Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
There is but one art, to omit.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of simplicity and the skill of knowing what to leave out in creative endeavors.
Robert Louis Stevenson's quote highlights that true artistry lies not just in what is included in a work, but significantly in what is intentionally left out. The ability to omit unnecessary details can strengthen a piece of art, making it more impactful and focused, allowing the essence of the work to shine through without distractions.
In practice
An artist could use this quote when discussing minimalism in their artwork.
Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.
Like a bird singing in the rain, let grateful memories survive in time of sorrow.
That man is a success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much.
His past was fairly blameless; few men could read the rolls of their life with less apprehension; yet he was humbled to the dust by the many ill things he had done, and raised up again into sober and fearful gratitude by the many he had come so near to doing, yet avoided.
The habit of being happy enables one to be freed, or largely freed, from the domination of outward conditions.
It is the history of our kindnesses that alone make this world tolerable. If it were not for that, for the effect of kind words, kind looks, kind letters . . . I should be inclined to think our life a practical jest in the worst possible spirit.
There's a difference between ad-libbing and improvising. And there's a difference between not knowing what to do and just saying something. Or making choices as an actor. As a writer also, as a person who's making a film, as a cameraman, everything is a choice. And it seems to me I don't really have to direct anyone or write down that somebody's getting drunk; all I have to do is say that there's a bottle there and put a bottle there and then they're going to get drunk.
No critic writing about a film could say more than the film itself, although they do their best to make us think the oppposite.
The writer's duty is to keep on writing.
In contrast to the written account-which, depending on its complexity of thought, reference, and vocabulary, is pitched at a larger or smaller readership-a photograph has only one language and is destined potentially for all.
My imagination is a kind of animal. So what I do is keep it alive.
To be a performance artist, you have to hate theatre. Theatre is fake... The knife is not real, the blood is not real, and the emotions are not real. Performance is just the opposite: the knife is real, the blood is real, and the emotions are real.
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