--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It seems to me that the desire to make…" description: "\"It seems to me that the desire to make art produces an ongoing experience of longing, a restlessness sometimes, but not inevitably, played out romantic..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/94b/louise-gl-ck-9177_art_it-seems-to-me-that-the-desire-to-make-a_2018891.jpg" --- # It seems to me that the desire to make art produces an… ![“It seems to me that the desire to make art produces an ongoing experience of longing, a restlessness sometimes, but not inevitably, played out romantically, or sexually. Always there seems something ahead, the next poem or story, visible, at least, apprehensible, but unreachable. To perceive it at…” quote by Louise Glück](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/94b/louise-gl-ck-9177_art_it-seems-to-me-that-the-desire-to-make-a_2018891.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/94b/louise-gl-ck-9177_art_it-seems-to-me-that-the-desire-to-make-a_2018891.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/94b/louise-gl-ck-9177_art_it-seems-to-me-that-the-desire-to-make-a_2018891.jpg) > “It seems to me that the desire to make art produces an ongoing experience of longing, a restlessness sometimes, but not inevitably, played out romantically, or sexually. Always there seems something ahead, the next poem or story, visible, at least, apprehensible, but unreachable. To perceive it at all is to be haunted by it; some sound, some tone, becomes a torment — the poem embodying that sound seems to exist somewhere already finished. It’s like a lighthouse, except that, as one swims towards it, it backs away.” [Louise Glück](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-gl-ck/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Creating art fuels an endless yearning for something just beyond reach, a restless drive that both inspires and torments the creator. **In simple terms:** Art creates restless longing. Key Takeaway Embrace the chase, not the capture. Themes creativity longing restlessness Mood reflective melancholic Type literary inspirational When to use this quote - writing - painting - music composition - creative block Key Concepts existentialism aesthetics Questions to Reflect On - What does the unattainable inspire in you? - How do you balance longing with creation? A Different Perspective The pursuit may become obsessive, hindering completion. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Desire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desire/) [Lighthouse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lighthouse/) [Longing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/longing/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Sound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sound/) [Stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) [Tone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tone/) [Torment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/torment/) ## Related quotes > [“From at least the age of six, romantic longing --Sechnsucht-- has played an unusually central part of my experience. Such longing is in itself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/from-at-least-the-age-of-six-romantic-longing-sechnsucht-has-played/) [C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/) > [“... through medicine it is possible to reach the unreachable - even the ones who most of us forget about or actively try to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-mccarthy/through-medicine-it-is-possible-to-reach-the-unreachable-even-the/) Matt McCarthy > [To right, the unrightable wrong, to love pure and chaste from a-far, to try when your arms are too weary, to reach the unreachable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-jones/to-right-the-unrightable-wrong-to-love-pure-and-chaste-from-a-far-to/) [Jack Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-jones/) > [“What is your heart's combination?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hadinet-tekie/what-is-your-heart-s-combination/) [Hadinet Tekie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hadinet-tekie/) > [I love my friends and family, but I also love it when they can't find me and I can spend all day reading or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-gilbert/i-love-my-friends-and-family-but-i-also-love-it-when-they-can-t-find/) [Elizabeth Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-gilbert/) > [I want to tell you about the God that actually showed up and healed my heart. 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Teach yourself about the path…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-savage/in-theory-cars-are-fairly-simple-if-they-don-t-start-it-s-either-the/) [Adam Savage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-savage/) > [“I want the moon, up there. But... he will always be unreachable.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hotaru-odagiri/i-want-the-moon-up-there-but-he-will-always-be-unreachable/) [Hotaru Odagiri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hotaru-odagiri/) > [People left a lot of things behind when they went in the water. Their clothes, their stuff, their makeup, their fixed-up hair, their voices,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-brashares/people-left-a-lot-of-things-behind-when-they-went-in-the-water-their/) [Ann Brashares](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-brashares/) > [Unreached peoples are unreached for a reason. They're hard, difficult, and dangerous to reach. All the easy ones are taken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-platt/unreached-peoples-are-unreached-for-a-reason-they-re-hard-difficult/) [David Platt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-platt/) > [“To reach a target, you must never see it as unreachable!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/to-reach-a-target-you-must-never-see-it-as-unreachable/) [Mehmet Murat ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [“Don't ever tell me that something is unreachable or impossible, now that mankind has left their footprints on the moon.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-pina/don-t-ever-tell-me-that-something-is-unreachable-or-impossible-now/) [Timothy Pina](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-pina/) > [“If you are ready for the bad surprises, then you are ready to reach the unreachable places! ~”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/if-you-are-ready-for-the-bad-surprises-then-you-are-ready-to-reach/) [Mehmet Murat ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) ## More by Louise Glück > [The unsaid, for me, exerts great power...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-gl-ck/the-unsaid-for-me-exerts-great-power/) [Louise Glück](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-gl-ck/) > [Without thinking, I knelt in the grass, like someone meaning to pray. When I tried to stand again, I couldn't move, my legs were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-gl-ck/without-thinking-i-knelt-in-the-grass-like-someone-meaning-to-pray/) [Louise Glück](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-gl-ck/) > [What I responded to, on the page, was the way a poem could liberate, by means of a word's setting, through subtleties of timing,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-gl-ck/what-i-responded-to-on-the-page-was-the-way-a-poem-could-liberate-by/) [Louise Gluck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-gl-ck/) > [“We look at the world once, in childhood. The rest is memory. from Nostos.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-gl-ck/we-look-at-the-world-once-in-childhood-the-rest-is-memory-from-nostos/) [Louise Gluck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-gl-ck/) > [He takes her in his arms He wants to say I love you, nothing can hurt you But he thinks this is a lie,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-gl-ck/he-takes-her-in-his-arms-he-wants-to-say-i-love-you-nothing-can-hurt/) [Louise Glück](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-gl-ck/) > [At first I saw you everywhere. Now only in certain things, at longer intervals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-gl-ck/at-first-i-saw-you-everywhere-now-only-in-certain-things-at-longer/) [Louise Glück](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-gl-ck/) > [Desire, loneliness, wind in the flowering almond— surely these are the great, the inexhaustible subjects to which my predecessors apprenticed themselves. I hear them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-gl-ck/desire-loneliness-wind-in-the-flowering-almond-surely-these-are-the/) [Louise Glück](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-gl-ck/) > [“They sat far apart deliberately, to experience, daily, the sweetness of seeing each other across great distance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-gl-ck/they-sat-far-apart-deliberately-to-experience-daily-the-sweetness-of/) [Louise Glück](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-gl-ck/) > [Toward his critics, the artist harbors a defensive ace: knowledge that the future will erase the present.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-gl-ck/toward-his-critics-the-artist-harbors-a-defensive-ace-knowledge-that/) [Louise Gluck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-gl-ck/) > [I’m like the child who buries her head in the pillow so as not to see, the child who tells herself that light causes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-gl-ck/i-m-like-the-child-who-buries-her-head-in-the-pillow-so-as-not-to-see/) [Louise Glück](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-gl-ck/) > [I am attracted to ellipsis, to the unsaid, to suggestion, to eloquent, deliberate silence. The unsaid, for me, exerts great power: often I wish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-gl-ck/i-am-attracted-to-ellipsis-to-the-unsaid-to-suggestion-to-eloquent/) [Louise Glück](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-gl-ck/) > [“Once I could imagine my soul I could imagine my death. When I imagined my death my soul died. This I remember clearly. My…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-gl-ck/once-i-could-imagine-my-soul-i-could-imagine-my-death-when-i-imagined/) [Louise Glück](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-gl-ck/) > [I caution you as I was never cautioned: You will never let go, you will never be satiated. You will be damaged and scarred,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-gl-ck/i-caution-you-as-i-was-never-cautioned-you-will-never-let-go-you-will/) [Louise Glück](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-gl-ck/) > [As I saw it, all my mother's life, my father held her down, like lead strapped to her ankles. She was buoyant by nature;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-gl-ck/as-i-saw-it-all-my-mother-s-life-my-father-held-her-down-like-lead/) [Louise Glück](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-gl-ck/) > [I preferred the simplest vocabulary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-gl-ck/i-preferred-the-simplest-vocabulary/) [Louise Gluck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-gl-ck/) [Explore all 74 Louise Glück quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-gl-ck/) ## 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. 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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. 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