It's easier for the former masters to put aside the masks that hid their humanity than for the former slaves to recognise the faces underneath. Or to trust that this is not a new mask these are wearing.
Nadine GordimerRead
Art defies defeat by its very existence, representing the celebration of life, in spite of all attempts to degrade and destroy it.
Interpretation
Art endures and thrives despite attempts to undermine its value, symbolizing the resilience of life.
In this quote, Nadine Gordimer highlights the power of art as a form of self-expression and resistance against negativity. Art not only survives but stands as a testament to the vibrancy of life and the human spirit, celebrating the beauty and complexity of existence even in the face of adversity and attempts to undermine its significance.
In practice
This quote can inspire artists during creative workshops to encourage them to find strength in their art.
It's easier for the former masters to put aside the masks that hid their humanity than for the former slaves to recognise the faces underneath. Or to trust that this is not a new mask these are wearing.
The gap between the committed and the indifferent is a Sahara whose faint trails, followed by the mind's eye only, fade out in sand.
Perhaps the best definition of progress would be the continuing efforts of men and women to narrow the gap between the convenience of the powers that be and the unwritten charter.
A truly living human being cannot remain neutral.
If people would forget about utopia! When rationalism destroyed heaven and decided to set it up here on earth, that most terrible of all goals entered human ambition. It was clear there'd be no end to what people would be made to suffer for it.
The caged eagle become a metaphor for all forms of isolation, the ultimate in imprisonment. A zoo is prison.
Only stilted pedants can conceive the idea that there are absolute norms to tell what is beautiful and what is not. They try to derive from the works of the past a code of rules with which, as they fancy, the writers and artists of the future should comply. But the genius does not cooperate with the pundit.
I discover what I mean as I write. That can be both terrifically exciting and very dangerous, because when you look at your words later, you wonder, 'Did I really mean that, or am I just making verbal patterns?'
Fashion is fragile and fleeting. But it is also an indicator for the cultural and social appetites for a nation.
Poetry, my dear friends, is a sacred incarnation of a smile. Poetry is a sigh that dries the tears. Poetry is a spirit who dwells in the soul, whose nourishment is the heart, whose wine is affection. Poetry that comes not in this form is a false messiah.
When you do dance, I wish you a wave o' the sea, that you might ever do nothing but that.
The thing I have always tried to do is surprise people: to present them with something they didn't expect.
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