An extravagance is something that your spirit thinks is a necessity.
Bernard WilliamsRead
If there's one theme in all my work, it's about authenticity and self-expression. It's the idea that some things are, in some real sense, really you - or express what you and others aren't.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of being true to oneself and expressing one's genuine identity.
In this quote, Bernard Williams highlights the significance of authenticity and self-expression in one's work. He suggests that true art or expression reflects a person's real self, conveying elements that resonate deeply with the individual while potentially revealing aspects that may be hidden in others. This pursuit of authenticity is essential not only in art but in any form of personal expression.
Themes
AuthenticitySelf-ExpressionIdentityArtGenuineness
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on creativity at a conference, you might use this quote to emphasize the importance of originality.
More from Bernard Williams
All quotes →There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope.
Bernard WilliamsRead
Contemporary moral philosophy has found an original way of being boring, which is by not discussing moral issues at all.
Bernard WilliamsRead
The majority of philosophers are totally humorless. That's part of their trouble.
Bernard WilliamsRead
People have been predicting the death of philosophy since the 17th century. When I was a student, people were saying, 'We're in the last days of philosophy.' Then we were told in the '60s it would be replaced by sociology, then by literary criticism.
Bernard WilliamsRead
Virtually the only subject in which one could ever get a scholarship to Oxford or Cambridge was classics. So I went to Oxford to study classics and, unlike Cambridge, it had a philosophy component, and I became completely transported by it.
Bernard WilliamsRead
Similar quotes
People on the outside think there's something magical about writing, that you go up in the attic at midnight and cast the bones and come down in the morning with a story, but it isn't like that. You sit in back of the typewriter and you work, and that's all there is to it.
Harlan EllisonRead
Try to distill the character of your subject. Understand how he moves, thinks, acts. It's difficult to put into words. Consider each drawing as a problem that did not exist before, and then try to solve that problem to the best of your ability. That i what caricature is all about
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Sometimes I'm asked if I do research for my stories. The answer is yes and no. No, in the sense that I seldom plow through books at the library to gather material. Yes, in the sense that the first fifteen years of my life turned out to be one big research project.
Jerry SpinelliRead
I am interested in the physicality of light itself.
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And that's what people want to see when they go to the theater. I believe at the end of the day, they want to see themselves - parts of their lives they can recognize. And I feel if I can achieve that, it's pretty spectacular.
Viola DavisRead
Once a month the sky falls on my head, I come to and I see another movie I want to make.
Steven SpielbergRead