The strange power of art is sometimes it can show that what people have in common is more urgent than what differentiates them. It seems to me it's something that theatre can do, but it's rare; it's very rare.
John BergerRead
In the modern world, in which thousands of people are dying every hour as a consequence of politics, no writing anywhere can begin to be credible unless it is informed by political awareness and principles. Writers who have neither product utopian trash.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Writers must have political awareness to produce credible work in today's world where politics can have dire consequences.
John Berger emphasizes the critical need for writers to engage with political realities and principles in their work. In a time when political actions and decisions lead to significant human suffering, literature that ignores these elements lacks credibility and relevance, potentially leading to an unrealistic or idealistic portrayal of the world. Berger warns against utopian narratives that fail to acknowledge the harsh truths of political consequences.
Themes
PoliticsWritingCredibilityAwarenessUtopia
In practice
Example use cases
During a literature festival, discussing how writers should reflect political realities in their storytelling.
More from John Berger
All quotes →Unlike any other visual image, a photograph is not a rendering, an imitation or an interpretation of its subject, but actually a trace of it. No painting or drawing, however naturalist, belongs to its subject in the way that a photograph does.
John BergerRead
We never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves.
John BergerRead
The camera relieves us of the burden of memory. It surveys us like God, and it surveys for us. Yet no other god has been so cynical, for the camera records in order to forget.
John BergerRead
Propaganda requires a permanent network of communication so that it can systematically stifle reflection with emotive or utopian slogans. Its pace is usually fast.
John BergerRead
Being a unique superpower undermines the military intelligence of strategy. To think strategically, one has to imagine oneself in the enemy's place. If one cannot do this, it is impossible to foresee, to take by surprise, to outflank. Misinterpreting an enemy can lead to defeat. This is how empires fall.
John BergerRead
Similar quotes
The Hindu religions gave me the impression of a vast well into which one plunges in order to grasp the reflection of the sun.
Pierre Teilhard De ChardinRead
What is truly profound is thought to be stupid and trivial, or worse, boring, while what is actually stupid and trivial is thought to be profound. That is what it means to fly upside down.
Dallas WillardRead
To be ourselves we must have ourselves – possess, if need be re-possess, our life-stories. We must “recollect” ourselves, recollect the inner drama, the narrative, of ourselves. A man needs such a narrative, a continuous inner narrative, to maintain his identity, his self.
Oliver SacksRead
Then I reflect that all things happen, happen to one, precisely now. Century follows century, and things happen only in the present. There are countless men in the air, on land and at sea, and all that really happens happens to me.
Jorge Luis BorgesRead
There are ways in, journeys to the center of life, through time; through air, matter, dream and thought. The ways are not always mapped or charted, but sometimes being lost, if there is such a thing, is the sweetest place to be. And always, in this search, a person might find that she is already there, at the center of the world. It may be a broken world, but it is glorious nonetheless.
Linda HoganRead
I feel like I could be likened to an old hound circling on a rug for the last five years.
Neil YoungRead