I'd rather have two good friends, than 500,000 admirers.
E. E. CummingsRead
The symbol of all art is the Prism. The goal is unrealism. The method is destructive. To break up the white light of objective realism, into the secret glories which it contains.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Art seeks to transform reality into something more profound and beautiful through abstraction.
In this quote, E. E. Cummings suggests that art is like a prism that breaks down the ordinary and realistic into a myriad of hidden meanings and expressions, encouraging artists to move beyond mere representation. The process of creating art involves a destruction of the conventional understanding of reality to uncover deeper truths and experiences that transcend everyday perception.
Themes
ArtPrismRealismBeautyExpression
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about modern art's significance, one might say, 'As E. E. Cummings stated, the symbol of all art is the Prism, revealing the deeper beauty within our reality.'
More from E. E. Cummings
All quotes →I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.
E. E. CummingsRead
It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.
E. E. CummingsRead
When god decided to invent everything he took one reath bigger than a circustent and everything began
E. E. CummingsRead
The Artist is no other than he who unlearns what he has learned, in order to know himself.
E. E. CummingsRead
Nobody else can be alive for you; nor can you be alive for anybody else.
E. E. CummingsRead
Similar quotes
My writing is inspired by where I come from, where I am today, and where I hope to go some day.
Jacqueline WoodsonRead
Science fiction, outside of poetry, is the only literary field which has no limits, no parameters whatsoever. You can go not only into the future, but into that wonderful place called other, which is simply another universe, another planet, another species.
Theodore SturgeonRead
Patti, did art get us?' I looked away, not really wanting to think about it. 'I don't know, Robert. I don't know.' Perhaps it did, but no one could regret that. Only a fool would regret being had by art; or a saint.
Patti SmithRead
And its object is Art not power, sub-creation not domination and tyrannous re-forming of Creation.
J. R. R. TolkienRead
Your voice is not your instrument. Your voice is the character that you build, your innermost feelings, the things that you want to say, and your instrument is the vehicle that you use to carry the message.
Dianne ReevesRead
The beauty that addresses itself to the eyes is only the spell of the moment; the eye of the body is not always that of the soul.
George SandRead