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Images apparently occupy a curious position somewhere between the statements of language, which are intended to convey a meaning, and the things of nature, to which we only can give a meaning.

— Ernst Gombrich Symbolic Images (1972)

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More quotes by Ernst Gombrich

If you want to do anything new you must first make sure you know what people have tried before.

A Little History of the World (2005)

Even though I came from a Jewish home myself, it never entered my head that such horrors might be repeated in my own lifetime.

A Little History of the World (2005)

Anyone who can handle a needle convincingly can make us see a thread which is not there.

Art and Illusion (1960)

There really is no such thing as Art. There are only artists.

Like art, science is born of itself, not of nature. There is no neutral naturalism. The artist, no less than the writer, needs a vocabulary before he can embark on a 'copy' of reality.

E. H. Gombrich (1962)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Ernst Gombrich (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.