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What is Art but the perfected expression of self in contact with the world; and whether that self be of enlightening, or of fairy-telling temperament, is of no moment whatsoever. The tossing of abuse from realist to romanticist and back is but the sword-play of two one-eyed men with their blind side turned toward each other. Shall not each attempt be judged on its own merits?

— John Galsworthy Vague Thoughts On Art (1911)

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Spirituality

More quotes by John Galsworthy

The value of a sentiment is the amount of sacrifice you are prepared to make for it.

If you do not think about the future, you cannot have one.

Swan Song (1928)

It isn't enough to love people because they're good to you, or because in some way or other you're going to get something by it. We have to love because we love loving.

A Bit O' Love (1915)

Justice is a machine that, when someone has once given it the starting push, rolls on of itself.

Art is the great and universal refreshment. For Art is never dogmatic; holds no brief for itself; you may take it, or you may leave it.

Vague Thoughts On Art (1911)

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Reason is Life's sole arbiter, the magic Laby'rinth's single clue:
Worlds lie above, beyond its ken; what crosses it can ne'er be true.

Richard Francis Burton The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî (1870)

In imitating the exemplary acts of a god or of a mythic hero, or simply by recounting their adventures, the man of an archaic society detaches himself from profane time and magically re-enters the Great Time, the sacred time.

Mircea Eliade Myths, Dreams and Mysteries (1967)

Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.

Thomas Jefferson

The superior man loves his soul; the inferior man loves his property.

Confucius

Attribution

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