Art begins when a man, with a purpose of communicating to other people a feeling he once experienced, calls it up again within himself and expresses it by certain external signs.
Leo TolstoyRead
Art is not a pleasure, a solace, or an amusement; art is a great matter. Art is an organ of human life, transmitting man's reasonable perception into feeling.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Art is an essential aspect of human existence that conveys profound feelings and perceptions.
In this quote, Leo Tolstoy emphasizes that art transcends mere enjoyment or distraction; it plays a crucial role in expressing the deeper aspects of human life. Art serves as a vital medium through which individuals can communicate and connect their rational thoughts with their emotional experiences, revealing its significance to humanity.
Themes
ArtHuman LifeExpressionFeelingsPerception
In practice
Example use cases
In an art appreciation class to highlight the importance of art in our lives.
More from Leo Tolstoy
All quotes βPierre looked into the sky, into the depths of the retreating, twinkling stars. "And all this is mine, and all this is in me, and all this is me!" thought Pierre. "And all this they've caught and put in a shed and boarded it up!
Leo TolstoyRead
People try to do all sorts of clever and difficult things to improve life instead of doing the simplest, easiest thing-refusing to participate in activities that make life bad.
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It's too easy to criticize a man when he's out of favour, and to make him shoulder the blame for everybody else's mistakes.
Leo TolstoyRead
Music is the shorthand of emotion. Emotions, which let themselves be described in words with such difficulty, are directly conveyed to man in music, and in that is its power and significance.
Leo TolstoyRead
A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbor β such is my idea of happiness.
Leo TolstoyRead
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I was not interested in irony; I wanted to emphasize the primacy of the idea in making art
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