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.
My life, my reading, everything about me revolves around the cinema. So for me, cinema is life, and vice-versa.
But however measurable, there is much more life in music than mathematics or logic ever dreamed of.
I think good radio often uses the techniques of fiction: characters, scenes, a big urgent emotional question. And as in the best fiction, tone counts for a lot.
We write because we believe the human spirit cannot be tamed and should not be trained.
As a cartoonist, I'm a caricaturist. First you find out what somebody really looks like, and then you find out what they 'really' look like.
I always find myself gravitating to the analogy of a maze. Think of film noir and if you picture the story as a maze, you don't want to be hanging above the maze watching the characters make the wrong choices because it's frustrating. You actually want to be in the maze with them, making the turns at their side, that keeps it more exciting...I quite like to be in that maze.
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