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Quote by Michael Ventura

“An artist without obsession isn't worth a damn!”

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Michael Ventura is an American novelist born on October 31, 1945. His works are known for their unique narrative style and profound insights into social issues. more

“Creativity is an innate function in a human being, as we see in tribal peoples, who spent their considerable leisure time making religious artifacts and sacred art. That is what I would call a direct culture, in that everybody in it is directly in touch with all the elements, both of the culture and of the environment.”

Humans Art Culture Religious Human Beings Creativity Environment Elements Direct Function Sacred Leisure Innate Artifacts Leisure Time Sacred Art

Author:Michael Ventura

“We have a culture that is indirect in the extreme, where by the time you're five years old, you've watched tons of television, and have been subjected to what I call "the age of interruption," where everything is interrupted every minute. We have constant input from TV, computers, fax machines, telephones, etc. It's very hard for a modern American to have two hours of uninterrupted time. I know how it is because I insist on several hours of uninterrupted time each day, and I know how ruthless I have to be to get it.”

“I require and enforce as non-interrupted a state of living as you can get in America right now without going off to live by yourself in the mountains.”

States America Right Now Mountain Live By Interrupted

Author:Michael Ventura

“We have to be realistic about the brutal demands a money culture puts on the psyche, and there is a great cost to this in terms of creativity. Look at the state of people at 65. How many of them become creative after having to survive in the money culture?”

People Looks States Culture Term Creativity Creative Cost Demand Realistic Brutal

Author:Michael Ventura

“People are judged continuously everywhere on the most intimate level by the prices on their head. Most of them accept the judgment. It's very hard to have self-respect, or to maintain a state of creativity under these conditions.”

People Self Hard States Levels Accepting Creativity Conditions Judgment Intimate Self Respect Judged

Author:Michael Ventura

“Courage can't make you an artist, but without that courage, you won't remain one for long. First is the courage to be alone in the room where you create, and the courage to face that indefinitely, with no one to say if you are any good or not. Then, there is the courage to follow your work wherever it's going to take you. And the courage to fight for your work.”

Ifs Firsts Long Faces Artist Fighting Rooms

Author:Michael Ventura

“There are writers I know and respect who are very good about what's outside, and not too hot about what's inside.”

Knows Hot Very Good

Author:Michael Ventura

“I always thought Cyrano De Bergerac was a coward. He could fight a hundred swordsmen, but he was afraid of his nose, and he was afraid of Roxanne. Jam as cowardly as anybody about facing my fears. So, you spend your you years as an artist fighting those hundred people that you happen not to fear. Then you wake up one morning and realize all this time you're afraid of your nose. That's what you're going to have to face for the rest of your life. And you don't feel very courageous. But, if you don't face it, you dry up as an artist.”

People Ifs Feels Years Happens Faces Artist Fighting Realizing Morning Hundred Wake Up Noses Dry Courageous Coward Rest Of Your Life Jam Cowardly Dry Up Swordsman

Author:Michael Ventura

Quote by Michael Ventura

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