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Empty Quotes

“When art seems to be empty of meaning, as no doubt some of the abstract painting of our own day actually does seem, what the painting says, indeed what the artist is shrieking at the top of his voice, is that life has become empty of all rational content and coherence, and that, in times like these, is far from a meaningless statement.”

DoeArtSeemsArtistVoiceDoubtPaintingEmptyStatementsRationalAbstractNo DoubtMeaninglessCoherenceAbstract PaintingTimes Like These
Book:Art and Technics
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“Read as little as possible of literary criticism - such things are either partisan opinions, which have become petrified and meaningless, hardened and empty of life, or else they are just clever word-games, in which one view wins today, and tomorrow the opposite view. Works of art are of an infinite solitude, and no means of approach is so useless as criticism.”

MeanLittlesArtTodayGamesWinningViewsOpinionTomorrowSolitudeApproachCriticismEmptyOppositesInfiniteCleverUselessWorks Of ArtMeaninglessPartisansHardenedLiterary CriticismToday And Tomorrow
Author:Rainer Maria Rilke
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“The art of decoration requires the most sophisticated and self-indulgent skills. Its aim has always been to sate the senses as gloriously as possible. ... ornament is not only a source of sensuous pleasure; it supplies a necessary kind of magic to people and places that lack it. More than just a dread of empty spaces has led to the urge to decorate; it is the fear of empty selves.”

PeopleKindArtSelfSpacePleasureMagicSourceSkillsEmptyAimSensesUrgesDreadSophisticatedSuppliesOrnamentsDecorationEmpty SpaceSensuousSelf Indulgent
Book:ARCHITECTURE, ANYONE?
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“What art thou, life, that we, must court thy stay? A breath one single gasp must puff away! A short-lived flower, that with the day must fade! A fleeting vapor, and an empty shade! A stream that silently but swiftly glides To meet eternity's immeasured tides! A being, lost alike by pain or joy? A fly can kill it, or a worm destroy! Impair'd by labor, and by ease undone, Commenced in tears, and ended in a groan.”

LifeArtPainJoyLostTearsFlowerLaborEmptyEternityBreathsCourtEaseStreamsShadeFadesTidesWormsFleetingUndonePuffVaporShort Lived
Author:Alexander Brome
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“I am obsessed by the idea of silence. I went through an entire library studying art, artists and their critics, philosophers, too, on the meaning and significance of the color white. I dreamed of white birds and white bears. I thought about the white pages of my mother's journals. I became enthralled with John Cage and his work, 4'33”, his masterpiece of ambient sound. Rauschenberg, too. And then at some point I let go. What sticks to the soul is what gets placed on the page. Maybe that's the unknown part, the mystery, the power of the empty page.”

ArtIdeasSoulMotherArtistSoundWhiteSilenceStudyMysteryColorBearsLetting GoPagesBirdEmptySticksCriticsLibraryPhilosopherObsessedSignificanceJournalCagesMasterpieceAmbientColor WhiteStudying ArtWhite Birds
Author:Terry Tempest Williams
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“Without the sense of fellowship with men of like mind, of preoccupation with the objective, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific research, life would have seemed to me empty.”

MenMindArtFieldsResearchEmptyObjectivesFellowshipPreoccupationUnattainableScientific Research
Book:The Albert Einstein Collection: Essays in Humanism, The Theory of Relativity, and The World As I See It
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“I am an obscure and patient pearl-fisherman who dives into the deepest waters and comes up with empty hands and a blue face. Some fatal attraction draws me down into the abysses of thought, down into those innermost recesses which never cease to fascinate the strong. I shall spend my life gazing at the ocean of art, where others voyage or fight; and from time to time I’ll entertain myself by diving for those green and yellow shells that nobody will want. So I shall keep them for myself and cover the walls of my hut with them.”

WantArtHandsFacesFightingStrongWaterWallOceanDrawsEmptyBlueGreenPatientCome UpAttractionCeaseYellowShellsObscurePearlsAbyssVoyagesFishermanDivingGazingHutsRecessEmpty HandsFatal Attraction
Author:Gustave Flaubert
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“The male frog in mating season," said Crake, "makes as much noise as it can. The females are attracted to the male frog with the biggest, deepest voice because it suggests a more powerful frog, one with superior genes. Small male frogs—it's been documented—discover if they position themselves in empty drainpipes, the pipe acts as a voice amplifier and the small frog appears much larger than it really is." So?" So that's what art is for the artist, an empty drainpipe. An amplifier. A stab at getting laid.”

IfsArtSaidArtistVoicePowerfulPositionArt IsFemaleEmptySeasonsMalesNoiseSuperiorsGenesPipeFrogsGetting LaidMatingAmplifiers
Book:Oryx And Crake
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“I recall an August afternoon in Chicago in 1973 when I took my daughter, then seven, to see what Georgia O’Keeffe had done with where she had been. One of the vast O’Keeffe ‘Sky Above Clouds’ canvases floated over the back stairs in the Chicago Art Institute that day, dominating what seemed to be several stories of empty light, and my daughter looked at it once, ran to the landing, and kept on looking. "Who drew it," she whispered after a while. I told her. "I need to talk to her," she said finally.”

NeedsArtSaidDoneStoriesLightSkyDaughterEmptySevenCloudsRanMy DaughterChicagoAfternoonRecallsStairsAugustGeorgiaInstituteLandingDominatingAbove The CloudsGeorgia O Keeffe
Book:The White Album
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“I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves - this critical basis I call the ideal of a pigsty. The ideals that have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupation with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific endeavors, life would have seemed empty to me. The trite objects of human efforts - possessions, outward success, luxury - have always seemed to me contemptible.”

MenWorldWayMindHumansHas BeensArtEndsFacesGivenEffortKindnessFieldsObjectsIdealsEmptyBasesPossessionCriticalObjectivesLuxuryMy WayEaseOccupationEndeavorUnattainableKinship
Author:Albert Einstein
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“What’s that poem again?” Will, who had been twirling his empty teacup around his fingers, stood up straight and declaimed: “Each spake words of high disdain, And insult to his heart’s best brother—” “Oh, by the Angel, Will, do be quiet,” said Charlotte, standing up. “I must go and write a letter to Aloysius Starkweather that drips remorse and pleading. I don’t need you distracting me.” And, gathering up her skirts, she hurried from the room. “No appreciation for the arts,” Will murmured, setting his teacup down.”

NeedsWritingHeartArtSaidRoomsBrotherQuietAngelStandingEmptyLettersFingersAppreciationSettingSettingsInsultGatheringRemorseNeed YouSkirtsDisdainStood UpPleadingCharlotteDon't Need YouTwirlingI Don't Need YouNo Appreciation
Book:The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
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