--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Misery, anger, indignation…" description: "\"Misery, anger, indignation, discomfort-those conditions produce literature. Contentment-never. So there you are.\" — T. E. Lawrence" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e86/t-e-lawrence-10943_books_misery-anger-indignation-discomfort-thos_1415770.png" --- # Misery, anger, indignation, discomfort-those conditions… ![“Misery, anger, indignation, discomfort-those conditions produce literature. Contentment-never. So there you are.” quote by T. E. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e86/t-e-lawrence-10943_books_misery-anger-indignation-discomfort-thos_1415770.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e86/t-e-lawrence-10943_books_misery-anger-indignation-discomfort-thos_1415770.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e86/t-e-lawrence-10943_books_misery-anger-indignation-discomfort-thos_1415770.png) > “Misery, anger, indignation, discomfort-those conditions produce literature. Contentment-never. So there you are.” [T. E. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-e-lawrence/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Discomfort fuels creative work, while contentment stifles it, leading to a perpetual state of dissatisfaction that drives artistic production. **In simple terms:** Unhappiness sparks art; comfort kills it. Key Takeaway Embrace discomfort to create. Themes creativity literature discontent Mood reflective introspective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - writing - painting - music composition - entrepreneurial ventures Key Concepts existentialism psychology Questions to Reflect On - How does personal unrest shape your output? - Can contentment ever be a catalyst for innovation? A Different Perspective Comfort can also inspire subtle, nuanced works. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Contentment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contentment/) [Discomfort](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discomfort/) [Literature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literature/) [Misery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/misery/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [Democracy must be built through open societies that share information. When there is information, there is enlightenment. When there is debate, there are solutions.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atifete-jahjaga/democracy-must-be-built-through-open-societies-that-share-information/) [Atifete Jahjaga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atifete-jahjaga/) > [The vehemence of my moral indignation surprised me. Was I beginning to have standards and principles, and, oh dear, scruples? What were they, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elaine-dundy/the-vehemence-of-my-moral-indignation-surprised-me-was-i-beginning-to/) [Elaine Dundy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elaine-dundy/) > [“Lewis Richardson wrote that his quest to analyze peace with numbers sprang from two prejudices. As a Quaker, he believed that "the moral evil…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/lewis-richardson-wrote-that-his-quest-to-analyze-peace-with-numbers/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [Indignation and determination are much more constructive emotions than shame and embarrassment. And feminism was this engine that turned one into the other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lindy-west/indignation-and-determination-are-much-more-constructive-emotions/) [Lindy West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lindy-west/) > [You can't dwell on what happened. You can't live even a moment stewing in bitterness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/apolo-ohno/you-can-t-dwell-on-what-happened-you-can-t-live-even-a-moment-stewing/) [Apolo Ohno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/apolo-ohno/) > [I do not know how the affair at Canterbury is generally considered; but I have heard individuals of all parties and all opinions speak…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-m-child/i-do-not-know-how-the-affair-at-canterbury-is-generally-considered/) [Lydia M. Child](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-m-child/) > [“He is not truly patient who will only suffer as far as seems right to him and from whom he pleases. The truly patient…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-a-kempis/he-is-not-truly-patient-who-will-only-suffer-as-far-as-seems-right-to/) [Thomas à Kempis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-a-kempis/) > [Black prophetic fire is the hypersensitivity to the suffering of others that generates a righteous indignation that results in the willingness to live and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/black-prophetic-fire-is-the-hypersensitivity-to-the-suffering-of/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [See, I don’t expect to win a prize for stoic control and dignity at mourning time. Death deserve tantrums. Beating back shocked indignation, kicks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruby-dee/see-i-don-t-expect-to-win-a-prize-for-stoic-control-and-dignity-at/) [Ruby Dee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruby-dee/) > [There is something on earth greater than arbitrary or despotic power. The lightning has its power, and the whirlwind has its power, and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-webster/there-is-something-on-earth-greater-than-arbitrary-or-despotic-power/) [Daniel Webster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-webster/) > [RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION is a manual and a call to action for awakened patriots who are too intelligent to believe the leftist media lies and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-palin/righteous-indignation-is-a-manual-and-a-call-to-action-for-awakened/) [Sarah Palin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-palin/) > [ Indignation leads to the making of poetry. \[Lat., Facit indignatio versum.\] ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juvenal/indignation-leads-to-the-making-of-poetry-lat-facit-indignatio-versum/) [Juvenal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juvenal/) > [The Islamist camp is infused with a righteous indignation, as the forces of old, corrupt and rotten Egypt unite to try and drive them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/crispin-blunt/the-islamist-camp-is-infused-with-a-righteous-indignation-as-the/) [Crispin Blunt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/crispin-blunt/) > [Dr. Arnold . . . the admired reformer of public schools, came across some cranks who thought it a mistake to flog boys. Anyone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/dr-arnold-the-admired-reformer-of-public-schools-came-across-some/) [Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/) > [I think that I feel an indignation when I don't understand something.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cleese/i-think-that-i-feel-an-indignation-when-i-don-t-understand-something/) [John Cleese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cleese/) ## More by T. E. Lawrence > [It is difficult to keep quiet when everything is being done wrong, but the less you lose your temper the greater your advantage. Also…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-e-lawrence/it-is-difficult-to-keep-quiet-when-everything-is-being-done-wrong-but/) [T. E. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-e-lawrence/) > [Some of the evil of my tale may have been inherent in our circumstances. For years we lived anyhow with one another in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-e-lawrence/some-of-the-evil-of-my-tale-may-have-been-inherent-in-our/) [T. E. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-e-lawrence/) > [Your success will be proportioned to the amount of mental effort you devote to it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-e-lawrence/your-success-will-be-proportioned-to-the-amount-of-mental-effort-you/) [T. E. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-e-lawrence/) > [Club Secretary: I say, Lawrence. You are a clown! Lawrence: We can't all be lion tamers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-e-lawrence/club-secretary-i-say-lawrence-you-are-a-clown-lawrence-we-can-t-all/) [T. E. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-e-lawrence/) > [He feared his maturity as it grew upon him with its ripe thought, its skill, its finished art; yet which lacked the poetry of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-e-lawrence/he-feared-his-maturity-as-it-grew-upon-him-with-its-ripe-thought-its/) [T. E. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-e-lawrence/) > [I've been and am absurdly over-estimated. There are no supermen and I'm quite ordinary, and will say so whatever the artistic results. In that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-e-lawrence/i-ve-been-and-am-absurdly-over-estimated-there-are-no-supermen-and-i/) [T. E. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-e-lawrence/) > [“Do not try to do too much with your own hands. Better the Arabs do it tolerably than that you do it perfectly. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-e-lawrence/do-not-try-to-do-too-much-with-your-own-hands-better-the-arabs-do-it-2/) [T. E. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-e-lawrence/) > [Arab civilizations had been of an abstract nature, moral and intellectual rather than applied; and their lack of public spirit made their excellent private…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-e-lawrence/arab-civilizations-had-been-of-an-abstract-nature-moral-and/) [T. E. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-e-lawrence/) > [We lived many lives in those whirling campaigns, never sparing ourselves; yet when we achieved, and the new world dawned, the old men came…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-e-lawrence/we-lived-many-lives-in-those-whirling-campaigns-never-sparing/) [T. E. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-e-lawrence/) > [Bedouin ways were hard even for those brought up to them, and for strangers, terrible: a death in life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-e-lawrence/bedouin-ways-were-hard-even-for-those-brought-up-to-them-and-for/) [T. E. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-e-lawrence/) > [“In my case, the effort for these years to live in the dress of Arabs, and to imitate their mental foundation, quitted me of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-e-lawrence/in-my-case-the-effort-for-these-years-to-live-in-the-dress-of-arabs/) [T. E. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-e-lawrence/) > [A first difficulty of the Arab movement was to say who the Arabs were. Being a manufactured people, their name had been changing in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-e-lawrence/a-first-difficulty-of-the-arab-movement-was-to-say-who-the-arabs-were/) [T. E. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-e-lawrence/) > [A thick headcloth forms a good protection against the sun, and if you wear a hat your best Arab friends will be ashamed of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-e-lawrence/a-thick-headcloth-forms-a-good-protection-against-the-sun-and-if-you/) [T. E. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-e-lawrence/) > [If I could talk it like Dahoum, you would never be tired of listening to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-e-lawrence/if-i-could-talk-it-like-dahoum-you-would-never-be-tired-of-listening/) [T. E. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-e-lawrence/) > [There is an ideal standard somewhere and only that matters and I cannot find it. Hence the aimlessness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-e-lawrence/there-is-an-ideal-standard-somewhere-and-only-that-matters-and-i/) [T. E. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-e-lawrence/) [Explore all 62 T. E. Lawrence quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-e-lawrence/) ## More Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) Christopher K. Krebs > [“Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/take-some-books-and-read-that-s-an-immense-help-and-books-are-always/) [Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/) > [Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/reader-if-you-are-gifted-with-nerves-like-mine-aspire-to-any/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [I have many who keep me going, I am very fortunate in this sense. There is nothing like a child who knows more about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/floyd-cooper/i-have-many-who-keep-me-going-i-am-very-fortunate-in-this-sense-there/) [Floyd Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/floyd-cooper/) > [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [It's like the query letter problem that I just mentioned, magnified a hundredfold. You might be good at telling a story, but that doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/it-s-like-the-query-letter-problem-that-i-just-mentioned-magnified-a/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [“Be careful about reading health books. Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-herz/be-careful-about-reading-health-books-some-fine-day-you-ll-die-of-a/) Markus Herz > [But editors are still the world's readers. And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) [Browse all 59,485 Books quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Misery, anger, indignation, discomfort-those conditions produce literature. Contentment-never. So there you are.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "T. E. 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