The challenge for a nonfiction writer is to achieve a poetic precision using the documents of truth but somehow to make people and places spring to life as if the reader was in their presence.
Simon SchamaRead
I would passionately make the case that the harder the times, the more we need things that aren't just about keeping our job and making a buck - important though those things are. Arts programming isn't some sort of add-on or ornamental luxury.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of art during difficult times, suggesting that it is essential rather than a luxury.
Simon Schama argues that in challenging times, we require more than just economic security; we need cultural and artistic expressions that enrich our lives. He suggests that the arts should not be viewed as mere accessories to our existence but as fundamental components that provide meaning and solace, especially when faced with adversity.
Themes
ArtNecessityHard TimesCultureImportance
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about community resilience, one might use this quote to advocate for arts funding.
More from Simon Schama
All quotes →In its Greek origins, historia meant inquiry, and from Thucydides onwards, the past has been studied to understand its connections with the present.
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Jewish history turns out not to be an either/or story - as in, either pure Judaism detached from its surroundings or else assimilation - but rather, for the vast majority, the adventure of living in between.
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I understood when I was quite small that there were two special things about the Jews. That we'd endured for over 3,000 years despite everything that had been thrown at us, and that we had an extraordinarily dramatic story to tell.
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History is admirably dangerous. It is not the soft option. Teachers need to be grown up and brave. Sensitivity is fine, but it stops at the door of honest narrative.
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History gives you insight of the same quality of truth as poetry or philosophy or a novel.
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