I can't live where I want to, I can't go where I want to go, I can't do what I want to, I can't even say what I want to. I decided I was a very stupid fool not to at least paint as I wanted to.
Georgia O'KeeffeRead
I think it's so foolish for people to want to be happy. Happy is so momentary--you're happy for an instant and then you start thinking again. Interest is the most important thing in life; happiness is temporary, but interest is continuous.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Happiness is fleeting, while a genuine interest in life provides lasting fulfillment.
Georgia O'Keeffe suggests that the pursuit of happiness is misguided, as happiness is a transient state that comes and goes. Instead, she emphasizes that maintaining an interest in life and its complexities leads to a more profound and enduring satisfaction than simply chasing momentary joy.
Themes
HappinessInterestTemporaryLifeFulfillment
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about pursuing passions over fleeting emotions.
More from Georgia O'Keeffe
All quotes →I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for.
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You are one of my nicest thoughts.
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It was in the 1920s, when nobody had time to reflect, that I saw a still-life painting with a flower that was perfectly exquisite, but so small you really could not appreciate it.
Georgia O'KeeffeRead
Singing has always seemed to me the most perfect means of expression.
Georgia O'KeeffeRead
Objective painting is not good painting unless it is good in the abstract sense. A hill or tree cannot make a good painting just because it is a hill or tree. It is lines and colors put together so that they may say something.
Georgia O'KeeffeRead
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