--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The truest art I would strive for in any…" description: "\"“The truest art I would strive for in any work would be to give the page the same qualities as earth: weather would land on it harshly, light would elu..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d0/gretel-ehrlich-9636_art_the-truest-art-i-would-strive-for-in-any_2051351.jpg" --- # The truest art I would strive for in any work would be to… ![“The truest art I would strive for in any work would be to give the page the same qualities as earth: weather would land on it harshly, light would elucidate the most difficult truths; wind would sweep away obtuse padding. Finally, the lessons of impermanence taught me this: loss constitutes an odd…” quote by Gretel Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d0/gretel-ehrlich-9636_art_the-truest-art-i-would-strive-for-in-any_2051351.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d0/gretel-ehrlich-9636_art_the-truest-art-i-would-strive-for-in-any_2051351.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d0/gretel-ehrlich-9636_art_the-truest-art-i-would-strive-for-in-any_2051351.jpg) > ““The truest art I would strive for in any work would be to give the page the same qualities as earth: weather would land on it harshly, light would elucidate the most difficult truths; wind would sweep away obtuse padding. Finally, the lessons of impermanence taught me this: loss constitutes an odd kind of fullness; despair empties out into an unquenchable appetite for life.”” [Gretel Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gretel-ehrlich/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote likens a page to earth, suggesting that true art embraces harshness, illumination, and wind, revealing truths and shedding excess, and that loss can feel like a strange fullness while despair fuels a deep hunger for life. **In simple terms:** Art should mirror nature’s raw forces and loss can paradoxically enrich us. Key Takeaway Embrace impermanence and let hardship shape your work. Themes art impermanence loss despair creativity Mood reflective melancholic inspirational Type philosophical poetic When to use this quote - writing - visual arts - creative process - grief counseling - personal growth Key Concepts existentialism aesthetic philosophy psychology Questions to Reflect On - How can you balance harsh truth with compassion in your art? - What does “fullness” feel like after loss? A Different Perspective The metaphor may over‑idealize suffering as necessary for depth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Impermanence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/impermanence/) [Impermanence Taught](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/impermanence-taught-2580279/) [Lessons Impermanence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lessons-impermanence-2580278/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Nature-writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature-writing/) [Qualities Earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/qualities-earth-3866962/) [Truest Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truest-art-1110261/) ## Related quotes > [Finally, the lessons of impermanence taught me this: loss constitutes an odd kind of fullness; despair empties out into an unquenchable appetite for life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gretel-ehrlich/finally-the-lessons-of-impermanence-taught-me-this-loss-constitutes/) [Gretel Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gretel-ehrlich/) > [The truest art I would strive for in any work would be to give the page the same qualities as earth: weather would land…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gretel-ehrlich/the-truest-art-i-would-strive-for-in-any-work-would-be-to-give-the/) [Gretel Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gretel-ehrlich/) > [Purity of life is the highest and truest art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/purity-of-life-is-the-highest-and-truest-art/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [For me the purest and truest art in the world is science fiction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-j-cherryh-2/for-me-the-purest-and-truest-art-in-the-world-is-science-fiction/) [C. J. Cherryh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-j-cherryh-2/) > [“Breton considered suicide the truest art, though life seemed hardly worth the trouble to discard.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-gioia/breton-considered-suicide-the-truest-art-though-life-seemed-hardly/) [Dana Gioia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-gioia/) > [“This beach I voyage on leads me through the earth's immortal consistencies. Each form I encounter obeys the principles of perfection and trial, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-hay/this-beach-i-voyage-on-leads-me-through-the-earth-s-immortal/) [John Hay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-hay/) > [“This landscape is animate: it moves, transposes, builds, proceeds, shifts, always going on, never coming back, and one can only retain it in vignettes,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-zwinger/this-landscape-is-animate-it-moves-transposes-builds-proceeds-shifts/) [Ann Zwinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-zwinger/) > [“I think it would be well, and proper, and obedient, and pure, to grasp your one necessity and not let it go, to dangle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/i-think-it-would-be-well-and-proper-and-obedient-and-pure-to-grasp/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [“The whole foot is a document of motion, inscribed by repeated action. Babies - from those first foetal footfalls, the kneading of sole against…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-macfarlane/the-whole-foot-is-a-document-of-motion-inscribed-by-repeated-action/) [Robert Macfarlane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-macfarlane/) > [“In the woods is perpetual youth. In the woods we return to faith and reason.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/in-the-woods-is-perpetual-youth-in-the-woods-we-return-to-faith-and/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“And like any dog, like any savage, I lay there enjoying myself, harming no man, selling nothing, competing not at all, thinking no evil,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-stewart-collis/and-like-any-dog-like-any-savage-i-lay-there-enjoying-myself-harming/) [John Stewart Collis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-stewart-collis/) > [“‎I wish Barry Lopez would write novels. from "Conversations with Jim Harrison”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-harrison/i-wish-barry-lopez-would-write-novels-from-conversations-with-jim/) [Jim Harrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-harrison/) > [“I'll tell you a story, far, far from here where blades of grass are fluent in sentient knowledge and trees are a mandala of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-riker/i-ll-tell-you-a-story-far-far-from-here-where-blades-of-grass-are/) [Carolyn Riker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-riker/) > [“Along the Merced River there’s a deep sense of peace, yet it coexists with danger. No matter how sedate the river may appear, it’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-mark-liebenow/along-the-merced-river-there-s-a-deep-sense-of-peace-yet-it-coexists/) [R. Mark Liebenow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-mark-liebenow/) > [“Nature will forgive humankind just about anything, and what it won’t forgive I hope never to witness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-doiron/nature-will-forgive-humankind-just-about-anything-and-what-it-won-t/) [Paul Doiron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-doiron/) ## More by Gretel Ehrlich > [“To yield is to be preserved whole. To be bent is to become straight. To be hollow is to be filled. To be tattered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gretel-ehrlich/to-yield-is-to-be-preserved-whole-to-be-bent-is-to-become-straight-to/) [Gretel Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gretel-ehrlich/) > [Turbulence, like many forms of trouble, cannot always be seen. We bounce so hard my arms sail helplessly above my head. In evolution, wing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gretel-ehrlich/turbulence-like-many-forms-of-trouble-cannot-always-be-seen-we-bounce/) [Gretel Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gretel-ehrlich/) > [From the clayey soil of northern Wyoming is mined bentonite, which is used as filler in candy, gum, and lipstick. We Americans are great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gretel-ehrlich/from-the-clayey-soil-of-northern-wyoming-is-mined-bentonite-which-is/) [Gretel Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gretel-ehrlich/) > [Finally, the lessons of impermanence taught me this: loss constitutes an odd kind of fullness; despair empties out into an unquenchable appetite for life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gretel-ehrlich/finally-the-lessons-of-impermanence-taught-me-this-loss-constitutes/) [Gretel Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gretel-ehrlich/) > [If anything is endemic to Wyoming it is wind. This big room of space is swept out daily, leaving a bone yard of fossils,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gretel-ehrlich/if-anything-is-endemic-to-wyoming-it-is-wind-this-big-room-of-space/) [Gretel Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gretel-ehrlich/) > [Everything in nature invites us constantly to be what we are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gretel-ehrlich/everything-in-nature-invites-us-constantly-to-be-what-we-are/) [Gretel Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gretel-ehrlich/) > [Between highway sounds I heard waves and thought how the curve of the coastline here had sheltered and nurtured live-born sharks, humans, and migrating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gretel-ehrlich/between-highway-sounds-i-heard-waves-and-thought-how-the-curve-of-the/) [Gretel Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gretel-ehrlich/) > [Walking is also an ambulation of mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gretel-ehrlich/walking-is-also-an-ambulation-of-mind/) [Gretel Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gretel-ehrlich/) > [As fog moved to the mainland I heard a flock of birds fly over. They sounded like a dress rustling, a dress being unfastened…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gretel-ehrlich/as-fog-moved-to-the-mainland-i-heard-a-flock-of-birds-fly-over-they/) [Gretel Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gretel-ehrlich/) > [History is not truth versus falsehoods, but a mixture of both, a mélange of tendencies, reactions, dreams, errors, and power plays. What's important is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gretel-ehrlich/history-is-not-truth-versus-falsehoods-but-a-mixture-of-both-a-m/) [Gretel Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gretel-ehrlich/) > [“What shocks me so is the detachment with which we dispense destruction -- not just bombs, but blows to the head of the earth,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gretel-ehrlich/what-shocks-me-so-is-the-detachment-with-which-we-dispense/) [Gretel Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gretel-ehrlich/) > [“Like water, I have no skin...only surface tension. (Gretel Ehrlich)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gretel-ehrlich/like-water-i-have-no-skin-only-surface-tension-gretel-ehrlich/) [Gretel Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gretel-ehrlich/) > [What Flaubert refers to as the “mélancholies du voyage” is like the sadness I feel as one season departs and another arrives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gretel-ehrlich/what-flaubert-refers-to-as-the-m-lancholies-du-voyage-is-like-the/) [Gretel Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gretel-ehrlich/) > [“Space is an arena where the rowdy particles that are the building blocks of life perform their antics. All spring, things fall; the general…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gretel-ehrlich/space-is-an-arena-where-the-rowdy-particles-that-are-the-building/) [Gretel Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gretel-ehrlich/) > [There is nothing in nature that can't be taken as a sign of both mortality and invigoration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gretel-ehrlich/there-is-nothing-in-nature-that-can-t-be-taken-as-a-sign-of-both/) [Gretel Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gretel-ehrlich/) [Explore all 71 Gretel Ehrlich quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gretel-ehrlich/) ## 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": "“The truest art I would strive for in any work would be to give the page the same qualities as earth: weather would land on it harshly, light would elucidate the most difficult truths; wind would sweep away obtuse padding. 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