Our chief defect is that we are more given to talking about things than to doing them.
Jawaharlal NehruRead
The art of a people is a true mirror to their minds.
Interpretation
Art reflects the thoughts and feelings of a society.
Jawaharlal Nehru's quote suggests that the artistic expressions of a culture reveal the underlying thoughts, beliefs, and emotions of its people. It emphasizes the idea that art is not merely a form of aesthetic pleasure, but a profound insight into the collective psyche of a community, acting as a window through which we can understand the complexities of human thought and cultural identity.
In practice
In an art class, when discussing the relevance of modern art, one could mention Nehru's quote to highlight how contemporary pieces reflect societal issues.
Our chief defect is that we are more given to talking about things than to doing them.
India has known the innocence and insouciance of childhood, the passion and abandon of youth, and the ripe wisdom of maturity that comes from long experience of pain and pleasure; and over and over a gain she has renewed her childhood and youth and age
Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will.
Crises and deadlocks when they occur have at least this advantage, that they force us to think.
What we really are matters more than what other people think of us.
Loyal and efficient work in a great cause, even though it may not be immediately recognized, ultimately bears fruit.
Loneliness is necessary for pure poetry. When someone intrudes into the poet's life (and any sudden personal contact, whether in the bed or in the heart, is an intrusion) the poet loses his or her balance for a moment, slips into being what he or she is, uses his or her poetry as one would use money or sympathy. The person who writes the poetry emerges, tentatively, like a hermit crab from a conch shell. The poet, for that instant, ceases to be a dead person.
But I'd be lying if I didn't say that every time you go to make a film, you're desperate to either do it better than you did it last time or to not repeat yourself.
Elegance has nothing to do with fashion.
Those who want to be serious photographers, you're really going to have to edit your work. You're going to have to understand what you're doing. You're going to have to not just shoot, shoot, shoot. To stop and look at your work is the most important thing you can do.
If you are wiling to do something that might not work, you are closer to being an artist.
I hope people will say, 'Mr. Valentino, he did something for fashion, no?'
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