Art Quote by Jorge Luis Borges
“A writer - and, I believe, generally all persons - must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art.”
About This Quote
Source Essay: Reflections on Art, Jorge Luis Borges, 1975
Every experience, even painful ones, can be transformed into artistic material, urging artists to view life as a source of creative raw material.
In simple terms: Life events become art material.
Key Takeaway
Turn hardships into creative fuel.
Themes
creativity
resilience
artistic perception
Mood
reflective
inspirational
Type
philosophical
creative
When to use this quote
- writing
- painting
- music composition
- personal storytelling
Key Concepts
Materialism
transformative process
Questions to Reflect On
- How can you reinterpret a setback as inspiration?
- What limits your ability to see value in discomfort?
A Different Perspective
Not all experiences are equally useful for every art form.
![“In this country [England], writers write to entertain, they raise questions of individual existence...but for a Nigerian writer in my position you can't go into that. Literature has to be combative. You cannot have art for art's sake. This art must do something to transform the lives of a…” quote by Ken Saro-Wiwa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/8e4/ken-saro-wiwa-70069_art_in-this-country-england-writers-write-to_1193877.jpg)
