--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Art is an attempt to understand, yielding…" description: "\"Art is an attempt to understand, yielding pleasure in the attempt whether or not we understand.\" — Robert Breault" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/22c/robert-breault-304_art_art-is-an-attempt-to-understand-yielding_2442298.png" --- # Art is an attempt to understand, yielding pleasure in the… ![“Art is an attempt to understand, yielding pleasure in the attempt whether or not we understand.” quote by Robert Breault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/22c/robert-breault-304_art_art-is-an-attempt-to-understand-yielding_2442298.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/22c/robert-breault-304_art_art-is-an-attempt-to-understand-yielding_2442298.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/22c/robert-breault-304_art_art-is-an-attempt-to-understand-yielding_2442298.png) > “Art is an attempt to understand, yielding pleasure in the attempt whether or not we understand.” [Robert Breault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-breault/) ## 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 is a quest for understanding, rewarding even without complete comprehension. **In simple terms:** Art is a quest for understanding. Key Takeaway Engage in art to explore ideas. Themes creativity knowledge pleasure Mood curious content Type inspirational philosophical When to use this quote - learning new skills - museum visits - personal projects Key Concepts aesthetic inquiry epistemic curiosity Questions to Reflect On - What does the process of creating teach you? - How do you value effort over outcome? A Different Perspective Understanding may remain incomplete despite effort. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Art Attempt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-attempt-375083/) [Art is](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-is/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Attempt Understand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/attempt-understand-497821/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Learning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learning/) [Pleasure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pleasure/) [Pleasure Attempt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pleasure-attempt-497818/) [Yielding Pleasure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/yielding-pleasure-497820/) ## Related quotes > [“I could believe this all the more readily (and also that the caresses by which she would bring that savour to my senses were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/i-could-believe-this-all-the-more-readily-and-also-that-the-caresses/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [Art is an attempt to give substance to existence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sondra-horton-fraleigh/art-is-an-attempt-to-give-substance-to-existence/) [Sondra Horton Fraleigh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sondra-horton-fraleigh/) > [ \[Art is\] an attempt to escape from life. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/art-is-an-attempt-to-escape-from-life/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [My art is an attempt to reach beyond the surface appearance. I want to see growth in wood, time in stone, nature in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-goldsworthy/my-art-is-an-attempt-to-reach-beyond-the-surface-appearance-i-want-to/) [Andy Goldsworthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-goldsworthy/) > [“Art is an attempt to capture the truths of the world as you see it in a medium you can share with others. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-rather/art-is-an-attempt-to-capture-the-truths-of-the-world-as-you-see-it-in/) [Dan Rather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-rather/) > [Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-sondheim/art-in-itself-is-an-attempt-to-bring-order-out-of-chaos/) [Stephen Sondheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-sondheim/) > [Art is an attempt to integrate evil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/art-is-an-attempt-to-integrate-evil/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [When something seems ‘the most obvious thing in the world’ it means that any attempt to understand the world has been given up.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertolt-brecht/when-something-seems-the-most-obvious-thing-in-the-world-it-means/) [Bertolt Brecht](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertolt-brecht/) > [I like to watch mankind in its futile attempt to understand the unknown, when they don't even understand that which they know](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terrence-howard/i-like-to-watch-mankind-in-its-futile-attempt-to-understand-the/) [Terrence Howard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terrence-howard/) > [Everyone wants to understand painting. Why is there no attempt to understand the song of the birds?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/everyone-wants-to-understand-painting-why-is-there-no-attempt-to/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [I don't have to agree with everything you say, but I should attempt at least to understand it, for the opposite of mutual understanding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-wilber/i-don-t-have-to-agree-with-everything-you-say-but-i-should-attempt-at/) [Ken Wilber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-wilber/) > [My old teacher's definition of poetry is an attempt to understand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/my-old-teacher-s-definition-of-poetry-is-an-attempt-to-understand/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [This work is an attempt to understand the time I live in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/this-work-is-an-attempt-to-understand-the-time-i-live-in/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [Always attempt to understand whatever you see, whatever you hear and whatever you perceive. There is a hidden meaning behind everything, hence things are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tia-nnebo/always-attempt-to-understand-whatever-you-see-whatever-you-hear-and/) [Tia Nnebo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tia-nnebo/) > [The first step in learning to love others is the attempt to understand them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-von-speyr/the-first-step-in-learning-to-love-others-is-the-attempt-to/) [Adrienne von Speyr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-von-speyr/) ## More by Robert Breault > [You will not find a soulmate in the quiet of your room. You must go to a noisy place and look in the quiet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/you-will-not-find-a-soulmate-in-the-quiet-of-your-room-you-must-go-to/) [Robert Breault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-breault/) > [Never mind the odds against you. If you doubled your effort, what would the odds against you do — send for reinforcements?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/never-mind-the-odds-against-you-if-you-doubled-your-effort-what-would/) [Robert Breault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-breault/) > [Of course I doubt. I do not practice a certainty. I practice a faith.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/of-course-i-doubt-i-do-not-practice-a-certainty-i-practice-a-faith/) [Robert Breault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-breault/) > [Retirement is having nothing to do and someone always keeping you from it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/retirement-is-having-nothing-to-do-and-someone-always-keeping-you/) [Robert Breault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-breault/) > [There is in art the notion of less is more, which is to say, you don't torture a painting that has already confessed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/there-is-in-art-the-notion-of-less-is-more-which-is-to-say-you-don-t/) [Robert Breault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-breault/) > [One's dream is defeated not by unsolvable problems, but by all the more-or-less satisfactory solutions that kill it forever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/one-s-dream-is-defeated-not-by-unsolvable-problems-but-by-all-the/) [Robert Breault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-breault/) > [I cultivate my garden, and my garden cultivates me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/i-cultivate-my-garden-and-my-garden-cultivates-me/) [Robert Breault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-breault/) > [In the end you regret less the things you believed that weren't true than the things that never came true because you didn't believe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/in-the-end-you-regret-less-the-things-you-believed-that-weren-t-true/) [Robert Breault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-breault/) > [The trick to getting ahead is to give it the same effort you give to getting even.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/the-trick-to-getting-ahead-is-to-give-it-the-same-effort-you-give-to/) [Robert Breault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-breault/) > [Man will have replicated his own intelligence not when he teaches a computer to reason but when he teaches a computer to have a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/man-will-have-replicated-his-own-intelligence-not-when-he-teaches-a/) [Robert Breault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-breault/) > [To hurt someone you know will forgive you is the unkindiest thing of all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/to-hurt-someone-you-know-will-forgive-you-is-the-unkindiest-thing-of/) [Robert Breault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-breault/) > [For every person who atones, a hundred others find regret sufficient.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/for-every-person-who-atones-a-hundred-others-find-regret-sufficient/) [Robert Breault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-breault/) > [As a means to success, determination has this advantage over talent - that it does not have to be recognized by others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/as-a-means-to-success-determination-has-this-advantage-over-talent/) [Robert Breault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-breault/) > [As a gardener, I wonder if flowers really can't speak or just exercise unfailing good judgment in the matter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/as-a-gardener-i-wonder-if-flowers-really-can-t-speak-or-just-exercise/) [Robert Breault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-breault/) > [Genius is a plodding intellect, incapable of dreaming up the obstacles that stop the rest of us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/genius-is-a-plodding-intellect-incapable-of-dreaming-up-the-obstacles/) [Robert Breault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-breault/) [Explore all 710 Robert Breault quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-breault/) ## 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": "Art is an attempt to understand, yielding pleasure in the attempt whether or not we understand.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Robert Breault" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/art-is-an-attempt-to-understand-yielding-pleasure-in-the-attempt/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/art-is-an-attempt-to-understand-yielding-pleasure-in-the-attempt/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/22c/robert-breault-304_art_art-is-an-attempt-to-understand-yielding_2442298.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/22c/robert-breault-304_art_art-is-an-attempt-to-understand-yielding_2442298.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/22c/robert-breault-304_art_art-is-an-attempt-to-understand-yielding_2442298.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Art is an attempt to understand, yielding pleasure in the attempt whether or not we understand.” — Robert Breault", "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": "Robert Breault", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-breault/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Art is an attempt to understand,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/art-is-an-attempt-to-understand-yielding-pleasure-in-the-attempt/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/art-is-an-attempt-to-understand-yielding-pleasure-in-the-attempt/#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 } } ] } ```