---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Since we can't extract beauty from life…"
description: "\"“Since we can't extract beauty from life, let's at least try to extract beauty from not being able to extract beauty from life.”\" — Fernando Pessoa"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54a/fernando-pessoa-177_beauty_since-we-can-t-extract-beauty-from-life_1967875.jpg"
---

#  Since we can't extract beauty from life, let's at least…

![“Since we can't extract beauty from life, let's at least try to extract beauty from not being able to extract beauty from life.” quote by Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54a/fernando-pessoa-177_beauty_since-we-can-t-extract-beauty-from-life_1967875.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54a/fernando-pessoa-177_beauty_since-we-can-t-extract-beauty-from-life_1967875.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54a/fernando-pessoa-177_beauty_since-we-can-t-extract-beauty-from-life_1967875.jpg)

> ““Since we can't extract beauty from life, let's at least try to extract beauty from not being able to extract beauty from life.””

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Highlights paradox of seeking beauty in the inability to find it, urging creative extraction from limitation.

**In simple terms:** Find beauty even when it seems impossible.

Key Takeaway

Create art from constraints.

Themes

paradox creativity beauty

Mood

introspective poetic

Type

philosophical inspirational

When to use this quote

- writing
- visual arts
- music composition

Key Concepts

existentialism absurdism

Questions to Reflect On

- What does “beauty in inability” mean to you?
- How can constraints inspire innovation?

A Different Perspective

Focusing on lack may cause despair.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Beauty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/)

## Related quotes

> [When I try and extract what it is about my music that I do or love or try to create, I'm never aware of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-parker/when-i-try-and-extract-what-it-is-about-my-music-that-i-do-or-love-or/)

[Kevin Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-parker/)

> [“I’ll disappear in the fog as a foreigner to all life, as a human island detached from the dream of the sea, as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/i-ll-disappear-in-the-fog-as-a-foreigner-to-all-life-as-a-human-2/)

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

> [“Yes, my particular virtue of being very often objective, and thus sidetracked from thinking about myself, suffers lapses of affirmation, as do all virtues…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/yes-my-particular-virtue-of-being-very-often-objective-and-thus/)

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

> [“My dreams are a stupid shelter, like an umbrella against lightning.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/my-dreams-are-a-stupid-shelter-like-an-umbrella-against-lightning/)

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

> [“The presence of another person derails my thoughts; I dream of the other's presence with a strange absent-mindedness that no amount of my analytical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/the-presence-of-another-person-derails-my-thoughts-i-dream-of-the/)

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

> [“Then, as if they were wind-blown clouds, all of the ideas in which we’ve felt life and all the ambitions and plans on which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/then-as-if-they-were-wind-blown-clouds-all-of-the-ideas-in-which-we/)

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

> [“But there are times in our meditation – and they come to all who meditate – when everything is suddenly worn-out, old, seen and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/but-there-are-times-in-our-meditation-and-they-come-to-all-who/)

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

> [“The creation of something complete and whole, be it good or bad – and if it’s never entirely good, it’s very often not all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/the-creation-of-something-complete-and-whole-be-it-good-or-bad-and-if/)

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

> [“No, we don’t feel anything. We consciously pass through the door we have to enter, and the fact we have to enter it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/no-we-don-t-feel-anything-we-consciously-pass-through-the-door-we/)

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

> [“She has been trying to pull her worth from him for so long. She has been trying to extract her beauty from his skin.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/coco-j-ginger/she-has-been-trying-to-pull-her-worth-from-him-for-so-long-she-has/)

Coco J. Ginger

> [To extract beauty from one's own milieu is one of the most difficult tasks of art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theophile-gautier/to-extract-beauty-from-one-s-own-milieu-is-one-of-the-most-difficult/)

[Theophile Gautier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theophile-gautier/)

> [Beauty are able to attract of the heart, Forevr,, But nudity are invited the human body only](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/beauty-are-able-to-attract-of-the-heart-forevr-but-nudity-are-invited/)

Mak\_786

> [There's not enough said about the beauty of being able to focus on what you do well.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kimberly-bryant/there-s-not-enough-said-about-the-beauty-of-being-able-to-focus-on/)

[Kimberly Bryant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kimberly-bryant/)

> [There's beauty in everything, but not everyone is able to feel it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anis-mansour/there-s-beauty-in-everything-but-not-everyone-is-able-to-feel-it/)

Anis Mansour

> [Beauty of life depends upon how you manage your free and busy time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/beauty-of-life-depends-upon-how-you-manage-your-free-and-busy-time/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

## More by Fernando Pessoa

> [Everything interests me, but nothing holds me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/everything-interests-me-but-nothing-holds-me/)

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

> [“If only, I feel now, if only I could be someone able to see all this as if he had no other relation with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/if-only-i-feel-now-if-only-i-could-be-someone-able-to-see-all-this-as/)

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

> [What's given, in fact, always depends on the person or thing it's given to. A minor incident in the street brings the cook to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/what-s-given-in-fact-always-depends-on-the-person-or-thing-it-s-given/)

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

> [Smell is a strange sight. It evokes sentimental landscapes through a sudden sketching of the subconscious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/smell-is-a-strange-sight-it-evokes-sentimental-landscapes-through-a/)

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

> [“Tudo vale a pena quando a alma não é pequena”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/tudo-vale-a-pena-quando-a-alma-n-o-pequena/)

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

> [“no nostalgia hurts as much as nostalgia for things that never existed!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/no-nostalgia-hurts-as-much-as-nostalgia-for-things-that-never-existed/)

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

> [pg.9 "In my heart there's a peaceful anguish, and my calm is made of resignation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/pg-9-in-my-heart-there-s-a-peaceful-anguish-and-my-calm-is-made-of/)

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

> [“The feelings that hurt most, the motions that sting most, are those that are absurd; the longing for impossible things, precisely because they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/the-feelings-that-hurt-most-the-motions-that-sting-most-are-those/)

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

> [“I try to say what I feel Without thinking about what I feel. I try to place words right next to my idea So…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/i-try-to-say-what-i-feel-without-thinking-about-what-i-feel-i-try-to/)

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

> [Have you ever considered, beloved other, how invisible we are to each other? We look at each other without seeing. We listen to each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/have-you-ever-considered-beloved-other-how-invisible-we-are-to-each/)

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

> [“To associate is to die. Only my consciousness of myself is real for me; other people are hazy phenomena in this consciousness, and it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/to-associate-is-to-die-only-my-consciousness-of-myself-is-real-for-me/)

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

> [“When it comes to dreams, I’m no different from the errand boy and the seamstress. The only thing that distinguishes me from them is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/when-it-comes-to-dreams-i-m-no-different-from-the-errand-boy-and-the/)

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

> [“No intelligent idea can gain general acceptance unless some stupidity is mixed in with it. Collective thought is stupid because it’s collective. Nothing passes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/no-intelligent-idea-can-gain-general-acceptance-unless-some-stupidity/)

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

> [God gave the sea the danger and the abyss, but it was in it that He mirrored the sky.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/god-gave-the-sea-the-danger-and-the-abyss-but-it-was-in-it-that-he/)

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

> [“Everything that surrounds us becomes part of us, it seeps into us with every experience of the flesh and of life and, like the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/everything-that-surrounds-us-becomes-part-of-us-it-seeps-into-us-with/)

[Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

[Explore all 781 Fernando Pessoa quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/)

## More Beauty quotes

> [We do not want nowadays temples of worship and outward rites and ceremonies. What we really want is an Asram. We want a place…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabindranath-tagore/we-do-not-want-nowadays-temples-of-worship-and-outward-rites-and/)

[Rabindranath Tagore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabindranath-tagore/)

> [How could anybody confuse truth with beauty, I thought as I looked at him. Truth came with sunken eyes, bony or scarred, decayed. Its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/how-could-anybody-confuse-truth-with-beauty-i-thought-as-i-looked-at/)

[Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/)

> [A thing of beauty is a joy for ever;It's loveliness increase;it will never pass into nothingness;but still will keep a bower quiet for us,and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keats/a-thing-of-beauty-is-a-joy-for-ever-it-s-loveliness-increase-it-will/)

[John Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keats/)

> [To fathom the power, to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain, to swing on the spiral of our divinity, and still be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tool/to-fathom-the-power-to-witness-the-beauty-to-bathe-in-the-fountain-to/)

[Tool](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tool/)

> [The term "black metal" has become a lot looser, or can include a larger range of sounds and extra-musical aesthetics, not just Satan and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-marston/the-term-black-metal-has-become-a-lot-looser-or-can-include-a-larger/)

[Colin Marston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-marston/)

> [“We've all met people who are beautiful on the outside, however, when they open their mouths to speak, they have nothing of substance to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-c-young/we-ve-all-met-people-who-are-beautiful-on-the-outside-however-when/)

[Susan C. Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-c-young/)

> [There are various orders of beauty, causing men to make fools of themselves in various styles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/there-are-various-orders-of-beauty-causing-men-to-make-fools-of/)

[George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/)

> [To me, the beauty of a quilt or a dress lies within the stitches and the thought of the person who made them. When…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie/to-me-the-beauty-of-a-quilt-or-a-dress-lies-within-the-stitches-and/)

[Natalie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie/)

> [“do not misunderstand person by beauty You really do not know its real or Mask on dirty thoughts”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohammed-zaki-ansari/do-not-misunderstand-person-by-beauty-you-really-do-not-know-its-real/)

[Mohammed Zaki Ansari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohammed-zaki-ansari/)

> [“I already love in you your beauty, but I am only beginning to love in you that which is eternal and ever precious –…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/i-already-love-in-you-your-beauty-but-i-am-only-beginning-to-love-in/)

[Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/)

> [The more perfect the sight is the more delightful the beautiful object. The more perfect the appetite, the sweeter the food. The more musical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-baxter/the-more-perfect-the-sight-is-the-more-delightful-the-beautiful/)

[Richard Baxter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-baxter/)

> [Call her beautiful a million times and she won't believe you. Call her ugly once, and she will never forget it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tumblr/call-her-beautiful-a-million-times-and-she-won-t-believe-you-call-her/)

Tumblr

> [Time can but make her beauty over again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/time-can-but-make-her-beauty-over-again/)

[William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/)

> [ The social \[media channel\] isn't about beauty contests and popularity contests. They're a distortion, a caricature of the real thing. It's about trust, connection,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umair-haque/the-social-media-channel-isn-t-about-beauty-contests-and-popularity/)

[Umair Haque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-haque/)

> [“What about you? What do you do?” I needed to ask questions, draw him out. I needed to find out all the information I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-avery-ellison/what-about-you-what-do-you-do-i-needed-to-ask-questions-draw-him-out/)

[Kate Avery Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-avery-ellison/)

[Browse all 24,662 Beauty quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“Since we can't extract beauty from life, let's at least try to extract beauty from not being able to extract beauty from life.”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Fernando Pessoa"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/since-we-can-t-extract-beauty-from-life-let-s-at-least-try-to-extract/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Beauty"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/since-we-can-t-extract-beauty-from-life-let-s-at-least-try-to-extract/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54a/fernando-pessoa-177_beauty_since-we-can-t-extract-beauty-from-life_1967875.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54a/fernando-pessoa-177_beauty_since-we-can-t-extract-beauty-from-life_1967875.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54a/fernando-pessoa-177_beauty_since-we-can-t-extract-beauty-from-life_1967875.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Since we can't extract beauty from life, let's at least try to extract beauty from not being able to extract…” — Fernando Pessoa",
                "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": "Fernando Pessoa",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "“Since we can't extract beauty from...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/since-we-can-t-extract-beauty-from-life-let-s-at-least-try-to-extract/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/since-we-can-t-extract-beauty-from-life-let-s-at-least-try-to-extract/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
