--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: This scroll, five hundred years old and…" description: "\"“This scroll, five hundred years old and more, had been inspired by her favorite, the great Wang Wei, master of landscape art, who had painted the scen..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e55/pearl-s-buck-1024_art_this-scroll-five-hundred-years-old-and-m_2883278.jpg" --- # This scroll, five hundred years old and more, had been… ![“This scroll, five hundred years old and more, had been inspired by her favorite, the great Wang Wei, master of landscape art, who had painted the scenes from his own home, where he lived for thirty years before he died. Now behind the palace walls on this winter’s day, where she could see only sky…” quote by Pearl S. Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e55/pearl-s-buck-1024_art_this-scroll-five-hundred-years-old-and-m_2883278.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e55/pearl-s-buck-1024_art_this-scroll-five-hundred-years-old-and-m_2883278.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e55/pearl-s-buck-1024_art_this-scroll-five-hundred-years-old-and-m_2883278.jpg) > ““This scroll, five hundred years old and more, had been inspired by her favorite, the great Wang Wei, master of landscape art, who had painted the scenes from his own home, where he lived for thirty years before he died. Now behind the palace walls on this winter’s day, where she could see only sky and falling snow, Tzu His gazed upon the green landscapes of continuing spring. One landscape melted into another as slowly she unrolled the scroll, so that she might dwell upon every detail of tree and brook and distant hillside. So did she, in imagination, pass beyond the high walls which enclosed her, and she traveled through a delectable country, beside flowing brooks and spreading lakes, and following the ever-flowing river she crossed over wooden bridges and climbed the stony pathways upon a high mountainside and thence looked down a gorge to see a torrent fed by still higher springs, and breaking into waterfalls as it traveled toward the plains. Down from the mountain again she came, past small villages nestling in pine forests and into the warmer valleys among bamboo groves, and she paused in a poet’s pavilion, and so reached at last the shore where the river lost itself in a bay. There among the reeds a fisherman’s boat rose and fell upon the rising tide. Here the river ended, its horizon the open sea and the misted mountains of infinity. This scroll, Lady Miao had once told her, was the artist’s picture of the human soul, passing through the pleasantest scenes of earth to the last view of the unknown future, far beyond.”” [Pearl S. Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-s-buck/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The scroll symbolizes a journey of imagination that transcends physical confines, revealing inner growth and the soul’s passage toward unknown horizons. **In simple terms:** Imagination lets us travel beyond walls and discover deeper parts of ourselves. Key Takeaway Use art to explore inner landscapes. Themes imagination spirituality journey nature self‑discovery Mood contemplative inspired Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - meditation - creative writing - visual arts - personal reflection Key Concepts symbolism metaphor inner journey Questions to Reflect On - How does visual art expand your inner world? - What boundaries do you feel you can cross through imagination? A Different Perspective The metaphor may oversimplify complex emotional experiences. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Flowing river](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flowing-river/) [Human soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-soul/) [Infinity Scroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/infinity-scroll-4007671/) [Landscapes Continuing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/landscapes-continuing-4007674/) [Scroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scroll/) [Scroll Lady](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scroll-lady-4007672/) [Thirty years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thirty-years/) [Unknown future](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unknown-future/) [Unrolled Scroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unrolled-scroll-4007673/) ## Related quotes > [History is but the unrolled scroll of prophecy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-garfield/history-is-but-the-unrolled-scroll-of-prophecy/) [James A. Garfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-garfield/) > [A Kindle returns us to the inconvenience of the scroll, except with batteries and electronic glitches. It's as handy as bringing Homer along to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-j-o-rourke/a-kindle-returns-us-to-the-inconvenience-of-the-scroll-except-with/) [P. J. O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/p-j-o-rourke/) > [That world! These days it's all been erased and they've rolled it up like a scroll and put it away somewhere. Yes, I can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-johnson/that-world-these-days-it-s-all-been-erased-and-they-ve-rolled-it-up/) [Denis Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-johnson/) > [The scroll is coming back (Twitter is a scroll.)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/the-scroll-is-coming-back-twitter-is-a-scroll/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“How do you scroll down?" "I don't, I turn the page. It's a book." "Do you blog with it?" "No, it's a book.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lane-smith/how-do-you-scroll-down-i-don-t-i-turn-the-page-it-s-a-book-do-you/) [Lane Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lane-smith/) > [“The Dead Sea Scroll Deception),6”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-levenda/the-dead-sea-scroll-deception-6/) [Peter Levenda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-levenda/) > [“But this Scroll too has magical properties. From the moment I first saw it, the paper warmed to my touch. I know it came…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-rowland/but-this-scroll-too-has-magical-properties-from-the-moment-i-first/) [Susan Rowland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-rowland/) > [Gods plan isn't a map for your life that you see all at once, but a scroll unrolled a little at a time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-warren/gods-plan-isn-t-a-map-for-your-life-that-you-see-all-at-once-but-a/) [Rick Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-warren/) > [If I show you a picture on my phone, don't scroll to the next one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-i-show-you-a-picture-on-my-phone-don-t-scroll-to-the-next-one/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“She remembered how her heart, so tight, like a scroll, had opened when Arin kissed her. It had unfurled. If her heart were truly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-rutkoski/she-remembered-how-her-heart-so-tight-like-a-scroll-had-opened-when/) [Marie Rutkoski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-rutkoski/) > [“The whole of Nature is a book, the heavens a scroll; and they were intended to be used as such.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-daniel/the-whole-of-nature-is-a-book-the-heavens-a-scroll-and-they-were/) [John Daniel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-daniel/) > [“Always scroll to the bottom.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-l-b-hartmann/always-scroll-to-the-bottom/) [R.L.B. Hartmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-l-b-hartmann/) > [“Be bold. Find the courage to dream lofty dreams of what you wish to attain. Dream big and wide. Dreaming is healthy for our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/machel-shull/be-bold-find-the-courage-to-dream-lofty-dreams-of-what-you-wish-to/) [Machel Shull](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/machel-shull/) > [What are the facts? Again and again and again – what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what “the stars…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/what-are-the-facts-again-and-again-and-again-what-are-the-facts-shun/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Many live in dread of what is coming. Why should we? The unknown puts adventure into life. ... The unexpected around the corner gives…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-stanley-jones/many-live-in-dread-of-what-is-coming-why-should-we-the-unknown-puts/) [E. Stanley Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-stanley-jones/) ## More by Pearl S. Buck > [For war to man, like childbirth to women, is simplifying in its emotions and activities. All the real problems of life can be put…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/for-war-to-man-like-childbirth-to-women-is-simplifying-in-its/) [Pearl S. Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-s-buck/) > [Hunger makes a thief of any man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/hunger-makes-a-thief-of-any-man/) [Pearl S. Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-s-buck/) > [War is the most devastating endemic and epidemic disease the human race has to endure, and yet too little has been done to discover…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/war-is-the-most-devastating-endemic-and-epidemic-disease-the-human/) [Pearl S. Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-s-buck/) > [In our changing world nothing changes more than geography.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/in-our-changing-world-nothing-changes-more-than-geography/) [Pearl S. Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-s-buck/) > [No one really understood music unless he was a scientist, her father had declared, and not just a scientist, either, oh, no, only the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/no-one-really-understood-music-unless-he-was-a-scientist-her-father/) [Pearl S. Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-s-buck/) > [Upon the profound discontent of the young in every country do I set my faith. I beg you, the young, to be discontented. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/upon-the-profound-discontent-of-the-young-in-every-country-do-i-set/) [Pearl S. Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-s-buck/) > [“Wang Lung sat smoking, thinking of the silver as it had lain upon the table. It had come out of the earth, this silver,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/wang-lung-sat-smoking-thinking-of-the-silver-as-it-had-lain-upon-the/) [Pearl S. Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-s-buck/) > [The secret of joy in work is contained in one word - excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/the-secret-of-joy-in-work-is-contained-in-one-word-excellence-to-know/) [Pearl S. Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-s-buck/) > [If our American way of life fails the child, it fails us all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/if-our-american-way-of-life-fails-the-child-it-fails-us-all/) [Pearl S. Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-s-buck/) > [“Mind and body were well or ill together.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/mind-and-body-were-well-or-ill-together/) [Pearl S. Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-s-buck/) > [“U meni postoji mjesto gdje živim posve sama; tu obnavljam svoja proljeća koja nikad ne presahnu”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/u-meni-postoji-mjesto-gdje-ivim-posve-sama-tu-obnavljam-svoja-prolje/) [Pearl S. Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-s-buck/) > [“Brave young American men climbed the rugged slopes of Korean mountains and fought in homesickness and desperate weariness for the sake of a people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/brave-young-american-men-climbed-the-rugged-slopes-of-korean/) [Pearl S. Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-s-buck/) > [Truth is always exciting. Speak it, then; life is dull without it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/truth-is-always-exciting-speak-it-then-life-is-dull-without-it/) [Pearl S. Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-s-buck/) > [“All scientific effort must now be concentrated in the area of defence (sic). We have learned our lesson. We, the most civilized of people,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/all-scientific-effort-must-now-be-concentrated-in-the-area-of-defence/) [Pearl S. Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-s-buck/) > [to know how to read is to light a lamp in the mind, to release the soul from prison, to open a gate to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/to-know-how-to-read-is-to-light-a-lamp-in-the-mind-to-release-the/) [Pearl S. Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-s-buck/) [Explore all 304 Pearl S. Buck quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-s-buck/) ## 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": "“This scroll, five hundred years old and more, had been inspired by her favorite, the great Wang Wei, master of landscape art, who had painted the scenes from his own home, where he lived for thirty years before he died. Now behind the palace walls on this winter’s day, where she could see only sky and falling snow, Tzu His gazed upon the green landscapes of continuing spring. One landscape melted into another as slowly she unrolled the scroll, so that she might dwell upon every detail of tree and brook and distant hillside. So did she, in imagination, pass beyond the high walls which enclosed her, and she traveled through a delectable country, beside flowing brooks and spreading lakes, and following the ever-flowing river she crossed over wooden bridges and climbed the stony pathways upon a high mountainside and thence looked down a gorge to see a torrent fed by still higher springs, and breaking into waterfalls as it traveled toward the plains. Down from the mountain again she came, past small villages nestling in pine forests and into the warmer valleys among bamboo groves, and she paused in a poet’s pavilion, and so reached at last the shore where the river lost itself in a bay. There among the reeds a fisherman’s boat rose and fell upon the rising tide. Here the river ended, its horizon the open sea and the misted mountains of infinity. This scroll, Lady Miao had once told her, was the artist’s picture of the human soul, passing through the pleasantest scenes of earth to the last view of the unknown future, far beyond.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Pearl S. Buck" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/this-scroll-five-hundred-years-old-and-more-had-been-inspired-by-her/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/this-scroll-five-hundred-years-old-and-more-had-been-inspired-by-her/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e55/pearl-s-buck-1024_art_this-scroll-five-hundred-years-old-and-m_2883278.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e55/pearl-s-buck-1024_art_this-scroll-five-hundred-years-old-and-m_2883278.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e55/pearl-s-buck-1024_art_this-scroll-five-hundred-years-old-and-m_2883278.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“This scroll, five hundred years old and more, had been inspired by her favorite, the great Wang Wei, master…” — Pearl S. Buck", "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": "Pearl S. Buck", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-s-buck/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“This scroll, five hundred years old...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/this-scroll-five-hundred-years-old-and-more-had-been-inspired-by-her/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/this-scroll-five-hundred-years-old-and-more-had-been-inspired-by-her/#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 } } ] } ```