Quote Digest

[tushantin]

In the memory of Michael Stern Hart (1947-2011):

Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people.

Learning is its own reward. Nothing I can say is better than that.

So tell me forum: isn't this what our SoY about?

[tushantin]

“Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again. And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are? We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel? You must work, we must all work, to make the world worthy of its children.”

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”

Prepare the revolution!

[tushantin]

Another quote from a fictional female incarnation of Krishna (the story seems pretty awesome; despite its supernatural influence, it's actually a Psychological Thriller / Drama). The character almost always uses Sanskrit syntax and vocabulary in her Hindi dialogue.

Radhika: Every corner of the house is illuminated with lamps. Why is this window so lonely?
Man: That window faces south, where winds come from. That lamp will be snuffed out.
Radhika: (Lights it anyway) It won't. Within the flame of every lamp lies radiant hope; come what may, breeze or hurricane, but the flame will burn its brightest.

[tushantin]

"Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art." -Leonardo da Vinci

"True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist." -Albert Einstein

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." -Pablo Picasso

"Art is not a handicraft, it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced." -Leo Tolstoy

"No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist." -Oscar Wilde

[Syna]

‎I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart's affections and the truth of imagination--what the imagination seizes as beauty must be truth--whether it existed before or not.

Happy birthday to my beloved John Keats, born, most appropriately, on Samhain.

[tushantin]

‎I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart's affections and the truth of imagination--what the imagination seizes as beauty must be truth--whether it existed before or not.

Happy Birthday!

I re-quote that because it's so true.

[Katie Skyye]

"No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist." -Oscar Wilde

This is fundamentally wrong. Artists have to see things as they really are. The way the world truly looks. We have to see the truth.
In the words of my art professor,

We're artists. That means we have to know everything about everything!

The truth isn't on your paper. It's out there. See it.

If we can't understand the world's truth, then we can't create beautiful, believable lies. No one can draw the still life on the table--we can't draw into the page and create 3D space--but we can show a series of relationships that pretend to be the still life, provided we can see the objects truthfully. If not, we get...

CRAP!

[Sajainta]

Katie, Wilde was himself an artist who clearly disagreed with you.  Which is fine.  It's dangerous to make blanket statements that include the words "have to".

You may also be misinterpreting what Wilde said.  Perhaps he meant that artists understand the world as it is, but have a different take on it than others.  They view it differently than others.  They see and know the truth, but the way they view the world is askew.

[Thought]

Hold my hand, Doctor. Try to see what I see. We're so lucky we're still alive to see this beautiful world. Look at the sky. It's not dark and black and without character. The black is in fact deep blue. And over there! Lighter blue. And blowing through the blueness and the blackness, the winds swirling through the air. And there shining, burning, bursting through, the stars! Can you see how they roll their light? Everywhere we look, the complex magic of nature blazes before our eyes.

[Sajainta]

I love that episode so much.  Have you ever heard the song "Vincent" by Don McLean?

[tushantin]

Ahahaha, we artists certainly are wonderful people, aren't we? I'll look forward to Katie's response before delivering a detailed comment.

Also, Saj, what do you mean by "askew"?

@Thought: What episode was that from?

[Sajainta]

Also, Saj, what do you mean by "askew"?

I meant it in a metaphorical sense, not its literal definition--turning one's proverbial head to the side to see the world in a different light.  Or as a synonym for "awry"--diverting from the expected.

Blame the writer in me.  I often use words metaphorically rather than literally.  I like to play with vocabulary.  Of course, writers are artists in and of themselves, so you can blame the artist in me just as well.

@Thought: What episode was that from?

"Vincent and the Doctor."  Season 5.

[Syna]

That reminds me of another quote:

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant

[Sajainta]

That reminds me of another quote:

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant

Exactly.

Oh Ms. Dickinson, thank you for teaching me to love dashes.  <3

[Katie Skyye]

That reminds me of another quote:

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant

This was more what I meant. You can see things one way and interpret them another, and tell them in yet another way. So, a great artist would see the truth, but have a different interpretation of it than anyone else, and would draw it in whatever way they saw fit, either truthfully or not.