QuoteProject
Art is individualism, and individualism is a disturbing and disintegrating force. There lies its immense value. For what it seeks is to disturb monotony of type, slavery of custom, tyranny of habit, and the reduction of man to the level of a machine. It seeks to show new perspectives and other choices. It is a way to help expand and liberate the consciousness; our experiences, understandings, imaginings, options and thereby our lives.
Oscar Wilde
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Art represents individual expression that challenges societal norms and encourages new perspectives.

In this quote, Oscar Wilde emphasizes the essential role of individualism in art. He argues that art serves as a transformative force that disrupts monotonous customs and the oppressive patterns of habitual thinking. By pushing against the conventional, art broadens our awareness and opens up new possibilities for self-expression and understanding, ultimately enriching our lives.

Themes

ArtIndividualismCreativityPerspectiveExpressionConsciousness

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used during an art exhibit opening to emphasize the importance of individual expression.

More from Oscar Wilde

Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
London is too full of fogs and serious people. Whether the fogs produce the serious people, or whether the serious people produce the fogs, I don't know.
Oscar WildeRead
When one has never heard a man's name in the course of one's life, it speaks volumes for him; he must be quite respectable.
Oscar WildeRead
Men always want to be a woman's first love - women like to be a man's last romance.
Oscar WildeRead
A truth ceases to be true when more than one person believes in it.
Oscar WildeRead
His morality is all sympathy, just what morality should be
Oscar WildeRead

Similar quotes

I'm very happy to have the heritage that I do, but I'm not wanting to be 'the Latino actor.' I just want to be 'an actor.'
Oscar IsaacRead
The author must keep his mouth shut when his work starts to speak.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
I've known since I was five that I wanted to be a writer.
Svetlana AlexievichRead
Playing a violin is, after all, only scraping a cat's entrails with horsehair.
Alan WattsRead
Being in ballet class, being on the stage, being surrounded by my peers at American Ballet Theater every day, keeps me so humble and grounded. Being in ballet class, I feel, is like this meditation for me every morning.
Misty CopelandRead
I usually work in a direction until I know how to do it, then I stop. At the time that I am bored or understand - I use those words interchangeably - another appetite has formed. A lot of people try to think up ideas. I'm not one. I'd rather accept the irresistible possibilities of what I can't ignore.
Robert RauschenbergRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.