Art distills sensation and embodies it with enhanced meaning in a memorable form - or else it is not art. Jacques Barzun More Quotes by Jacques Barzun More Quotes From Jacques Barzun Tennis belongs to the individualistic past - a hero, or at most a pair of friends or lovers, against the world. Jacques Barzun tennis hero past Take a portion of wit, And fashion it fit, Like a needle, with point and with eye: A point that can wound, An eye to look round, And at folly or vice let it fly Jacques Barzun fashion eye vices The eager or dutiful persons who subject themselves to these tidal waves of the classics and the moderns find everything wonderful in an absent-minded way. The wonder washes over them rather than into them, and one of its effects is to make anything shocking or odd suddenly interesting enough to gain a month's celebrity. And so another by-product of our come-one, come-all policy is the tendency to reward cleverness, not art, and to put one more hurdle in the path of the truly original artist. Jacques Barzun rewards art interesting When plugged in, the least elaborate computer can be relied on to work to the fullest extent of its capacity. The greatest mind cannot be relied on for the simplest thing; its variability is its superiority. Jacques Barzun computer capacity mind My notion about any artist is that we honor him best by reading him, by playing his music, by seeing his plays or by looking at his pictures. We don't need to fall all over ourselves with adjectives and epithets. Let's play him more. Jacques Barzun artist reading fall When people accept futility and the absurd as normal, the culture is decadent. Jacques Barzun normal culture people I once worked as a salesman and was very independent. I took orders from no one. Jacques Barzun salesman independent order On the one hand, society needs a common faith and vigorous institutions with the power to coerce; and on the other, the individual as a human soul or as the bearer of a new and possibly saving heresy, must be free. It is difficult enough to reconcile these two needs, but the problem holds another hazard: the need of action under the pressure of time. Jacques Barzun soul two hands The book, like the bicycle, is a perfect form. Jacques Barzun form perfect book The reason why research is like sculpting from memory is that in neither is there a concrete visible subject to copy directly. The subject - as sculptors themselves are fond of saying - is hidden in the block of material. Jacques Barzun block research memories The history of creation is but a succession of battles between amateurs of genius-inspired heretics- and orthodox professionals. Jacques Barzun inspired genius battle We may complain and cavil at the anarchy which is the amateurs natural element, but in soberness we must agree that if the amateur did not exist it would be necessary to invent him. Jacques Barzun natural-elements would-be complaining The philosophical implication of race-thinking is that by offering us the mystery of heredity as an explanation, it diverts our attention from the social and intellectual factors that make up personality. Jacques Barzun philosophical race thinking The intellectuals' chief cause of anguish are one another's works. Jacques Barzun chiefs causes science [T]hat is the triumph of history - truth absolute is not at hand; the original with which to match the copy does not exist. Jacques Barzun triumph history hands Music, not being made up of objects nor referring to objects, is intangible and ineffable; it can only be as it were inhaled by the spirit: the rest is silence. Jacques Barzun ineffable silence spirit Since it is seldom clear whether intellectual activity denotes a superior mode of being or a vital deficiency, opinion swings between considering intellect a privilege and seeing it as a handicap Jacques Barzun swings privilege intellectual On reflection, moral judgment in the arts appears rather as a tribute to their power to influence emotion and possibly conduct. And reflecting further on what some critics do today, one sees that a good many have merely shifted the ground of their moralism, transferring their impulse of righteousness to politics and social issues. Jacques Barzun issues reflection art In any assembly the simplest way to stop transacting business and split the ranks is to appeal to a principle. Jacques Barzun splits principles way Schools are not intended to moralize a wicked world, but to impart knowledge and develop intelligence, with only two social aims in mind: prepare to take on one's share in the world's work, and perhaps in addition, lend a hand in improving society, after schooling is done. Jacques Barzun two hands school
