--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I had thrown my body in for art... I had…" description: "\"I had thrown my body in for art... I had thrown myself into this game for art. You know, I was not a very good artist. But this was, like, one thing I ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8d/eve-babitz-19835_art_i-had-thrown-my-body-in-for-art-i-had-th_3230803.jpg" --- # I had thrown my body in for art... I had thrown myself… ![“I had thrown my body in for art... I had thrown myself into this game for art. You know, I was not a very good artist. But this was, like, one thing I could do. (On being photographed nude playing chess with Marcel Duchamp at Duchamp's 1963 retrospective at the Pasadena Museum of Art.)” quote by Eve Babitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8d/eve-babitz-19835_art_i-had-thrown-my-body-in-for-art-i-had-th_3230803.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8d/eve-babitz-19835_art_i-had-thrown-my-body-in-for-art-i-had-th_3230803.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8d/eve-babitz-19835_art_i-had-thrown-my-body-in-for-art-i-had-th_3230803.jpg) > “I had thrown my body in for art... I had thrown myself into this game for art. You know, I was not a very good artist. But this was, like, one thing I could do. (On being photographed nude playing chess with Marcel Duchamp at Duchamp's 1963 retrospective at the Pasadena Museum of Art.)” [Eve Babitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eve-babitz/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. She pursued art despite limited skill, using it as a means to engage with the creative world. **In simple terms:** She kept creating even when not great. Key Takeaway Persist in creative expression regardless of skill level. Themes creativity perseverance identity Mood inspirational introspective Type personal motivational When to use this quote - career change - art projects - personal growth - overcoming self‑doubt Key Concepts artistic drive self‑expression Questions to Reflect On - What drives you to create? - How do you measure artistic success? A Different Perspective Risk of burnout if motivation is solely external. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Body](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/body/) [Body art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/body-art/) [Chess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chess/) [Games](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/games/) [Good art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/good-art/) [Museums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/museums/) [Pasadena](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pasadena/) [Playing chess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/playing-chess/) [Retrospective](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/retrospective/) ## Related quotes > [You know, also I, you know, I was on those birth control pills and my breasts were like, they hurt... and, you know, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eve-babitz/you-know-also-i-you-know-i-was-on-those-birth-control-pills-and-my/) [Eve Babitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eve-babitz/) > [ \[Photographer Julian Wasser\] had this great idea that I should play chess naked with Marcel Duchamp and it seem to be such a great… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eve-babitz/photographer-julian-wasser-had-this-great-idea-that-i-should-play/) [Eve Babitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eve-babitz/) > [Chess for me is not a game, but an art. Yes, and I take upon myself all those responsibilities which an art imposes on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-alekhine/chess-for-me-is-not-a-game-but-an-art-yes-and-i-take-upon-myself-all/) [Alexander Alekhine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-alekhine/) > [I don't know why a computer game can't be an art form just as a puppet show or an opera is. I'm still interested…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-saberhagen/i-don-t-know-why-a-computer-game-can-t-be-an-art-form-just-as-a/) [Fred Saberhagen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fred-saberhagen/) > [I'm kind of hooked to the game of art and literature; my heroes are artists and writers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-morrison/i-m-kind-of-hooked-to-the-game-of-art-and-literature-my-heroes-are/) [Jim Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-morrison/) > [Of course at that time, especially here in America, we were dealing with women's liberation. Things weren't so easy then. Méret Oppenheim wasn't so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-horn/of-course-at-that-time-especially-here-in-america-we-were-dealing/) [Rebecca Horn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-horn/) > [In my case, everything starts from Marcel Duchamp and the new expressive possibilities he gave us with his ready-mades. I transferred his artistic language…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virgil-abloh/in-my-case-everything-starts-from-marcel-duchamp-and-the-new/) [Virgil Abloh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virgil-abloh/) > [“A painting that doesn't shock isn't worth painting-Marcel Duchamp”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-goldfarb-marquis/a-painting-that-doesn-t-shock-isn-t-worth-painting-marcel-duchamp/) Alice Goldfarb Marquis > [Damien Hirst is the Elvis of the English art world, its ayatollah, deliverer, and big-thinking entrepreneurial potty-mouthed prophet and front man. Hirst synthesizes punk,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/damien-hirst-is-the-elvis-of-the-english-art-world-its-ayatollah/) [Jerry Saltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-saltz/) > [Marcel Duchamp, one of this century's pioneers, moved his work through the retinal boundaries which had been established with Impressionism into a field where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jasper-johns/marcel-duchamp-one-of-this-century-s-pioneers-moved-his-work-through/) [Jasper Johns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jasper-johns/) > [And then there is that one-man movement, Marcel Duchamp for me a truly modern movement because it implies that each artist can do what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willem-de-kooning/and-then-there-is-that-one-man-movement-marcel-duchamp-for-me-a-truly/) [Willem de Kooning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willem-de-kooning/) > [The second time I was there I met Marcel Duchamp, and we immediately fell for each other. Which doesn't mean a thing because I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beatrice-wood/the-second-time-i-was-there-i-met-marcel-duchamp-and-we-immediately/) [Beatrice Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beatrice-wood/) > [Art you can flush down the loo means nothing to me, even were the loo to be selected by Marcel Duchamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-o-hagan/art-you-can-flush-down-the-loo-means-nothing-to-me-even-were-the-loo/) [Andrew O'Hagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-o-hagan/) > [I didn't really know what I was looking at when I first came across Man Ray's 'Dust Breeding,' his photograph of a work by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornelia-parker/i-didn-t-really-know-what-i-was-looking-at-when-i-first-came-across/) [Cornelia Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornelia-parker/) > [“I don't want to be pinned down to any position. 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It's all only frames from which the content rises.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eve-babitz/it-s-the-frames-which-make-some-things-important-and-some-things/) [Eve Babitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eve-babitz/) > [ \[Photographer Julian Wasser\] had this great idea that I should play chess naked with Marcel Duchamp and it seem to be such a great… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eve-babitz/photographer-julian-wasser-had-this-great-idea-that-i-should-play/) [Eve Babitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eve-babitz/) > [“It made her question why human beings always appeared to be coming along so nicely as a whole when the bottom would fall out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eve-babitz/it-made-her-question-why-human-beings-always-appeared-to-be-coming/) [Eve Babitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eve-babitz/) > [“Secrets are lies that you tell to your friends.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eve-babitz/secrets-are-lies-that-you-tell-to-your-friends/) [Eve Babitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eve-babitz/) > [“Everyone knew the way to dance was like black people did and they all danced that way.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eve-babitz/everyone-knew-the-way-to-dance-was-like-black-people-did-and-they-all/) [Eve Babitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eve-babitz/) > [By the time I'd grown up, I naturally supposed that I'd grown up](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eve-babitz/by-the-time-i-d-grown-up-i-naturally-supposed-that-i-d-grown-up/) [Eve Babitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eve-babitz/) > [“Two days before she went to New York, Jacaranda stopped drinking.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eve-babitz/two-days-before-she-went-to-new-york-jacaranda-stopped-drinking/) [Eve Babitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eve-babitz/) > [“She discovered what most writers insist is true nowadays, which is that they can only write for three hours a day at the most,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eve-babitz/she-discovered-what-most-writers-insist-is-true-nowadays-which-is/) [Eve Babitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eve-babitz/) > [“The two girls grew up at the edge of the ocean and knew it was paradise, and better than Eden, which was only a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eve-babitz/the-two-girls-grew-up-at-the-edge-of-the-ocean-and-knew-it-was/) [Eve Babitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eve-babitz/) > [It was all balance. But then, she already knew that from surfing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eve-babitz/it-was-all-balance-but-then-she-already-knew-that-from-surfing/) [Eve Babitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eve-babitz/) > [“Jacaranda believed that in the world of airplanes there were only two kinds of luggage—carry-on or lost.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eve-babitz/jacaranda-believed-that-in-the-world-of-airplanes-there-were-only-two/) [Eve Babitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eve-babitz/) > [There are three basic personality factors in cats: The kind who run up when you say hello and rub against you in cheap romance;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eve-babitz/there-are-three-basic-personality-factors-in-cats-the-kind-who-run-up/) [Eve Babitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eve-babitz/) > [“She brought fresh flowers in from the tumbling-down hill where her landlady threw handfuls of wildflower seeds each spring.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eve-babitz/she-brought-fresh-flowers-in-from-the-tumbling-down-hill-where-her/) [Eve Babitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eve-babitz/) > [There are only three things to say about cocaine. One, there is no such thing as enough. Two, it will never be as good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eve-babitz/there-are-only-three-things-to-say-about-cocaine-one-there-is-no-such/) [Eve Babitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eve-babitz/) > [“...chivalry was just another nefarious masculine scheme to keep women in their place.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eve-babitz/chivalry-was-just-another-nefarious-masculine-scheme-to-keep-women-in/) [Eve Babitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eve-babitz/) [Explore all 32 Eve Babitz quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eve-babitz/) ## 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. 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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 > [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. 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