--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Art is one thing that can go on mattering…" description: "\"Art is one thing that can go on mattering once it has stopped hurting.\" — Elizabeth Bowen" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab6/elizabeth-bowen-1197_art_art-is-one-thing-that-can-go-on-matterin_814650.png" --- # Art is one thing that can go on mattering once it has… ![“Art is one thing that can go on mattering once it has stopped hurting.” quote by Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab6/elizabeth-bowen-1197_art_art-is-one-thing-that-can-go-on-matterin_814650.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab6/elizabeth-bowen-1197_art_art-is-one-thing-that-can-go-on-matterin_814650.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab6/elizabeth-bowen-1197_art_art-is-one-thing-that-can-go-on-matterin_814650.png) > “Art is one thing that can go on mattering once it has stopped hurting.” [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Art can persist beyond pain, offering lasting value once suffering ends. **In simple terms:** Art endures after it stops hurting. Key Takeaway Seek enduring meaning in creative work. Themes art healing legacy Mood contemplative hopeful Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - therapy - museum curation - personal projects - cultural preservation Key Concepts aesthetics psychology Questions to Reflect On - What makes art valuable after pain fades? - How can art heal without causing new hurt? A Different Perspective Art may still cause discomfort for some viewers. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Art Thing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-thing-303406/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Hurting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hurting/) [Mattering Stopped](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mattering-stopped-303403/) [Stopped Hurting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stopped-hurting-303404/) [Thing Mattering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thing-mattering-303405/) ## Related quotes > [Every breath, every heartbeat, was one less until maybe things stopped hurting this much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-downham/every-breath-every-heartbeat-was-one-less-until-maybe-things-stopped/) [Jenny Downham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-downham/) > [I like the fact that somebody like you sees something in me my scar stopped hurting once my heart stopped hurting right around the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathan-scott/i-like-the-fact-that-somebody-like-you-sees-something-in-me-my-scar/) [Nathan Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathan-scott/) > [“He ran until he couldn't breathe, but he never stopped hurting.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nora-sakavic/he-ran-until-he-couldn-t-breathe-but-he-never-stopped-hurting/) [Nora Sakavic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nora-sakavic/) > [Just because a relationship ends, doesn't mean two people stopped loving each other. Sometimes, they just stopped hurting each other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/just-because-a-relationship-ends-doesn-t-mean-two-people-stopped/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I think art was the one thing my high school didn't give. And I think that was probably one reason why I was interested…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roy-lichtenstein/i-think-art-was-the-one-thing-my-high-school-didn-t-give-and-i-think/) [Roy Lichtenstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roy-lichtenstein/) > [Art is a thing where, the least likely thing that you think is going to be art, is precisely the thing that is going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-phillips/art-is-a-thing-where-the-least-likely-thing-that-you-think-is-going/) [Richard Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-phillips/) > [Art was always my thing. I had an art scholarship before I had a football scholarship. I'm a left-handed, right-brained, painting-drawing guy. That was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-crews/art-was-always-my-thing-i-had-an-art-scholarship-before-i-had-a/) [Terry Crews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-crews/) > [I love the way art moves people emotionally. I love the fact that when someone purchases art it is the one thing that will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-white/i-love-the-way-art-moves-people-emotionally-i-love-the-fact-that-when/) [Jack White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-white/) > [There is only one valuable thing in art: the thing you cannot explain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-braque/there-is-only-one-valuable-thing-in-art-the-thing-you-cannot-explain/) [Georges Braque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-braque/) > [I think I always knew that I would do something with art because it was the one thing that I knew I was really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-selznick/i-think-i-always-knew-that-i-would-do-something-with-art-because-it/) [Brian Selznick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-selznick/) > [Art is the only serious thing in the world. And the artist is the only person who is never serious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/art-is-the-only-serious-thing-in-the-world-and-the-artist-is-the-only/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [Art is the one thing that's the universal virtue that you can have in any class.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoff-rickly/art-is-the-one-thing-that-s-the-universal-virtue-that-you-can-have-in/) [Geoff Rickly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoff-rickly/) > [Art is what we call...the thing an artist does. It's not the medium or the oil or the price or whether it hangs on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-godin/art-is-what-we-call-the-thing-an-artist-does-it-s-not-the-medium-or/) [Seth Godin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-godin/) > [Why I talk so seriously about art is that art is the only thing that helps people stay alive, and it is the only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juliette-lewis/why-i-talk-so-seriously-about-art-is-that-art-is-the-only-thing-that/) [Juliette Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juliette-lewis/) > [Commit to finding the true nature of art. Go for that thing no one can teach you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-deavere-smith/commit-to-finding-the-true-nature-of-art-go-for-that-thing-no-one-can/) [Anna Deavere Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-deavere-smith/) ## More by Elizabeth Bowen > [Temperamentally, the writer exists on happenings, on contacts, conflicts, action and reaction, speed, pressure, tension. Were he acontemplative purely, he would not write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/temperamentally-the-writer-exists-on-happenings-on-contacts-conflicts/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“Are you really an orphan? Yes, I am, said Portia a shade shortly. Are you? No, not at present, but I suppose it's a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/are-you-really-an-orphan-yes-i-am-said-portia-a-shade-shortly-are-you/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [It is not our exalted feelings, it is our sentiments that build the necessary home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/it-is-not-our-exalted-feelings-it-is-our-sentiments-that-build-the/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Every love has a poetic relevance of its own; each love brings to light only what to it is relevant. Outside lies the junk-yard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/every-love-has-a-poetic-relevance-of-its-own-each-love-brings-to/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [without fiction, either life would be insufficient or the winds from the north would blow too cold.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/without-fiction-either-life-would-be-insufficient-or-the-winds-from/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [One's sentiments -- call them that -- one's fidelities are so instinctive that one hardly knows they exist: only when they are betrayed or,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/one-s-sentiments-call-them-that-one-s-fidelities-are-so-instinctive/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Only in a house where one has learnt to be lonely does one have this solicitude for things. One's relation to them, the daily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/only-in-a-house-where-one-has-learnt-to-be-lonely-does-one-have-this/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [To walk into history is to be free at once, to be at large among people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/to-walk-into-history-is-to-be-free-at-once-to-be-at-large-among-people/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [The wish to lead out one's lover must be a tribal feeling; the wish to be seen as loved is part of one's self-respect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/the-wish-to-lead-out-one-s-lover-must-be-a-tribal-feeling-the-wish-to/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Convention was our safeguard: could one have stronger?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/convention-was-our-safeguard-could-one-have-stronger/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“First love, with its frantic haughty imagination, swings its object clear of the everyday, over the rut of living, making him all looks, silences,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/first-love-with-its-frantic-haughty-imagination-swings-its-object/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [to leap is not only to leap, it is to hit the ground somewhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/to-leap-is-not-only-to-leap-it-is-to-hit-the-ground-somewhere/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [That is partly why women marry - to keep up the fiction of being in the hub of things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/that-is-partly-why-women-marry-to-keep-up-the-fiction-of-being-in-the/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“But Miss Pym gave an impression, somehow, of having been attacked from within .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/but-miss-pym-gave-an-impression-somehow-of-having-been-attacked-from/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [rudeness to Mrs. Dosely was like dropping a pat of butter on to a hot plate - it slid and melted away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/rudeness-to-mrs-dosely-was-like-dropping-a-pat-of-butter-on-to-a-hot/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) [Explore all 275 Elizabeth Bowen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) ## 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": "Art is one thing that can go on mattering once it has stopped hurting.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Elizabeth Bowen" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/art-is-one-thing-that-can-go-on-mattering-once-it-has-stopped-hurting/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/art-is-one-thing-that-can-go-on-mattering-once-it-has-stopped-hurting/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab6/elizabeth-bowen-1197_art_art-is-one-thing-that-can-go-on-matterin_814650.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab6/elizabeth-bowen-1197_art_art-is-one-thing-that-can-go-on-matterin_814650.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab6/elizabeth-bowen-1197_art_art-is-one-thing-that-can-go-on-matterin_814650.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Art is one thing that can go on mattering once it has stopped hurting.” — Elizabeth Bowen", "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": "Elizabeth Bowen", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Art is one thing that can...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/art-is-one-thing-that-can-go-on-mattering-once-it-has-stopped-hurting/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/art-is-one-thing-that-can-go-on-mattering-once-it-has-stopped-hurting/#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 } } ] } ```