Art quotes
22.1K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside art — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"It reminded us that propaganda in some form or other lurks in every book, that every work of art has a meaning and a purpose - a political, social and religious purpose - that our aesthetic judgements are always coloured by our prejudices and beliefs"
"All the world knew that a maester forged his silver link when he learned the art of healing—but the world preferred to forget that men who knew how to heal also knew how to kill."
"Does the thoughtful man suppose that...the present experiment in civilization is the last world we will see?"
"The man who would emancipate art from discipline and reason is trying to elude rationality, not merely in art, but in all existence."
"Art is the response to the demand for entertainment, for the stimulation of our senses and imagination, and truth enters into it only as it subserves these ends."
"Art speaks only to the mind, whereas nature speaks to all the faculties."
"O world, thou choosest not the better part! It is not wisdom to be only wise, And on the inward vision close the eyes, But it is wisdom to believe the heart. Columbus found a world, and had no chart, Save one that faith deciphered in the skies; To trust the soul's invincible surmise Was all his science and his only art."
"The arts must study their occasions; they must stand modestly aside until they can slip in fitly into the interstices of life."
"The art of war is at once comprehensive and complicated; ... it demands much previous study; and ... the possession of it, in its most improved and perfect state, is always a great moment to the security of a nation. This, therefore, ought to be a serious care of every government; and for this purpose, an academy, where a regular course of instruction is given, is an obvious expedient, which different nations have successfully employed."
"Undertake not to teach your equal in the art himself professes; it savors arrogancy."
"The designs of the paper euros, introduced in 2002, proclaim a utopian aspiration. Gone are the colorful bills of particular nations, featuring pictures of national heroes of statecraft, culture and the arts, pictures celebrating unique national narratives. With the euro, 16 nations have said goodbye to all that."
"The poetry of art is in beholding the single tower; the poetry of nature in seeing the single tree; the poetry of love in following the single woman; the poetry of religion in worshipping the single star."
"Architecture approaches nearer than any other art to being irrevocable because it is so difficult to get rid of."
"It is a quaint comment on the notion that the English are practical and the French merely visionary, that we were rebels in arts while they were rebels in arms."
"The aim of good prose words is to mean what they say. The aim of good poetical words is to mean what they do not say."
"And all over the world, the old literature, the popular literature, is the same. It consists of very dignified sorrow and very undignified fun. Its sad tales are of broken hearts; its happy tales are of broken heads."
"Savages and modern artists are alike strangely driven to create something uglier than themselves. but the artists find it harder."
"The decay of society is praised by artists as the decay of a corpse is praised by worms."
"The sort of man who admires Italian art while despising Italian religion is a tourist and a cad."
"Art is the signature of man."
