--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: My interest in desperation lies only in…" description: "\"My interest in desperation lies only in that sometimes I find myself having become desperate. Very seldom do I start out that way. I can see of course ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b9/willem-de-kooning-12563_abstract_my-interest-in-desperation-lies-only-in_2280517.jpg" --- # My interest in desperation lies only in that sometimes I… ![“My interest in desperation lies only in that sometimes I find myself having become desperate. Very seldom do I start out that way. I can see of course that, in the abstract, thinking and all activity is rather desperate.” quote by Willem de Kooning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b9/willem-de-kooning-12563_abstract_my-interest-in-desperation-lies-only-in_2280517.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b9/willem-de-kooning-12563_abstract_my-interest-in-desperation-lies-only-in_2280517.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b9/willem-de-kooning-12563_abstract_my-interest-in-desperation-lies-only-in_2280517.jpg) > “My interest in desperation lies only in that sometimes I find myself having become desperate. Very seldom do I start out that way. I can see of course that, in the abstract, thinking and all activity is rather desperate.” [Willem de Kooning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willem-de-kooning/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Desperation can arise unexpectedly, even for those who start calmly. **In simple terms:** Even calm people can feel desperate. Key Takeaway Accept that desperation can be a creative spark. Themes creativity desperation self-awareness Mood introspective thoughtful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - creative blocks - personal crises - artistic breakthroughs Key Concepts psychology artistic process emotional turbulence Questions to Reflect On - How can you channel desperation into work? - When does desperation become harmful? A Different Perspective Desperation may hinder but also fuel innovation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Abstract](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstract/) [Activity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/activity/) [Activity Desperate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/activity-desperate-5320984/) [Desperate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desperate/) [Desperate Seldom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desperate-seldom-5320982/) [Desperation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desperation/) [Having Desperate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/having-desperate-5320983/) [I can](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/i-can/) [Interest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interest/) [Lying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lying/) [Sometimes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sometimes/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/) ## Related quotes > [“I was ambitious and desperate to direct my first film, so I capitulated and blew it. Never again. Never fucking again.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-ferguson/i-was-ambitious-and-desperate-to-direct-my-first-film-so-i/) [Craig Ferguson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-ferguson/) > [“Desperate and dammed persons share an affinity for flirting with danger; an infectious case of erotic morbidity fetters them to self-destruction.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kilroy-j-oldster/desperate-and-dammed-persons-share-an-affinity-for-flirting-with/) [Kilroy J. Oldster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kilroy-j-oldster/) > [“But there is nothing more beautiful than being desperate. And there is nothing more risky than pretending not to care.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-c-lewis/but-there-is-nothing-more-beautiful-than-being-desperate-and-there-is/) [Rachel C. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-c-lewis/) > [You might perhaps like to see the few canvases I was able to save from the bailiffs and the rest, since I thought you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-monet/you-might-perhaps-like-to-see-the-few-canvases-i-was-able-to-save/) [Claude Monet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-monet/) > [“Once you connect with yourself, it is impossible to be lonely or desperate.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryant-mcgill/once-you-connect-with-yourself-it-is-impossible-to-be-lonely-or/) [Bryant McGill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryant-mcgill/) > [“Please,' I say to the dirt floor of the brugh, to the earth itself. 'I will do whatever you want. I will give up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/holly-black/please-i-say-to-the-dirt-floor-of-the-brugh-to-the-earth-itself-i/) [Holly Black](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/holly-black/) > [Desperation compels us to pray with fervent, focused faith - especially when we have no one else to turn to. God honors our faith…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-graham-lotz/desperation-compels-us-to-pray-with-fervent-focused-faith-especially/) [Anne Graham Lotz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-graham-lotz/) > [“Obsession and desperation for your goal, gets you the goal.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amit-kalantri/obsession-and-desperation-for-your-goal-gets-you-the-goal/) [Amit Kalantri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amit-kalantri/) > [And in the end, we are only atoms. Drifting alone, desperate for something to cling on to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/and-in-the-end-we-are-only-atoms-drifting-alone-desperate-for/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Single and ready to mingle? That's just another way to say I'm desperate and will take anyone in a way that rhymes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/single-and-ready-to-mingle-that-s-just-another-way-to-say-i-m/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If you are curious, you will learn. If you are desperate, you will discover.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mooji/if-you-are-curious-you-will-learn-if-you-are-desperate-you-will/) [Mooji](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mooji/) > [Football is based on desperation. All clubs are desperate in one form or another - desperate to succeed, desperate to survive, desperate to stay…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-barnes/football-is-based-on-desperation-all-clubs-are-desperate-in-one-form/) [Simon Barnes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-barnes/) > [Lies are just another kind of storytelling, but with the very distinct and enlivening motive of desperation. Since writers are by nature desperate creatures,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-hodgman/lies-are-just-another-kind-of-storytelling-but-with-the-very-distinct/) [John Hodgman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-hodgman/) > [The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/the-mass-of-men-lead-lives-of-quiet-desperation-what-is-called/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [“Desperation will drive you to do things you know will never make you whole again and even to lose the very thing you’re desperate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-miller/desperation-will-drive-you-to-do-things-you-know-will-never-make-you/) [Laura Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-miller/) ## More by Willem de Kooning > [The texture of experience is prior to everything else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willem-de-kooning/the-texture-of-experience-is-prior-to-everything-else/) [Willem de Kooning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willem-de-kooning/) > [Art should not have to be a certain way,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willem-de-kooning/art-should-not-have-to-be-a-certain-way/) [Willem de Kooning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willem-de-kooning/) > [I think I'm painting a picture of two women but it may turn out to be a landscape.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willem-de-kooning/i-think-i-m-painting-a-picture-of-two-women-but-it-may-turn-out-to-be/) [Willem de Kooning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willem-de-kooning/) > [Im not someone whos ever said anything definitive about his work. In my life also I have very little fixed form. I can change…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willem-de-kooning/im-not-someone-whos-ever-said-anything-definitive-about-his-work-in/) [Willem de Kooning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willem-de-kooning/) > [Style is a fraud. I always felt the Greeks were hiding behind their columns.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willem-de-kooning/style-is-a-fraud-i-always-felt-the-greeks-were-hiding-behind-their/) [Willem de Kooning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willem-de-kooning/) > [Whatever an artist's personal feelings are, as soon as an artist fills a certain area on the canvas or circumscribes it, he becomes historical.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willem-de-kooning/whatever-an-artist-s-personal-feelings-are-as-soon-as-an-artist-fills/) [Willem de Kooning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willem-de-kooning/) > [The idea of space is given to the artist to change if he can. The subject matter in the abstract is space.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willem-de-kooning/the-idea-of-space-is-given-to-the-artist-to-change-if-he-can-the/) [Willem de Kooning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willem-de-kooning/) > [If I stretch my arms and wonder where my fingers are - that is all the space I need as a painter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willem-de-kooning/if-i-stretch-my-arms-and-wonder-where-my-fingers-are-that-is-all-the/) [Willem de Kooning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willem-de-kooning/) > [The artist fills space with an attitude. The attitude never comes from himself alone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willem-de-kooning/the-artist-fills-space-with-an-attitude-the-attitude-never-comes-from/) [Willem de Kooning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willem-de-kooning/) > [Flesh was the reason why oil painting was invented](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willem-de-kooning/flesh-was-the-reason-why-oil-painting-was-invented/) [Willem de Kooning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willem-de-kooning/) > [I feel sometimes an American artist must feel, like a baseball player or something - a member of a team writing American history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willem-de-kooning/i-feel-sometimes-an-american-artist-must-feel-like-a-baseball-player/) [Willem de Kooning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willem-de-kooning/) > [Maybe in that earlier phase I was painting the woman in me. Art isn't a wholly masculine occupation, you know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willem-de-kooning/maybe-in-that-earlier-phase-i-was-painting-the-woman-in-me-art-isn-t/) [Willem de Kooning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willem-de-kooning/) > [Yes, I am influenced by everbody. But every time I put my hands in my pockets I find someone else's fingers there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willem-de-kooning/yes-i-am-influenced-by-everbody-but-every-time-i-put-my-hands-in-my/) [Willem de Kooning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willem-de-kooning/) > [I'd like to get all the colors in the world into one painting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willem-de-kooning/i-d-like-to-get-all-the-colors-in-the-world-into-one-painting/) [Willem de Kooning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willem-de-kooning/) > [Spiritually I am wherever my spirit allows me to be, and that is not necessarily in the future... Art never seems to make me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willem-de-kooning/spiritually-i-am-wherever-my-spirit-allows-me-to-be-and-that-is-not/) [Willem de Kooning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willem-de-kooning/) [Explore all 54 Willem de Kooning quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willem-de-kooning/) ## More Abstract quotes > [Love is like that, fragile and light. No wonder it rests upon our hearts in intangible moments, bids us follow fleeting thoughts and ideas…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/love-is-like-that-fragile-and-light-no-wonder-it-rests-upon-our/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Wisdom is the abstract of the past, but beauty is the promise of the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/wisdom-is-the-abstract-of-the-past-but-beauty-is-the-promise-of-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Where human eyes have never seen, where human beings have never been, I build a world of abstract dreams, and I wait for you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-ra/where-human-eyes-have-never-seen-where-human-beings-have-never-been-i/) [Sun Ra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-ra/) > [A little too abstract, a little too wise, It is time for us to kiss the earth again, It is time to let the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/a-little-too-abstract-a-little-too-wise-it-is-time-for-us-to-kiss-the/) [Robinson Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/) > [“Happy is very abstract, you can't touch it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julius-veal/happy-is-very-abstract-you-can-t-touch-it/) [Julius Veal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julius-veal/) > [Abstract Expressionism was invented by New York drunks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joni-mitchell/abstract-expressionism-was-invented-by-new-york-drunks/) [Joni Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joni-mitchell/) > [The more horrible this world (as today, for instance), the more abstract our art, whereas a happy world brings forth an art of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-klee/the-more-horrible-this-world-as-today-for-instance-the-more-abstract/) [Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/) > [Describing comic sensibility is near impossible. It's sort of an abstract silliness, that sometimes the joke isn't the star.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-carvey/describing-comic-sensibility-is-near-impossible-it-s-sort-of-an/) [Dana Carvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-carvey/) > [For people of color - especially African Americans - the idea that racist cops might frame members of their community is no abstract notion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-wise/for-people-of-color-especially-african-americans-the-idea-that-racist/) [Tim Wise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-wise/) > [The word of the Lord never comes to us as an opinion, no attempt is made to support it by argument, it comes as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-w-ivins/the-word-of-the-lord-never-comes-to-us-as-an-opinion-no-attempt-is/) [Anthony W. Ivins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-w-ivins/) > [A mobile is an abstract sculpture made chiefly out of sheet metal, steel rods, wire and wood. Some or all of these elements move,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-calder/a-mobile-is-an-abstract-sculpture-made-chiefly-out-of-sheet-metal/) [Alexander Calder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-calder/) > [I'm this superphilosophical kind of person. Stuck in a prison of abstract ideas and overpowering emotions, I have this personality that makes it really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natsuo-kirino/i-m-this-superphilosophical-kind-of-person-stuck-in-a-prison-of/) [Natsuo Kirino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natsuo-kirino/) > [Future lawyers should be more aware that law is not a system of abstract logic, but the web of arrangements, rooted in history but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felix-frankfurter/future-lawyers-should-be-more-aware-that-law-is-not-a-system-of/) [Felix Frankfurter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/felix-frankfurter/) > [The trouble is that when you read criticisms about the other films that I've made you get the impression that they're all about themes,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-haneke/the-trouble-is-that-when-you-read-criticisms-about-the-other-films/) [Michael Haneke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-haneke/) > [Painting is... a richer language than words... Painting operates through signs which are not abstract and incorporeal like words. The signs of painting are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-dubuffet/painting-is-a-richer-language-than-words-painting-operates-through/) [Jean Dubuffet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-dubuffet/) [Browse all 1,403 Abstract quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstract/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "My interest in desperation lies only in that sometimes I find myself having become desperate. Very seldom do I start out that way. I can see of course that, in the abstract, thinking and all activity is rather desperate.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Willem de Kooning" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willem-de-kooning/my-interest-in-desperation-lies-only-in-that-sometimes-i-find-myself/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Abstract" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willem-de-kooning/my-interest-in-desperation-lies-only-in-that-sometimes-i-find-myself/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b9/willem-de-kooning-12563_abstract_my-interest-in-desperation-lies-only-in_2280517.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b9/willem-de-kooning-12563_abstract_my-interest-in-desperation-lies-only-in_2280517.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4b9/willem-de-kooning-12563_abstract_my-interest-in-desperation-lies-only-in_2280517.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“My interest in desperation lies only in that sometimes I find myself having become desperate. Very seldom do…” — Willem de Kooning", "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": "Willem de Kooning", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willem-de-kooning/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "My interest in desperation lies only...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willem-de-kooning/my-interest-in-desperation-lies-only-in-that-sometimes-i-find-myself/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willem-de-kooning/my-interest-in-desperation-lies-only-in-that-sometimes-i-find-myself/#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 } } ] } ```