--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I don't think I'd ever get any better as…" description: "\"I don't think I'd ever get any better as a poet if I didn't push myself, very deliberately, to grow. My best poems surprise me, as they should, but I f..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/290/james-arthur-3067_best-poem_i-don-t-think-i-d-ever-get-any-better-as_3159607.png" --- # I don't think I'd ever get any better as a poet if I… ![“I don't think I'd ever get any better as a poet if I didn't push myself, very deliberately, to grow. My best poems surprise me, as they should, but I fight them at every turn, possibly just because I'm stubborn.” quote by James Arthur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/290/james-arthur-3067_best-poem_i-don-t-think-i-d-ever-get-any-better-as_3159607.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/290/james-arthur-3067_best-poem_i-don-t-think-i-d-ever-get-any-better-as_3159607.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/290/james-arthur-3067_best-poem_i-don-t-think-i-d-ever-get-any-better-as_3159607.png) > “I don't think I'd ever get any better as a poet if I didn't push myself, very deliberately, to grow. My best poems surprise me, as they should, but I fight them at every turn, possibly just because I'm stubborn.” [James Arthur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-arthur/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He pushes himself deliberately to improve his poetry, embracing struggle and stubbornness as growth tools. **In simple terms:** Deliberate practice fuels growth. Key Takeaway Push deliberately, embrace struggle. Themes growth creativity discipline stubbornness Mood reflective ambitious Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - writing workshops - creative retreats - daily writing practice Key Concepts artistic development mindset self‑challenge Questions to Reflect On - What limits do you set for your stubbornness? - How do you know when to stop pushing? A Different Perspective Stubbornness can become counterproductive if not balanced. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Best poem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/best-poem/) [Better Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/better-poet-260986/) [Fighting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fighting/) [Grows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grows/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Poems Surprise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poems-surprise-5706607/) [Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet/) [Poet Didn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet-didn-5706606/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Stubborn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stubborn/) [Surprise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/surprise/) [Surprise me](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/surprise-me/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Turns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/turns/) ## Related quotes > [We aren't suggesting that mental instability or unhappiness makes one a better poet, or a poet at all; and contrary to the romantic notion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorianne-laux/we-aren-t-suggesting-that-mental-instability-or-unhappiness-makes-one/) [Dorianne Laux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorianne-laux/) > [“I’ve wanted to write about them for a long while, but it’s a tricky subject, always put off for later and perhaps worthy of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wis-awa-szymborska/i-ve-wanted-to-write-about-them-for-a-long-while-but-it-s-a-tricky/) [Wisława Szymborska](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wis-awa-szymborska/) > [I hear poetry whenever I turn on the radio. Eminem is a better poet than just about everybody. 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When I was happy, I didn't write anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/langston-hughes/for-my-best-poems-were-all-written-when-i-felt-the-worst-when-i-was/) [Langston Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/langston-hughes/) > [Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/hope-is-the-thing-with-feathers-that-perches-in-the-soul/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [I think of my best poems as vessels that I can or hope to fill with everything I have.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-lemon/i-think-of-my-best-poems-as-vessels-that-i-can-or-hope-to-fill-with-2/) [Alex Lemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-lemon/) ## More by James Arthur > [Me and my mum didn't see eye-to-eye for a lot of years, and I've never really felt connected with my dad, because he wasn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-arthur/me-and-my-mum-didn-t-see-eye-to-eye-for-a-lot-of-years-and-i-ve-never/) [James Arthur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-arthur/) > [I'm a mix; I'm sure some of my Canadian friends find me very American, both in person and on the page.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-arthur/i-m-a-mix-i-m-sure-some-of-my-canadian-friends-find-me-very-american/) [James Arthur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-arthur/) > [I often write from memory by walking around and talking to myself. 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A printed poem can be endlessly reprinted, photocopied, scanned, uploaded, cut and pasted -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-arthur/and-treating-poetry-as-a-performing-art-emphasizes-its-ephemerality-a/) [James Arthur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-arthur/) > [I want each poem to be ambiguous enough that its meaning can shift, depending on the reader's own frame of reference, and depending on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-arthur/i-want-each-poem-to-be-ambiguous-enough-that-its-meaning-can-shift/) [James Arthur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-arthur/) > [Memorizing the work of others definitely made me a better writer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-arthur/memorizing-the-work-of-others-definitely-made-me-a-better-writer/) [James Arthur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-arthur/) > [People were telling me it was refreshing I was real because previous 'X Factor' winners were too afraid to say anything. I decided to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-arthur/people-were-telling-me-it-was-refreshing-i-was-real-because-previous/) [James Arthur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-arthur/) > [Everyone wrote me off, including me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-arthur/everyone-wrote-me-off-including-me/) [James Arthur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-arthur/) > [I believe strongly in what John Keats called negative capability: the trait or practice that allows a poet to remain in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-arthur/i-believe-strongly-in-what-john-keats-called-negative-capability-the/) [James Arthur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-arthur/) > [When I had my first panic attack, I believed that it was a heart attack.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-arthur/when-i-had-my-first-panic-attack-i-believed-that-it-was-a-heart-attack/) [James Arthur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-arthur/) > [As a species, we create tools to control our environment. What excites my imagination is wilderness: our materials' ability to escape our control.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-arthur/as-a-species-we-create-tools-to-control-our-environment-what-excites/) [James Arthur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-arthur/) [Explore all 141 James Arthur quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-arthur/) ## More Best poem quotes > [Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/hope-is-the-thing-with-feathers-that-perches-in-the-soul/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [For my best poems were all written when I felt the worst. When I was happy, I didn't write anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/langston-hughes/for-my-best-poems-were-all-written-when-i-felt-the-worst-when-i-was/) [Langston Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/langston-hughes/) > [Human bodies are words, myriads of words, (In the best poems re-appears the body, man's or woman's, well-shaped, natural, gay, Every part able, active,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/human-bodies-are-words-myriads-of-words-in-the-best-poems-re-appears/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [The best poems take long journeys. I like poetry best that journeys--while remaining in the human scale--to the other world, which may be a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bly/the-best-poems-take-long-journeys-i-like-poetry-best-that-journeys/) [Robert Bly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bly/) > [A collection of plants is not a landscape, any more than a list of choice words is a poem. The merit is in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nan-fairbrother/a-collection-of-plants-is-not-a-landscape-any-more-than-a-list-of/) [Nan Fairbrother](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nan-fairbrother/) > [“Delvig's best poem is the one he dedicated to Pushkin, his schoolmate, in January 1815. A boy of sixteen, prophesying in exact detail literary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/delvig-s-best-poem-is-the-one-he-dedicated-to-pushkin-his-schoolmate/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [I know why the caged bird sings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/i-know-why-the-caged-bird-sings/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [I think of my best poems as vessels that I can or hope to fill with everything I have.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-lemon/i-think-of-my-best-poems-as-vessels-that-i-can-or-hope-to-fill-with-2/) [Alex Lemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-lemon/) > [“To see him pass conveys as much as the best poem, perhaps more;”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-gabaldon/to-see-him-pass-conveys-as-much-as-the-best-poem-perhaps-more/) [Diana Gabaldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-gabaldon/) > [Natalie Lyalin is writing some of the best poems in the world. There is an evil in her gorgeous poem-hearts. She must have sold…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zachary-schomburg/natalie-lyalin-is-writing-some-of-the-best-poems-in-the-world-there/) [Zachary Schomburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zachary-schomburg/) > [“But the expression of a well-made man appears not only in his face; It is in his limbs and joints also, it is curiously…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-gabaldon/but-the-expression-of-a-well-made-man-appears-not-only-in-his-face-it/) [Diana Gabaldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-gabaldon/) > [The woods are lovely, dark, and deep but I have promises to keep…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-frost/the-woods-are-lovely-dark-and-deep-but-i-have-promises-to-keep/) [Robert Frost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-frost/) > [The best poem is that whose worked-upon unmagical passages come closest, in texture and intensity, to those moments of magical accident.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/the-best-poem-is-that-whose-worked-upon-unmagical-passages-come/) [Dylan Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/) > [“I have found that sitting in a place where you have never sat before can be inspiring - I wrote my very best poem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dodie-smith/i-have-found-that-sitting-in-a-place-where-you-have-never-sat-before-2/) [Dodie Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dodie-smith/) [Browse all 15 Best poem quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/best-poem/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I don't think I'd ever get any better as a poet if I didn't push myself, very deliberately, to grow. 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