--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: the difficult art I was attempting had…" description: "\"the difficult art I was attempting had, indeed a powerful fascination, before which the past faded, the future receded, and the whole of experience nar..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/00f/mary-stewart-5317_art_the-difficult-art-i-was-attempting-had-i_2754503.png" --- # the difficult art I was attempting had, indeed a powerful… ![“the difficult art I was attempting had, indeed a powerful fascination, before which the past faded, the future receded, and the whole of experience narrowed down to this stretch of glancing, glimmering water, and the fly I was trying to cast across it.” quote by Mary Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/00f/mary-stewart-5317_art_the-difficult-art-i-was-attempting-had-i_2754503.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/00f/mary-stewart-5317_art_the-difficult-art-i-was-attempting-had-i_2754503.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/00f/mary-stewart-5317_art_the-difficult-art-i-was-attempting-had-i_2754503.png) > “the difficult art I was attempting had, indeed a powerful fascination, before which the past faded, the future receded, and the whole of experience narrowed down to this stretch of glancing, glimmering water, and the fly I was trying to cast across it.” [Mary Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-stewart/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The artist becomes absorbed in a captivating task, losing sense of time and merging past and future into a focused present. **In simple terms:** Deep focus makes past and future fade. Key Takeaway Cultivate deep, immersive focus. Themes focus absorption timelessness Mood tranquil intense Type philosophical practical When to use this quote - artistic creation - problem solving - meditation Key Concepts flow state creative immersion Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance immersion with obligations? - What triggers your flow state? A Different Perspective May neglect other responsibilities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Fascination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fascination/) [Fishing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fishing/) [Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Water](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/water/) ## Related quotes > [“The very weather seems to have a quality of the past, faded weather like that of old photographs.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/the-very-weather-seems-to-have-a-quality-of-the-past-faded-weather/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [When I was in school, they say everybody can do art. And I was, like, a little bit obstinate - not an anarchist, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-stormare/when-i-was-in-school-they-say-everybody-can-do-art-and-i-was-like-a/) [Peter Stormare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-stormare/) > [“Mindfulness is the extremely difficult art of leaving the past and the future alone.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/mindfulness-is-the-extremely-difficult-art-of-leaving-the-past-and/) [Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/) > [I think that music is a very difficult art form in which to be avant-garde. When we sit down to listen to a piece…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-soderbergh/i-think-that-music-is-a-very-difficult-art-form-in-which-to-be-avant/) [Steven Soderbergh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-soderbergh/) > [There is no more difficult art to acquire than the art of observation, and for some men it is quite as difficult to record…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-osler/there-is-no-more-difficult-art-to-acquire-than-the-art-of-observation/) [William Osler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-osler/) > [Intimacy is a difficult art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/intimacy-is-a-difficult-art/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [I think art has a right — not an obligation — to be difficult if it wishes. And, since people generally go on from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-hill/i-think-art-has-a-right-not-an-obligation-to-be-difficult-if-it/) [Geoffrey Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-hill/) > [War is not at all such a difficult art as people think. . . . In reality it would seem that he is vanquished…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/war-is-not-at-all-such-a-difficult-art-as-people-think-in-reality-it/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [A world turned into a stereotype, a society converted into a regiment, a life translated into a routine, make it difficult for either art…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franklin-d-roosevelt/a-world-turned-into-a-stereotype-a-society-converted-into-a-regiment/) [Franklin D. Roosevelt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franklin-d-roosevelt/) > [There exists no more difficult art than living.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seneca-the-younger/there-exists-no-more-difficult-art-than-living/) [Seneca the Younger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seneca-the-younger/) > [To break and be able to grow together again in a better way: that is the difficult art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/asger-jorn/to-break-and-be-able-to-grow-together-again-in-a-better-way-that-is/) [Asger Jorn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/asger-jorn/) > [“Stalking is a very difficult art to come to terms with, for in reality, you can’t apply yourself to it. This art inevitably has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lujan-matus/stalking-is-a-very-difficult-art-to-come-to-terms-with-for-in-reality/) [Lujan Matus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lujan-matus/) > [A high price may be part of the mystique in selling difficult art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-genn/a-high-price-may-be-part-of-the-mystique-in-selling-difficult-art/) [Robert Genn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-genn/) > [It is difficult in life to be good, and difficult in art to portray goodness. Perhaps we don't know much about goodness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/it-is-difficult-in-life-to-be-good-and-difficult-in-art-to-portray/) [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) > [The most difficult art is not in the choice of men, but in giving to the men chosen the highest service of which they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/the-most-difficult-art-is-not-in-the-choice-of-men-but-in-giving-to/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) ## More by Mary Stewart > [I knew that I had turned my world back to cinders, sunk my lovely ship with my own stupid, wicked hands.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-stewart/i-knew-that-i-had-turned-my-world-back-to-cinders-sunk-my-lovely-ship/) [Mary Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-stewart/) > [“Sometimes, when you're deep in the countryside, you meet three girls, walking along the hill tracks in the dusk, spinning. They each have a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-stewart/sometimes-when-you-re-deep-in-the-countryside-you-meet-three-girls/) [Mary Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-stewart/) > [The essence of wisdom is to know when to be doing, and when it's useless even to try](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-stewart/the-essence-of-wisdom-is-to-know-when-to-be-doing-and-when-it-s/) [Mary Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-stewart/) > [“some man of power must have existed, with gifts that seemed miraculous to his own times.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-stewart/some-man-of-power-must-have-existed-with-gifts-that-seemed-miraculous/) [Mary Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-stewart/) > [It does not do to neglect the gods of a place, whoever they may be. In the end, they are all one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-stewart/it-does-not-do-to-neglect-the-gods-of-a-place-whoever-they-may-be-in/) [Mary Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-stewart/) > [“I'd settle for what you had to give”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-stewart/i-d-settle-for-what-you-had-to-give/) [Mary Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-stewart/) > [“this might be a beauty to send men mad. Her body was slight with a child’s slenderness, but her breasts were full and pointed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-stewart/this-might-be-a-beauty-to-send-men-mad-her-body-was-slight-with-a/) [Mary Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-stewart/) > [“Literature and fiction are full of femmes fatales, but there is also an homme fatal, an altogether rarer bird, and pity help the lonely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-stewart/literature-and-fiction-are-full-of-femmes-fatales-but-there-is-also/) [Mary Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-stewart/) > [“The village is perched on a precipitous hillside, and the houses are built in tiers, one up behind the other, the floor of one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-stewart/the-village-is-perched-on-a-precipitous-hillside-and-the-houses-are/) [Mary Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-stewart/) > [“It is for you to choose. Choice is man's right, and for that I leave you free.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-stewart/it-is-for-you-to-choose-choice-is-man-s-right-and-for-that-i-leave/) [Mary Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-stewart/) > [“I had been so used to God's voice in the fire and stars that I had forgotten to listen for it in the counsels…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-stewart/i-had-been-so-used-to-god-s-voice-in-the-fire-and-stars-that-i-had/) [Mary Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-stewart/) > [“It was over, the awkward moment, the dreaded moment, sliding past in a ripple of commonplaces, the easy mechanical politenesses that are so much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-stewart/it-was-over-the-awkward-moment-the-dreaded-moment-sliding-past-in-a/) [Mary Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-stewart/) > [The gods only go with you if you put yourself in their path. And that takes courage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-stewart/the-gods-only-go-with-you-if-you-put-yourself-in-their-path-and-that/) [Mary Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-stewart/) > [“Every time your work is read, you die several deaths for every word, and poetry is like being flayed alive.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-stewart/every-time-your-work-is-read-you-die-several-deaths-for-every-word/) [Mary Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-stewart/) > [Where two Greeks are gathered together, there will be at least three political parties represented, and possibly more.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-stewart/where-two-greeks-are-gathered-together-there-will-be-at-least-three/) [Mary Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-stewart/) [Explore all 101 Mary Stewart quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-stewart/) ## 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": "the difficult art I was attempting had, indeed a powerful fascination, before which the past faded, the future receded, and the whole of experience narrowed down to this stretch of glancing, glimmering water, and the fly I was trying to cast across it.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mary Stewart" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-stewart/the-difficult-art-i-was-attempting-had-indeed-a-powerful-fascination/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-stewart/the-difficult-art-i-was-attempting-had-indeed-a-powerful-fascination/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/00f/mary-stewart-5317_art_the-difficult-art-i-was-attempting-had-i_2754503.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/00f/mary-stewart-5317_art_the-difficult-art-i-was-attempting-had-i_2754503.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/00f/mary-stewart-5317_art_the-difficult-art-i-was-attempting-had-i_2754503.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“the difficult art I was attempting had, indeed a powerful fascination, before which the past faded, the…” — Mary Stewart", "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": "Mary Stewart", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-stewart/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "the difficult art I was attempting...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-stewart/the-difficult-art-i-was-attempting-had-indeed-a-powerful-fascination/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-stewart/the-difficult-art-i-was-attempting-had-indeed-a-powerful-fascination/#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 } } ] } ```