Frustration Quotes - Page 3

• No man can think clearly when his fists are clenched.

  George Jean Nathan

  Life, Wisdom, Crazy

  George Jean Nathan (1972). “The World in Falseface”, p.21, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press

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• He who would not be frustrate of his hope to write well hereafter in laudable things ought himself to be a true poem.

  John Milton

  Hope, Writing, Poetry

  'An Apology for Smectymnuus' (1642) introduction, p. 16

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• What I say to an artist is, 'When you can't paint - paint.

  Joyce Cary

  Artist, Paint

  Joyce Cary (1985). “Triptych”, Penguin Classics

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• The American mood, perhaps even the American character, has changed. There are few manifestations any longer of the old American self-assurance which so irritated Dickens. Instead, there is a sense of frustration so perceptible that even our politicians have attempted to exploit it.

  Archibald MacLeish

  Character, America, Self

  Archibald MacLeish (1978). “Riders on the Earth: essays and recollections”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)

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• Emotional maturity is the ability to stick to a job and to struggle through until it is finished, to endure unpleasantness, discomfort and frustration.

  Edward Adam Strecker

  Determination, Jobs, Struggle

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• I'm still afflicted with the malady of research. I don't like what I do, and I paint it out, and paint it out again. I hope this mania will come to an end... I'm like a child at school. The white page must always be evenly written and slap! bang! and there's a blot! I'm still blotting and I'm forty years old.

  Pierre-Auguste Renoir

  Children, School, Years

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• Experimental artists build their skills gradually over the course of their careers, improving their work slowly over long periods. These artists are perfectionists and are typically plagued by frustration at their inability to achieve their goals.

  David Galenson

  Artist, Skills, Careers

  David W. Galenson (2011). “Old Masters and Young Geniuses: The Two Life Cycles of Artistic Creativity”, p.4, Princeton University Press

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• All the trials we endure cannot be compared to these interior battles.

  Teresa of Avila

  Battle, Trials, Endure

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• If you so choose, every mistake can lead to greater understanding and effectiveness. If you so choose, every frustration can help you to be more patient and more persistent.

  Ralph Marston

  Mistake, Effectiveness, Understanding

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• Every writer is a frustrated actor who recites his lines in the hidden auditorium of his skull.

  Rod Serling

  Writing, Skulls, Frustrated

  1957 InVogue,1Apr.

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• I've spent so long on some paintings that I no longer know what to think of them, and I am definitely getting harder to please; nothing satisfies me.

  Claude Monet

  Thinking, Long, Painting

  Claude Monet (2014). “Monet by Himself: Paintings, Drawings, Pastels, Letters”, Chartwell

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• Sometimes I had to force the overpainting of three corners almost without any feeling for shape, almost without inspiration, only to find my way back, to get out of this hell.

  Arnulf Rainer

  Inspiration, Feelings, Three

  Arnulf Rainer, Rudolf Herman Fuchs, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Haags Gemeentemuseum (1989). “Arnulf Rainer: an exhibition curated”, Solomon R Guggenheim Museum

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• Fears, indecision, and frustration feed on words. Without words they usually stop. . . . Words are at times good for looking back, but they are confining when I need to act in the present.

  Hugh Prather

  Fear, Needs, Indecision

  Hugh Prather (1983). “Notes to Myself”, Bantam

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• I had gotten to the point where I was either going to play the violin much better or I was going to break it over my knee.

  Ellen Taaffe Zwilich

  Play, Knees, Violin

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• How unbearable at times are people who are happy, people for whom everything works out.

  Anton Chekhov

  Happiness, People, Work Out

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• At one point he decided enough was enough.

  Steven Wright

  Funny, Humor, Comedy

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• When life demands more of people than they demand of life - as is ordinarily the case - what results is a resentment of life almost as deep-seated as the fear of death

  Tom Robbins

  People, Demand, Resentment

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• Deep inside of every human being is this feeling that nothing is ever going to be complete, that the circle will never connect - and that itself is the secret to infinity.

  Pete Townshend

  Circles, Feelings, Secret

  Richard Barnes, Pete Townshend (1977). “The story of Tommy”

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• Softly and kindly remind yourself, ''I cannot own anything.'' It is a valuable thought to keep in mind as you struggle to improve your financial picture, worry about investments, and plan how to acquire more and more. It is a universal principle which you are part of. You must release everything when you truly awaken. Are you letting your life go by in frustration and worry over not having enough? If so, relax and remember that you only get what you have for a short period of time. When you awaken you will see the folly of being attached to anything.

  Wayne Dyer

  Struggle, Attachment, Worry

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• I have never painted as well as I thought I should, so frustration came early.

  Thomas S. Buechner

  Should, Wells

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• Hope fills the holes of my frustration in my heart.

  Emanuel Cleaver

  Heart, My Heart, Holes

  "Emanuel Cleaver DNC speech". www.politico.com. September 5, 2012.

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• When the frustration of my helplessness seemed greatest, I discovered God's grace was more than sufficient. And after my imprisonment, I could look back and see how God used my powerlessness for His purpose. What He has chosen for my most significant witness was not my triumphs or victories, but my defeat.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Power, Grace, Victory

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• People need trouble - a little frustration to sharpen the spirit on, toughen it.

  William Faulkner

  People, Needs, Littles

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• The concept of reason itself appears as an artificial attempt to separate intellectual powers from the frustrations, emotions, and accidents which cause events; the concept of reason is viewed as facade to prevent change.

  Edward H. Levi

  Intellectual, Events, Causes

  Edward H. Levi (2008). “Point of View: Talks on Education”, p.9, University of Chicago Press

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• The torment of human frustration, whatever its immediate cause, is the knowledge that the self is in prison, its vital force and "mangled mind" leaking away in lonely, wasteful self-conflict.

  Elizabeth Drew

  Lonely, Self, Mind

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