An abstract painting need in 50 years by no means look "abstract" any longer.
Marcel DuchampRead
I became a librarian at the Sainte-Genevieve Library in Paris. I made this gesture to rid myself of a certain milieu, a certain attitude, to have a clean conscience, but also to make a living. I was twenty-five. I had been told that one must make a living, and I believed it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the necessity of aligning one's work with personal values while also navigating societal expectations.
In this quote, Marcel Duchamp shares his experience of becoming a librarian, indicating a desire to escape a certain social environment and adopt a more principled life. At the age of twenty-five, he acknowledges the conflict between personal integrity and the pragmatic need to earn a living, highlighting the balance many face between societal obligations and personal beliefs.
Themes
LibraryCareerValuesLivingIntegrity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared in a speech about career choices and following one’s passion.
More from Marcel Duchamp
All quotes →All this twaddle, the existence of God, atheism, determinism, liberation, societies, death, etc., are pieces of a chess game called language, and they are amusing only if one does not preoccupy oneself with 'winning or losing this game of chess.
Marcel DuchampRead
I am still a victim of chess. It has all the beauty of art - and much more. It cannot be commercialized. Chess is much purer than art in its social position.
Marcel DuchampRead
I never finished the 'Large Glass' because, after working on it for eight years, I probably got interested in something else; also, I was tired. It may be that, subconsciously, I never intended to finish it because the word 'finish' implies an acceptance of traditional methods and all the paraphernalia that accompany them.
Marcel DuchampRead
It's a product of two poles - there's the pole of the one who makes the work, and the pole of the one who looks at it. I give the latter as much importance as the one who makes it.
Marcel DuchampRead
Humor and laughter - not necessarily derogatory derision - are my pet tools. This may come from my general philosophy of never taking the world too seriously - for fear of dying of boredom.
Marcel DuchampRead
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Read absolutely everything you get your hands on because you'll never know where you'll get an idea from.
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