Quotessence
Home / Authors / Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez

Al Alvarez Quotes

Poet

Filter quotes by topic

AllArtArtistGamblingGamesIfsMayMenPeopleSeemsValues

Famous Al Alvarez Quotes

“Despite the hundreds of attempts, police terror and the concentration camps have proved to be more or less impossible subjects for the artist; since what happened in them was beyond the imagination, it was therefore also beyond art and all those human values on which art is traditionally based.”

HumansArtArtistValuesImaginationImpossibleHappenedSubjectsArt IsPoliceTerrorDespiteConcentrationCampsHuman ValuesConcentration Camp
Book:The Savage God: A Study of Suicide
Create image

“Mass democracy, mass morality and the mass media thrive independently of the individual, who joins them only at the cost of at least a partial perversion of his instincts and insights. He pays for his social ease with what used to be called his soul - his discriminations, his uniqueness, his psychic energy, his self.”

SoulSelfUsedIndividualEnergySocialPayDemocracyMediaMoralityCostMassInstinctInsightDiscriminationUsed To BeEaseThriveUniquenessPsychicsPerversionMass Media
Book:The Savage God: A Study of Suicide
Create image

“When neither high purpose nor the categorical imperatives of religion will do, the only argument against suicide is life itself. You pause and attend: the heart beats in your chest; outside, the trees are thick with new leaves, a swallow dips over them, the light moves, people are going about their business.”

PeopleHeartLightMovingPurposeTreeBeatsArgumentSuicideChestsThickPausesSuicidalImperativesDipHeart Beat
Book:The Savage God: A Study of Suicide
Create image

“To put yourself into a situation where a mistake cannot necessarily be recouped, where the life you lose may be your own, clears the head wonderfully. It puts domestic problems back into proportion and adds an element of seriousness to your drab, routine life. Perhaps this is one reason why climbing has become increasingly hard as society has become increasingly, disproportionately, coddling.”

MayHardReasonProblemLosesMistakeSituationWalkingMountainElementsAddReason WhyProportionClimbsRoutineClimbingHikingSeriousnessMountaineeringMountain ClimbingClimbing MountainRock ClimbingInspirational Mountain ClimbingHiking In The MountainsClimbing Mountains InspirationalClimbing To The TopMountain ClimbersRoutine Life
Author:Al Alvarez
Create image