visits - personal reflection - creative writing - grief coping Key Concepts existentialism transcendence impermanence Questions to Reflect On - What does art mean to you in hardship? - How can you create lasting love through art? A Different Perspective Art’s impact varies; not everyone finds solace in it. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Despair Painting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/despair-painting-280671/) [Followed Painting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/followed-painting-5300720/) [Immortality Exists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/immortality-exists-4084220/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Love Insofar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love-insofar-2611108/) [Next generation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/next-generation/) [Painting Taught](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painting-taught-2700489/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [“And in the midst of our dying, as we rise from the organic and sink back ignominiously into the organic, it is a glory…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/and-in-the-midst-of-our-dying-as-we-rise-from-the-organic-and-sink/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [Painting taught literature to describe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orhan-pamuk/painting-taught-literature-to-describe/) [Orhan Pamuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orhan-pamuk/) > [Very few people have a natural feeling for painting, and so, of course, they naturally think that painting is an expression of the artist's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-bacon/very-few-people-have-a-natural-feeling-for-painting-and-so-of-course/) [Francis Bacon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-bacon/) > [“We have but a single moment at our disposal. Let us transform that moment into eternity. No other form of immortality exists”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikos-kazantzakis/we-have-but-a-single-moment-at-our-disposal-let-us-transform-that/) [Nikos Kazantzakis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikos-kazantzakis/) > [I can only know what love is insofar as I can feel it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mercedes-mccambridge/i-can-only-know-what-love-is-insofar-as-i-can-feel-it/) [Mercedes McCambridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mercedes-mccambridge/) > [“Love is love insofar as it obliges us to love and, as we respond to its call, becomes ever more truly love.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-grygiel/love-is-love-insofar-as-it-obliges-us-to-love-and-as-we-respond-to/) [Stanislaw Grygiel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-grygiel/) > [And I add my own love to the history of people who have loved beautiful things, and looked out for them, and pulled them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/and-i-add-my-own-love-to-the-history-of-people-who-have-loved/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [The most important thing to me is to inspire all these athletes in the next generation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tobin-heath/the-most-important-thing-to-me-is-to-inspire-all-these-athletes-in/) [Tobin Heath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tobin-heath/) > [The next generation will remake the world in a way that allows us to live in a more sustainable way, both personally and globally.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arianna-huffington/the-next-generation-will-remake-the-world-in-a-way-that-allows-us-to/) [Arianna Huffington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arianna-huffington/) > [I felt cheated by the way grown-ups told me that the future of the world was bleak when I became a teenager in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-ridley/i-felt-cheated-by-the-way-grown-ups-told-me-that-the-future-of-the/) [Matt Ridley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-ridley/) > [We want American families to feel more confident in life. We want the next generation to know that yes, the best days of this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-ryan/we-want-american-families-to-feel-more-confident-in-life-we-want-the/) [Paul Ryan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-ryan/) > [“The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children's games from the beginning, and will probably do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton/the-human-race-to-which-so-many-of-my-readers-belong-has-been-playing/) [G.K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/) > [The Next Generation Space Telescope, which will be located much further away from the Earth than the Hubble Space Telescope presently is, will also…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-nicollier/the-next-generation-space-telescope-which-will-be-located-much/) [Claude Nicollier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-nicollier/) > [“Did you think of anyone else?” Enid had asked the folk of this household. “Did you think of the next generation that’ll have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carrie-vaughn/did-you-think-of-anyone-else-enid-had-asked-the-folk-of-this/) [Carrie Vaughn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carrie-vaughn/) > [I think leading by example is important, as I know the next generation is watching us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-skolnik/i-think-leading-by-example-is-important-as-i-know-the-next-generation/) [Michael Skolnik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-skolnik/) ## More by Donna Tartt > [I hope we're all ready to leave the phenomenal world, and enter into the sublime?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/i-hope-we-re-all-ready-to-leave-the-phenomenal-world-and-enter-into/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [And I add my own love to the history of people who have loved beautiful things, and looked out for them, and pulled them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/and-i-add-my-own-love-to-the-history-of-people-who-have-loved/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [And the flavor of Pippa's kiss--bittersweet and strange--stayed with me all the way back uptown, swaying and sleepy as I sailed home on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/and-the-flavor-of-pippa-s-kiss-bittersweet-and-strange-stayed-with-me/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [“The world won't come to me...so I must go to it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/the-world-won-t-come-to-me-so-i-must-go-to-it/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [There's an expectation these days that novels - like any other consumer product - should be made on a production line, with one dropping…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/there-s-an-expectation-these-days-that-novels-like-any-other-consumer/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [“A month or two before, I would have been appalled at the idea of any murder at all. But that Sunday afternoon, as I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/a-month-or-two-before-i-would-have-been-appalled-at-the-idea-of-any/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [Well, I think storytellers have always found murder a fascinating device.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/well-i-think-storytellers-have-always-found-murder-a-fascinating/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [Always remember, the person we’re really working for is the person who’s restoring the piece a hundred years from now. He’s the one we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/always-remember-the-person-we-re-really-working-for-is-the-person-who/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [“The silence between us was happy and strange, connected by the cord and the icy voices thinly echoing. “You don’t have to talk,” she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/the-silence-between-us-was-happy-and-strange-connected-by-the-cord/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [“It is a terrible thing to learn as a child that one is a being separate from all the world, that no one and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/it-is-a-terrible-thing-to-learn-as-a-child-that-one-is-a-being/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [“You didn’t meet many people who moved freely through the world with such a vigorous contempt for it and at the same time such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/you-didn-t-meet-many-people-who-moved-freely-through-the-world-with/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [“maybe that’s what’s waiting for us at the end of the journey, a majesty unimaginable until the very moment we find ourselves walking through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/maybe-that-s-what-s-waiting-for-us-at-the-end-of-the-journey-a/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [“lights and moods and seasons was to see it a thousand different ways and to keep it shut in the dark—a thing made of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/lights-and-moods-and-seasons-was-to-see-it-a-thousand-different-ways/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [A great sorrow, and one that I am only beginning to understand: we don’t get to choose our own hearts. We can’t make ourselves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/a-great-sorrow-and-one-that-i-am-only-beginning-to-understand-we-don/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [“Upon meeting Julian Morrow, one has the impression that he is a man of extraordinary sympathy and warmth. But what you call his 'Asiatic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/upon-meeting-julian-morrow-one-has-the-impression-that-he-is-a-man-of/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) [Explore all 590 Donna Tartt quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) ## More Artist quotes > [One is a painter because one wants so-called freedom; one doesn't want to go to the office every morning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-duchamp/one-is-a-painter-because-one-wants-so-called-freedom-one-doesn-t-want/) [Marcel Duchamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-duchamp/) > [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/) > [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/) > [“People in coats and ties were milling around the Talley gallery, and on the wall were the minimally rendered still lifes by Giorgio Morandi,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-martin/people-in-coats-and-ties-were-milling-around-the-talley-gallery-and/) [Steve Martin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-martin/) > [The prophet who fails to present a bearable alternative and yet preaches doom is part of the trap that he postulates. Not only does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mead/the-prophet-who-fails-to-present-a-bearable-alternative-and-yet/) [Margaret Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mead/) > [“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/) > [From as long as I can remember, I was always fond of drawing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-lucia/from-as-long-as-i-can-remember-i-was-always-fond-of-drawing/) [St. Lucia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-lucia/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. 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I can't fix a car, sew, knit, cook, etc. Statistically, there is more I don't do than do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carrie-brownstein/i-am-a-horrible-visual-artist-i-can-t-fix-a-car-sew-knit-cook-etc/) [Carrie Brownstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carrie-brownstein/) [Browse all 32,600 Artist quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Whatever teaches us to talk to ourselves is important: whatever teaches us to sing ourselves out of despair. But the painting has also taught me that we can speak to each other across time. And I feel I have something very serious and urgent to say to you, my non-existent reader, and I feel I should say it as urgently as if I were standing in the room with you. That life—whatever else it is—is short. That fate is cruel but maybe not random. That Nature (meaning Death) always wins but that doesn’t mean we have to bow and grovel to it. That maybe even if we’re not always so glad to be here, it’s our task to immerse ourselves anyway: wade straight through it, right through the cesspool, while keeping eyes and hearts open. And in the midst of our dying, as we rise from the organic and sink back ignominiously into the organic, it is a glory and a privilege to love what Death doesn’t touch. For if disaster and oblivion have followed this painting down through time—so too has love. Insofar as it is immortal (and it is) I have a small, bright, immutable part in that immortality. It exists; and it keeps on existing. And I add my own love to the history of people who have loved beautiful things, and looked out for them, and pulled them from the fire, and sought them when they were lost, and tried to preserve them and save them while passing them along literally from hand to hand, singing out brilliantly from the wreck of time to the next generation of lovers, and the next.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Donna Tartt" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/whatever-teaches-us-to-talk-to-ourselves-is-important-whatever-2/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Artist" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/whatever-teaches-us-to-talk-to-ourselves-is-important-whatever-2/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a5/donna-tartt-391_artist_whatever-teaches-us-to-talk-to-ourselves_3088707.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a5/donna-tartt-391_artist_whatever-teaches-us-to-talk-to-ourselves_3088707.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a5/donna-tartt-391_artist_whatever-teaches-us-to-talk-to-ourselves_3088707.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Whatever teaches us to talk to ourselves is important: whatever teaches us to sing ourselves out of despair…” — Donna Tartt", "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": "Donna Tartt", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Whatever teaches us to talk to...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/whatever-teaches-us-to-talk-to-ourselves-is-important-whatever-2/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/whatever-teaches-us-to-talk-to-ourselves-is-important-whatever-2/#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 } } ] } ```