The art is long, life is short
Interpretation
Art transcends time, while human life is fleeting.
Hippocrates' quote emphasizes the enduring nature of art compared to the brevity of human life. It suggests that while we may have a limited time on earth, the creations of art can last far beyond our own existence, impacting future generations and reflecting the complexities of life and human experience.
In practice
During a gallery opening, this quote could be used to highlight the importance of appreciating art that connects us across generations.
The body of man has in itself blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile; these make up the nature of this body, and through these he feels pain or enjoys health. Now he enjoys the most perfect health when these elements are duly proportioned to one another in respect of compounding, power and bulk, and when they are perfectly mingled.
That which is used - develops. That which is not used wastes away.
Cure sometimes, treat often, comfort always.
Wine is an appropriate article for mankind, both for the healthy body and for the ailing man.
Walking is man's best medicine.
A wise man ought to realize that health is his most valuable possession.
The art of Frida Kahlo is a ribbon around a bomb.
People said making clothes inside out was not proper. I disagreed, because clothes that are inside out are as beautiful as a cathedral.
Cooking is the art of adjustment.
If you participate in life, you donβt see it clearly: you suffer from it too much or enjoy it too much. The artist, to my way of thinking, is a monstrosity, something outside nature. All the misfortunes Providence inflicts on him come from his stubborness in denying that maxim.
Style is not something applied. It is something that permeates. It is of the nature of that in which it is found, whether the poem, the manner of a god, the bearing of a man. It is not a dress.
In Britten or Berg, there's a tension between the sweet and the sour, between the familiar and the unfamiliar, the tonal and the atonal, the happy and the sad. That, to me, is what all western art is about - that tension. It's why we want to say anything at all.
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