The earth has grown old with its burden of care, But at Christmas it always is young.
Phillips BrooksRead
Life comes before literature, as the material always comes before the work. The hills are full of marble before the world blooms with statues.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Life and experience are essential foundations that precede artistic expression and creativity.
In this quote, Phillips Brooks emphasizes the idea that genuine life experiences and the natural world provide the raw materials for artistic creation. Just as marble exists in the hills prior to becoming a crafted statue, the richness of life serves as the basis for literature and art, suggesting that creativity emerges from observation and understanding of the world around us.
Themes
LifeArtCreationExperienceLiterature
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of storytelling, I might say, 'As Phillips Brooks reminds us, 'Life comes before literature.'
More from Phillips Brooks
All quotes →We never become truly spiritual by sitting down and wishing to become so. You must undertake something so great that you cannot accomplish it unaided.
Phillips BrooksRead
The truest help we can render an afflicted man is not to take his burden from him, but to call out his best energy, that he may be able to bear the burden.
Phillips BrooksRead
To believe in the God over us and around us and not in the God within us - that would be a powerless and fruitless faith.
Phillips BrooksRead
To say, 'well done' to any bit of good work is to take hold of the powers which have made the effort and strengthen them beyond our knowledge.
Phillips BrooksRead
Think of life as a voyage. The truest liver of the truest life is like a voyager who, as he sails, is not indifferent to all the beauty of the sea around him.
Phillips BrooksRead
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