What I do deny is that you can build any enduring society without some such mystical ethos. Herbert Read More Quotes by Herbert Read More Quotes From Herbert Read A man of personality can formulate ideals, but only a man of character can achieve them. Herbert Read personalitycharactermen The sensitive artist knows that a bitter wind is blowing. Herbert Read bitternessartistwind Progress is measured by richness and intensity of experience - by a wider and deeper apprehension of the significance and scope of human existence. Herbert Read intensityprogressliterature Great changes in the destiny of mankind can be effected only in the minds of little children. Herbert Read destinychildrenpeople But all categories of art, idealistic or realistic, surrealistic or constructivist (a new form of idealism) must satisfy a simple test (or they are in no sense works of art): they must persist as objects of contemplation. Herbert Read testssimpleart Art is always the index of social vitality, the moving finger that records the destiny of a civilization. A wise statesman should keep an anxious eye on this graph, for it is more significant than a decline in exports or a fall in the value of a nation's currency. Herbert Read wiseartfall The work of art... is an instrument for tilling the human psyche, that it may continue to yield a harvest of vital beauty. Herbert Read yieldmayart Fantasy is a product of thought, Imagination of sensibility. If the thinking, discursive mind turns to speculation, the result isFantasy; if, however, the sensitive, intuitive mind turns to speculation, the result is Imagination. Fantasy may be visionary, but it is cold and logical. Imagination is sensuous and instinctive. Both have form, but the form of Fantasy is analogous to Exposition, that of Imagination to Narrative. Herbert Read imaginationmindthinking Modern man has been in search of a new language of form to satisfy new longings and aspirations - longings for mental appeasement, aspirations to unity, harmony, serenity - an end to his alienation from nature. All these arts of remote times or strange cultures either give or suggest to the modern artist forms which he can adapt to his needs, the elements of a new iconography. Herbert Read givingmenart Freud has shown one thing very clearly: that we only forget our infancy by burying it in the unconscious; and that the problems of this difficult period find their solution under a disguised form in adult life. Herbert Read adultsproblemforget Simplicity is not a goal, but one arrives at simplicity in spite of oneself, as one approaches the real meaning of things. Herbert Read simplicityrealgoal That is why I believe that art is so much more significant than either economics or philosophy. It is the direct measure of man's spiritual vision. Herbert Read spiritualphilosophyart The greatest intensification of the horrors of war is a direct result of the democratisation of the State. So long as the army was a professional unit, the specialist function of a limited number of men, war remained a relatively harmless contest for power. But once it became everyman's duty to defend his home (or his political “rights”) warfare was free to range wherever that home might be, and to attack every form of life and property associated with that home. Herbert Read militaryhomewar Art is pattern informed by sensibility. Herbert Read patternslifeart The slave may be happy, but happiness is not enough. Herbert Read literaturemayhappiness It does not seem that the contradiction which exists between the aristocratic function of art and the democratic structure of modern society can ever be resolved. Herbert Read moderndoeart The modern work of art, as I have said, is a symbol. Herbert Read modernliteratureart The depths modern art has been exploring are mysterious depths, full of strange fish. Herbert Read strangedepthart To realize that new world we must prefer the values of freedom and equality above all other values - above personal wealth, technical power and nationalism. Herbert Read equalityliteratureworld In a sense, every tool is a machine--the hammer, the ax, and the chisel. And every machine is a tool. The real distinction is between one man using a tool with his hands and producing an object that shows at every stage the direction of his will and the impression of his personality; and a machine which is producing, without the intervention of a particular man, objects of a uniformity and precision that show no individual variation and have no personal charm. The problem is to decide whether the objects of machine production can possess the essential qualities of art. Herbert Read realmenart
