That sculpture is more admirable than painting for the reason that it contains relief and painting does not is completely false. ... Rather, how much more admirable the painting must be considered, if having no relief at all, it appears to have as much as sculpture!
Interpretation
Galileo argues that painting is more admirable than sculpture because it creates the illusion of depth despite lacking physical relief.
In this quote, Galileo expresses his belief that painting, although it does not have the tangible depth of sculpture, can evoke a sense of three-dimensionality that is equally impressive. He challenges the notion that relief, which is a characteristic of sculpture, defines its superiority, suggesting that the skill involved in creating that illusion in painting should be celebrated even more.
In practice
In a discussion on the merits of different art forms, this quote can illuminate the hidden complexities of painting.
It has always seemed to me extreme presumptuousness on the part of those who want to make human ability the measure of what nature can and knows how to do, since, when one comes down to it, there is not one effect in nature, no matter how small, that even the most speculative minds can fully understand.
We must say that there are as many squares as there are numbers.
Science proceeds more by what it has learned to ignore than what it takes into account.
The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.
Philosophy is written in this grand book, the universe, which stands continually open to our gaze. But the book cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language and read the letters in which it is composed.
To command their professors of astronomy to refute their own observations is to command them not to see what they do see and not to understand what they do understand.
I have wasted the greater part of my life looking for money and trying to get along, trying to make my work from this terribly expensive paintbox, which is a movie. And I've spent too much energy on things that have nothing to do with making a movie. It's about two percent moviemaking and ninety-eight percent hustling. It's no way to spend a life.
Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.
As an artist, you are always striving toward an ultimate achievement but never seem to reach it. You shoot a film, and the result could have always been better. You try again, and fail once more. In some ways I find it enjoyable. You never lose sight of your goal. I don’t do my job to make money or to break box office records, I simply try things out. What would happen if I were to achieve perfection at some point? What would I do then?
A John Updike is a once-in-a-generation phenomenon, if that generation is lucky: so comfortable in so many genres, the same lively, generous intelligence suffusing all he did.
I want to be able to follow the example of those extraordinary British actresses who move effortlessly from film to TV to theatre roles.
Good literature can be created only with something that is different from literature.
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