QuoteProject
All writing, all art, is an act of faith. If one tries to contribute to human understanding, how can that be called decadent? It's like saying a declaration of love is an act of decadence. Any work of art, provide it springs from a sincere motivation to further understanding between people, is an act of faith and therefore is an act of love.
Truman Capote
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Art and writing are expressions of faith and love that aim to enhance human understanding.

Truman Capote emphasizes that all forms of writing and art are deeply rooted in the act of faith. He argues that if an artwork or a written piece is created with the sincere intention of promoting understanding among people, it transcends mere aesthetic value and should not be deemed as excessive or decadent. In fact, such creations are akin to acts of love, reflecting a commitment to connecting individuals on a deeper level.

Themes

ArtWritingFaithUnderstandingLove

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about creativity, one might quote Capote to illustrate the purpose of art.

More from Truman Capote

I want to still be me when I wake up one fine morning and have breakfast at Tiffany´s.
Truman CapoteRead
No one will ever know what 'In Cold Blood' took out of me. It scraped me right down to the marrow of my bones. It nearly killed me. I think, in a way, it did kill me.
Truman CapoteRead
Hot weather opens the skull of a city, exposing its white brain, and its heart of nerves, which sizzle like the wires inside a lightbulb. And there exudes a sour extra-human smell that makes the very stone seem flesh-alive, webbed and pulsing.
Truman CapoteRead
I don't want to own anything until I find a place where me and things go together.
Truman CapoteRead
The quietness of his tone italicized the malice of his reply.
Truman CapoteRead
My yardstick is how somebody treats me.
Truman CapoteRead

Similar quotes

What I wrote all the time when I was a kid - I don't want to call it 'poetry,' because it wasn't poetry. I was not that kind of a writer. I was a rhymer. I was a fan of Dorothy Parker's, so maybe I wrote poetry to that extent, but my main focus was the humor of it, and word construction, and the slant. Your words, it's a very powerful experience.
Carrie FisherRead
I don't ... like rhythm, assonance, all that stuff. You just go on your nerve. If someone's chasing you down the street with a knife you just run, you don't turn around and shout, 'Give it up! I was a track star for Mineola Prep.'
Frank O'HaraRead
Before I was ever a poet, my father was writing poems about me, so it was a turning of the tables when I became a poet and started answering, speaking back to his poems in ways that I had not before.
Natasha TretheweyRead
Movies would be like a broad painted canvas... or a mystical process which cannot really be explained, like, 'What is electricity?' Along with the images that go on the screen, there's a corridor of dialogue that can happen through motion pictures, whether you're aware of it or not.
Wayne ShorterRead
Drama is real life with all the boring parts cut out.
Alfred HitchcockRead
If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don't write, because our culture has no use for it.
Anais NinRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.

Quote by Truman Capote | QuoteProject