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Quote by Al Alvarez

“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.”

Quote by Al Alvarez

Book:The Savage God: A Study of Suicide

Work

The Savage God: A Study of Suicide

This book delves into the profound and multifaceted phenomenon of suicide, analyzing its causes, consequences, and societal implications. It explores various theories and perspectives on the subject, offering a comprehensive look at the psychological, social, and historical factors that contribute to this tragic act. more

Author

Al Alvarez, born on August 5, 1929, is a renowned poet whose works are known for their profound emotion and unique style, winning the hearts of readers worldwide. more

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“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.”

Source: The Savage God: A Study of Suicide

“The real resistance now is to an art which forces its audience to recognize and accept imaginatively, in their nerve ends, not the facts of life but the facts of death and violence: absurd, random, gratuitous, unjustified, and inescapably part of the society we have created.”

Art Real Ends Facts Force Accepting Audience Violence Resistance Absurd Nerves Facts Of Life Unjustified

Book:The Savage God: A Study of Suicide

Source: The Savage God: A Study of Suicide

“TV has taken reflection out of the human condition. People didn't use to have a ready answer for everything, whether they knew something about it or not. People think they have to have an answer for everything because the guys on TV have an answer for everything. But it's bullsh**t! Reflection is crucial.”

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Author:Alan Arkin

“Truth is always unfolding. It's not an absolute.”

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“I read somewhere that some people believe that the entire universe is a matrix of living thought. And I said, "Man, if that's not a definition of God, I don't know what is.”

People Ifs Knows Men Believe Said Universe Definitions

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“For many years my acting came from a place of surmounting some enormous obstacle, confronting some stern and faceless judge who would condemn me to a pit of hell if I didn't achieve the "zone," if even for a moment. Not a particularly happy place to work from.”

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Book:An Improvised Life: A Memoir

Source: An Improvised Life: A Memoir

“Creativity means learning where the rules exist, and then breaking them! Saying, "It's better this way." But you have to know the rules in order to break them with any grace.”

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Author:Alan Arkin

“Hollywood is a strange place. The class structure here is more rigid than almost anyplace I've ever experienced. It's made more difficult by the fact that it's constantly changing. You never know what class you belong to unless you're one of the two or three people that have been in the same echelon for a long, long time.”

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“I'm an actor. My life as an actor depends on who sends me what. I'm just taking the best stuff that I can find that's sent my way, regardless of how big or little the paycheck is. I don't want to work for scale anymore. I'm at a point now where, no matter how good something is, I'm not going to kill myself and end up in the hole.”

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“Is it possible to have an endless series of successes without falling on our faces? I suppose it is, but I think it would entail doing the same things over and over again without taking chances, without taking risks or exploring our limits, without finding out what we can and can't do.”

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Book:An Improvised Life: A Memoir

Source: An Improvised Life: A Memoir