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Bernard Berenson

Bernard Berenson Books

Art critic

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“Who will free me from hurry, flurry, the feeling of a crowd pushing behind me, of being hustled and crushed? How can I regain even for a minute the feeling of ample leisure I had during my early, my creative years? Then I seldom felt fussed, or hurried. There was time for work, for play, for love, the confidence that if a task was not done at the appointed time, I easily could fit it into another hour. I used to take leisure for granted, as I did time itself.”

IfsYearsDonePlayFeelingsUsedFeltHoursBehindsCreativeMinutesFitTasksCrowdsGrantedPushingLeisureCrushed
Book:Sunset and Twilight: From the Diaries of 1947-1958
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“Pessimism like calumny is easy to do, and attracts immediate attention. The gossiper and the writer may find this out soon enough, and a little encouragement from the current mood will procure them successes that bring endless imitators in their trail. On the other hand saying good things about life in general and individuals in particular and making it interesting is a serious task which few can achieve with credit.”

MayLittlesEnoughHandsIndividualEasyInterestingAttentionAchieveParticularSeriousTasksEncouragementGood ThingsCurrentsCreditMoodEndlessPessimismTrailsCalumnyImitatorSoon EnoughCalumny Is
Book:Sunset and Twilight: From the Diaries of 1947-1958
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“Art is mind and heart and touch as much and more than it is mere instrument, technique - without which however it cannot exist at all.”

MindHeartArtArt IsInstrumentsMereTechniqueHeart And Mind
Book:The Bernard Berenson Treasury: A Selection from the Works, Unpublished Writings, Letters, Diaries, and Journals of the Most Celebrated Humanist and Art Historian of Our Times, 1887-1958
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“It was a morning in early summer. A silver haze shimmered and trembled over the lime trees. The air was laden with their fragrance. The temperature was like a caress. I remember - I need not recall - that I climbed up a tree stump and felt suddenly immersed in Itness. I did not call it by that name. I had no need for words. It and I were one.”

NeedsRememberNamesFeltMorningAirTreeSummerSilverRecallsFragranceTemperatureCaressHazeLimesStumps
Book:Sketch For A Self Portrait
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“The Renaissance had resulted in the emancipation of the individual, in making him feel that the universe had no other purpose than his happiness. This brought an entirely new answer to the question, 'Why should I do this or that?' It used to be, 'Because self-instituted authority command you.' The answer now was, 'Because it is good for men.' In this lies our greatest debt to the Renaissance, that it instituted the welfare of men as the end of all action.”

MenFeelsShouldEndsSelfActionUsedLyingPurposeUniverseIndividualAnswersAuthorityDebtCommandUsed To BeWelfareShould IRenaissanceEmancipation
Book:Venetian and North Italian Schools
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“I never felt that there was anything enviable in youth. I cannot recall that any of us, as youths, admired our condition to excess or had a desire to prolong it.”

AgeDesireFeltConditionsYouthAgingExcessRecalls
Book:The Bernard Berenson Treasury: A Selection from the Works, Unpublished Writings, Letters, Diaries, and Journals of the Most Celebrated Humanist and Art Historian of Our Times, 1887-1958
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“Consistency requires you to be as ignorant today as you were a year ago.”

InspirationalYearsTodayCreativityDemocracyIgnoranceTrainingYears AgoStupidityIgnorantCynicalOriginalityConsistency
Book:The Bernard Berenson Treasury: A Selection from the Works, Unpublished Writings, Letters, Diaries, and Journals of the Most Celebrated Humanist and Art Historian of Our Times, 1887-1958
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“Literature in its most comprehensive sense is the autobiography of humanity.”

WritingHumanityLiteratureAutobiographyComprehensive
Book:The Bernard Berenson Treasury: A Selection from the Works, Unpublished Writings, Letters, Diaries, and Journals of the Most Celebrated Humanist and Art Historian of Our Times, 1887-1958
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“I walk in the garden, I look at the flowers and shrubs and trees and discover in them an exquisiteness of contour, a vitality of edge, or a vigour of spring, as well as an infinite variety of colour that no artefact I have seen in the last sixty years can rival...each day, as I look, I wonder where my eyes were yesterday.”

YearsWellsLooksEyeLastsWalksWonderSeeingTreeFlowerSpringGardenInfiniteEdgesYesterdayVarietyColourEach DaySixtyVitalityRivalsShrubsArtefacts
Author:Bernard Berenson
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“Life has taught me that it is not for our faults that we are disliked and even hated, but for our qualities.”

LifeQualityTaughtFaultsHatedQuality Of Life
Book:The Bernard Berenson Treasury: A Selection from the Works, Unpublished Writings, Letters, Diaries, and Journals of the Most Celebrated Humanist and Art Historian of Our Times, 1887-1958
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“You can parody and make fun of almost anything, but that does not turn the universe into a caricature.”

DoeTurnsUniverseFunParodyCaricatures
Book:The Bernard Berenson Treasury: A Selection from the Works, Unpublished Writings, Letters, Diaries, and Journals of the Most Celebrated Humanist and Art Historian of Our Times, 1887-1958
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