--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Every artist is an unhappy lover." description: "\"Every artist is an unhappy lover.\" — Iris Murdoch" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4fc/iris-murdoch-993_art_every-artist-is-an-unhappy-lover-1900321_1900321.png" --- # Every artist is an unhappy lover. ![“Every artist is an unhappy lover.” quote by Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4fc/iris-murdoch-993_art_every-artist-is-an-unhappy-lover-1900321_1900321.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4fc/iris-murdoch-993_art_every-artist-is-an-unhappy-lover-1900321_1900321.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4fc/iris-murdoch-993_art_every-artist-is-an-unhappy-lover-1900321_1900321.png) > “Every artist is an unhappy lover.” [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Artists often experience love as a source of sorrow, reflecting the tension between creativity and emotional fulfillment. **In simple terms:** Artists are often unhappy lovers. Key Takeaway Recognize the emotional cost of creative pursuits. Themes love creativity loneliness artistic struggle Mood melancholic introspective Type literary emotional When to use this quote - writing - painting - music composition - personal relationships Key Concepts psychology philosophy emotion Questions to Reflect On - Can you separate artistic expression from personal heartbreak? - How does love influence your creative output? A Different Perspective Creative work can intensify personal pain. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Happy love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happy-love/) [Lover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lover/) [Lovers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lovers/) [Philosophical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophical/) [Unhappy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unhappy/) ## Related quotes > [Every artist is an unhappy lover. And unhappy lovers want to tell their story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/every-artist-is-an-unhappy-lover-and-unhappy-lovers-want-to-tell/) [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) > [True values entail suffering. That’s the way we think. All in all, we tend to view melancholia as more true. We prefer music and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lars-von-trier/true-values-entail-suffering-that-s-the-way-we-think-all-in-all-we/) [Lars von Trier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lars-von-trier/) > [“The lover readily imagines that he and his mistress are one. He feels he has love enough for both and that his loving will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/the-lover-readily-imagines-that-he-and-his-mistress-are-one-he-feels/) [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) > [“Even those novelists most commonly deemed “philosophical” have sometimes answered with an emphatic no. Iris Murdoch, the longtime Oxford philosopher and author of some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/even-those-novelists-most-commonly-deemed-philosophical-have/) [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) > [Happy is love or friendship when returned-- The lovers whose pure flames have equal burned.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bion-of-smyrna/happy-is-love-or-friendship-when-returned-the-lovers-whose-pure/) [Bion of Smyrna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bion-of-smyrna/) > [I may be hurt but I don't wish to hurt you. I am down and depressed but I wish to see you up and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kemis-khan/i-may-be-hurt-but-i-don-t-wish-to-hurt-you-i-am-down-and-depressed/) [Kemis Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kemis-khan/) > [A happy love is none but faithful partners](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-happy-love-is-none-but-faithful-partners/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“They say that happy people have no history, and certainly a happy love has none. They did nothing all day long and yet the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/they-say-that-happy-people-have-no-history-and-certainly-a-happy-love/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [I'm so happy now. I love that I'm in a relationship right now... I want a life... The past five years or so I've…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kelly-clarkson/i-m-so-happy-now-i-love-that-i-m-in-a-relationship-right-now-i-want-a/) [Kelly Clarkson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kelly-clarkson/) > [So theres this boy and the way he laughs makes me smile and the way he talks gives me butterflies and just about everything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessie-mcbeth/so-theres-this-boy-and-the-way-he-laughs-makes-me-smile-and-the-way/) [Jessie McBeth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessie-mcbeth/) > [Sometimes it just hits you, life is too short. Find what makes you happy, love your family and friends and forget about the people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nishan-panwar/sometimes-it-just-hits-you-life-is-too-short-find-what-makes-you/) [Nishan Panwar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nishan-panwar/) > [Even though we're miles apart, a computer screen connects our hearts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/even-though-we-re-miles-apart-a-computer-screen-connects-our-hearts/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Each moment of the happy lover's hour is worth an age of dull and common life. -](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aphra-behn/each-moment-of-the-happy-lover-s-hour-is-worth-an-age-of-dull-and/) [Aphra Behn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aphra-behn/) > [You dont know what you do, everytime you walk into the room-- I'm afraid to move.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-cabrera/you-dont-know-what-you-do-everytime-you-walk-into-the-room-i-m-afraid/) [Ryan Cabrera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-cabrera/) > [Love is merely a madness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/love-is-merely-a-madness/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) ## More by Iris Murdoch > [Falling out of love is chiefly a matter of forgetting how charming someone is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/falling-out-of-love-is-chiefly-a-matter-of-forgetting-how-charming/) [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) > [One doesn't have to get anywhere in a marriage. It's not a public conveyance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/one-doesn-t-have-to-get-anywhere-in-a-marriage-it-s-not-a-public/) [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) > [“I think being a woman is like being Irish... Everyone says you're important and nice, but you take second place all the time.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/i-think-being-a-woman-is-like-being-irish-everyone-says-you-re/) [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) > [Art is the final cunning of the human soul which would rather do anything than face the gods.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/art-is-the-final-cunning-of-the-human-soul-which-would-rather-do/) [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) > [The sending of a letter constitutes a magical grasp upon the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/the-sending-of-a-letter-constitutes-a-magical-grasp-upon-the-future/) [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) > [emotions really exist at the bottom of the personality or at the top. in the middle they are acted. this is why all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/emotions-really-exist-at-the-bottom-of-the-personality-or-at-the-top/) [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) > [I have used the word "attention," which I borrow from Simone Weil, to express the idea of a just and loving gaze directed upon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/i-have-used-the-word-attention-which-i-borrow-from-simone-weil-to/) [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) > [Starting a novel is opening a door on a misty landscape; you can still see very little but you can smell the earth and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/starting-a-novel-is-opening-a-door-on-a-misty-landscape-you-can-still/) [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) > [Art and morality are, with certain provisos…one. Their essence is the same. The essence of both of them is love. Love is the perception…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/art-and-morality-are-with-certain-provisos-one-their-essence-is-the/) [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) > [being homosexual doesn't determine a man's whole character any more than being heterosexual does.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/being-homosexual-doesn-t-determine-a-man-s-whole-character-any-more/) [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) > [All artists dream of a silence which they must enter, as some creatures return to the sea to spawn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/all-artists-dream-of-a-silence-which-they-must-enter-as-some/) [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) > [“Oh if only I could take my mother away and never know of these things again. But it was impossible, the machine would go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/oh-if-only-i-could-take-my-mother-away-and-never-know-of-these-things/) [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) > [We defend ourselves by descriptions and tame the world by generalizing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/we-defend-ourselves-by-descriptions-and-tame-the-world-by-generalizing/) [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) > [“I'm sorry I was awful. I'm so full of terrors.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/i-m-sorry-i-was-awful-i-m-so-full-of-terrors/) [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) > [I live, I live, with an absolutely continuous sense of failure. I am always defeated, always. Every book is the wreck of a perfect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/i-live-i-live-with-an-absolutely-continuous-sense-of-failure-i-am/) [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) [Explore all 306 Iris Murdoch quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) ## 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 > [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": "Every artist is an unhappy lover.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Iris Murdoch" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/every-artist-is-an-unhappy-lover/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/every-artist-is-an-unhappy-lover/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4fc/iris-murdoch-993_art_every-artist-is-an-unhappy-lover-1900321_1900321.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4fc/iris-murdoch-993_art_every-artist-is-an-unhappy-lover-1900321_1900321.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4fc/iris-murdoch-993_art_every-artist-is-an-unhappy-lover-1900321_1900321.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Every artist is an unhappy lover.” — Iris Murdoch", "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": "Iris Murdoch", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Every artist is an unhappy lover.", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/every-artist-is-an-unhappy-lover/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/every-artist-is-an-unhappy-lover/#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 } } ] } ```