--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Life is an art we are required to…" description: "\"Life is an art we are required to practice without preparation, a score that we play at sight even before we have mastered our instruments.\" — Lewis Mu..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fca/lewis-mumford-2870_art_life-is-an-art-we-are-required-to-practi_741034.png" --- # Life is an art we are required to practice without… ![“Life is an art we are required to practice without preparation, a score that we play at sight even before we have mastered our instruments.” quote by Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fca/lewis-mumford-2870_art_life-is-an-art-we-are-required-to-practi_741034.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fca/lewis-mumford-2870_art_life-is-an-art-we-are-required-to-practi_741034.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fca/lewis-mumford-2870_art_life-is-an-art-we-are-required-to-practi_741034.png) > “Life is an art we are required to practice without preparation, a score that we play at sight even before we have mastered our instruments.” [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Life requires improvisation like music, demanding skill despite lack of preparation. **In simple terms:** Life is improvised art. Key Takeaway Practice adaptability daily. Themes creativity improvisation skill development artistic metaphor Mood thoughtful inspirational Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - career development - creative projects - skill acquisition - performance arts Key Concepts musical analogy learning theory self‑directed practice Questions to Reflect On - How do we balance preparation with spontaneity? - What practices foster both skill and flexibility? A Different Perspective Improvisation may overlook the need for foundational training. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Art Required](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-required-2520355/) [Happy life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happy-life/) [Instruments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/instruments/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Life Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-art/) [Life is](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-is/) [Music making](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music-making/) [Play](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/play/) [Practice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/practice/) [Practice Preparation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/practice-preparation-1532994/) [Preparation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/preparation/) [Required Practice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/required-practice-1689463/) [Score](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/score/) [Sight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sight/) ## Related quotes > [Life is the only art that we are required to practice without preparation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lara-flores/life-is-the-only-art-that-we-are-required-to-practice-without-3/) [Lara Flores](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lara-flores/) > [“Life is the only art that we are required to practice without preparation, and without being allowed the preliminary trials, the failures and botches,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/life-is-the-only-art-that-we-are-required-to-practice-without-2/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Life is the only art that we are required to practice without preparation, and without being allowed the preliminary trials, the failures and botches,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/life-is-the-only-art-that-we-are-required-to-practice-without/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [“We try to improve the conditions of the race by means of good air, free sunlight, wholesome water, and hideous bare buildings for the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/we-try-to-improve-the-conditions-of-the-race-by-means-of-good-air/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [ Through \[my friends\] I discovered what it was to love people. There was an art to it...which was not really all that different from… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucy-grealy/through-my-friends-i-discovered-what-it-was-to-love-people-there-was/) [Lucy Grealy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucy-grealy/) > [One of the greatest difficulties in civil war is, that more art is required to know what should be concealed from our friends, than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-chesterfield/one-of-the-greatest-difficulties-in-civil-war-is-that-more-art-is/) [Lord Chesterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-chesterfield/) > [Dreams are faithful interpreters of our inclinations; but there is art required to sort and understand them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/dreams-are-faithful-interpreters-of-our-inclinations-but-there-is-art/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) > [Behind every brilliant performance there were countless hours of practice and preparation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-butterworth/behind-every-brilliant-performance-there-were-countless-hours-of/) [Eric Butterworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-butterworth/) > [I think practice preparation is always an indicator of game performance, not necessarily 100 percent, because there are still a lot of variables there,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-belichick/i-think-practice-preparation-is-always-an-indicator-of-game/) [Bill Belichick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-belichick/) > [“In other words, deliberate practice is for preparation, and flow is for performance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-duckworth/in-other-words-deliberate-practice-is-for-preparation-and-flow-is-for/) [Angela Duckworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-duckworth/) > [It is never easy to switch between formats, but it is all about practice and preparation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bhuvneshwar-kumar/it-is-never-easy-to-switch-between-formats-but-it-is-all-about/) [Bhuvneshwar Kumar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bhuvneshwar-kumar/) > [If practice and preparation were all it took to prevent nerves on the course, tour players would never get rattled.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/xander-schauffele/if-practice-and-preparation-were-all-it-took-to-prevent-nerves-on-the/) [Xander Schauffele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/xander-schauffele/) > [To me, the most enjoyable part is the practice and preparation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bobby-knight/to-me-the-most-enjoyable-part-is-the-practice-and-preparation/) [Bobby Knight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bobby-knight/) > [Design should do the same thing in everyday life that art does when encountered: amaze us, scare us or delight us, but certainly open…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-betsky/design-should-do-the-same-thing-in-everyday-life-that-art-does-when/) [Aaron Betsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-betsky/) > [Art is not a pleasure, a solace, or an amusement; art is great matter. Art is an organ of human life, transmitting man's reasonable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/art-is-not-a-pleasure-a-solace-or-an-amusement-art-is-great-matter/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Lewis Mumford > [Restore human legs as a means of travel. Pedestrians rely on food for fuel and need no special parking facilities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/restore-human-legs-as-a-means-of-travel-pedestrians-rely-on-food-for/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Mechanical instruments, potentially a vehicle of rational human purposes, are scarcely a blessing when they enable the gossip of the village idiot and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/mechanical-instruments-potentially-a-vehicle-of-rational-human/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [However far modern science and techniques have fallen short of their inherent possibilities, they have taught mankind at least one lesson; nothing is impossible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/however-far-modern-science-and-techniques-have-fallen-short-of-their/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Iron and coal dominated everywhere, from grey to black: the black boots, the black stove-pipe hat, the black coach or carriage, the black iron…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/iron-and-coal-dominated-everywhere-from-grey-to-black-the-black-boots/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [The self holds both a hell and a heaven.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/the-self-holds-both-a-hell-and-a-heaven/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [By his very success in inventing labor-saving devices, modern man has manufactured an abyss of boredom that only the privileged classes in earlier civilizations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/by-his-very-success-in-inventing-labor-saving-devices-modern-man-has/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Each person is a temporary focus of forces, vitalities, and values that carry back to an immemorial past and that reach forward into an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/each-person-is-a-temporary-focus-of-forces-vitalities-and-values-that/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Adventure is humdrum and routine unless one assimilates it, unless one relates it to a central core which grows within and gives it contour…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/adventure-is-humdrum-and-routine-unless-one-assimilates-it-unless-one/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Safety razors make it hard to grow beards in America: America would be a better place if there were a few bearded, savage, terrible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/safety-razors-make-it-hard-to-grow-beards-in-america-america-would-be/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [A society that gives to one class all the opportunities for leisure, and to another all the burdens of work, dooms both classes to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/a-society-that-gives-to-one-class-all-the-opportunities-for-leisure/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Without leisure there can be neither art nor science nor fine conversation, nor any ceremonious performance of the offices of love and friendship.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/without-leisure-there-can-be-neither-art-nor-science-nor-fine/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Not sense data or atoms or electrons or packets of energy, but purposes, interests, and meanings, constitute the underlying facts of human experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/not-sense-data-or-atoms-or-electrons-or-packets-of-energy-but/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [When cities were first founded, an old Egyptian scribe tells us, the mission of the founder was to 'put gods in their shrines.' The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/when-cities-were-first-founded-an-old-egyptian-scribe-tells-us-the/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [“Forget the damned motor car and built cities for lovers and friends .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/forget-the-damned-motor-car-and-built-cities-for-lovers-and-friends/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Western society has accepted as unquestionable a technological imperative that is quite as arbitrary as the most primitive taboo: not merely the duty to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/western-society-has-accepted-as-unquestionable-a-technological/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) [Explore all 146 Lewis Mumford quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) ## 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": "Life is an art we are required to practice without preparation, a score that we play at sight even before we have mastered our instruments.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Lewis Mumford" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/life-is-an-art-we-are-required-to-practice-without-preparation-a/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/life-is-an-art-we-are-required-to-practice-without-preparation-a/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fca/lewis-mumford-2870_art_life-is-an-art-we-are-required-to-practi_741034.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fca/lewis-mumford-2870_art_life-is-an-art-we-are-required-to-practi_741034.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fca/lewis-mumford-2870_art_life-is-an-art-we-are-required-to-practi_741034.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Life is an art we are required to practice without preparation, a score that we play at sight even before we…” — Lewis Mumford", "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": "Lewis Mumford", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Life is an art we are...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/life-is-an-art-we-are-required-to-practice-without-preparation-a/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/life-is-an-art-we-are-required-to-practice-without-preparation-a/#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 } } ] } ```