Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Susan Sontag

Quote by Susan Sontag

“The wisdom of literature is quite antithetical to having opinions. 'Nothing is my last word about anything,' said Henry James. Furnishing opinions, even correct opinions - whenever asked - cheapens what novelists and poets do best, which is to sponsor reflectiveness, to pursue complexity. Information will never replace illumination.”

Quote by Susan Sontag

Book:At the Same Time: Essays and Speeches
Create image

Work

At the Same Time: Essays and Speeches

This volume compiles a selection of essays and speeches that delve into a range of topics, offering insights and perspectives on contemporary issues and philosophical musings. more

Author

Susan Sontag
Susan Sontag

Susan Sontag was an American writer, critic, and photographer. Known for her unique literary style and profound thinking, her work spans various fields including literature, art, and politics. Born on January 16, 1933, she passed away on December 28, 2004. more

You May Also Like

“A lot of what I've written in criticism of my lust for virtue - my discovery that I've committed idolatry, making of the good an idol - is open to the charge of being still caught within the dialectic of idolatry. I've made a moral criticism of my moral consciousness. Meta-idolatry.”

MadeStillsConsciousnessMoralVirtueWrittenMoralityDiscoveryCriticismCaughtCommittedLustIdolsIdolatryDialectics
Book:As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980
Create image

“Cinema is a kind of pan-art. It can use, incorporate, engulf virtually any other art: the novel, poetry, theater, painting, sculpture, dance, music, architecture. Unlike opera, which is a (virtually) frozen art form, the cinema is and has been a fruitfully conservative medium of ideas and styles of emotions.”

KindHas BeensArtIdeasUseFormEmotionNovelStylePaintingTheaterConservativeArchitectureMediumsCinemaMovieOperaFrozenSculptureDance Music
Author:Susan Sontag
Create image

“I feel inauthentic at a party. ... Going to a party is a 'low' activity - the authentic self is compromised, fragmented - one plays 'roles.' One isn't fully present, beyond role-playing. One doesn't (can't) tell the full truth, which means one is lying, even if one doesn't literally tell lies.”

IfsFeelsMeanSelfPlayTruthLyingPartyRolesActivityLowsAuthentic SelfFragmentedRole Playing
Book:As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980
Create image

“Photography - the supreme form of travel, of tourism - is the principal modern means for enlarging the world. As a branch of art, photography's enterprise of world enlargement tends to specialize in the subjects felt to be challenging, transgressive. A photograph may be telling us: this too exists. And that. And that. (And it is all 'human.') But what are we to do with this knowledge - if indeed it is knowledge, about, say, the self, about abnormality, about ostracized or clandestine worlds?”

IfsWorldHumansMayMeanArtSelfFormFeltChallengesModernSubjectsPhotographyPhotographSupremeBranchesEnterprisePrincipalTourismEnlargementAbnormalityClandestineArt Photography
Author:Susan Sontag
Create image