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I believe art is utterly important. It is one of the things that could save us.
Mary Oliver
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Art is essential for our well-being and can lead to personal and societal salvation.

Mary Oliver's quote emphasizes the profound importance of art in our lives, suggesting that it is not merely a form of entertainment or expression, but a vital force that holds the potential to rescue us from despair and bring about transformation. Art reflects our deepest emotions and experiences, providing a means of connection and understanding that can uplift and unite individuals and communities.

Themes

ArtImportanceSalvationTransformationCreativity

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a discussion about the role of art in therapy and healing.

More from Mary Oliver

I try to be good but sometimes a person just has to break out and act like the wild and springy thing one used to be. It's impossible not to remember wild an want it back.
Mary OliverRead
At the time I was growing up, literature was involved with the so-called confessional poets. And I was not interested in that. I did not think that specific and personal perspective functioned well for the reader at all.
Mary OliverRead
I know the sag of the unfinished poem. And I know the release of the poem that is finished.
Mary OliverRead
For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.
Mary OliverRead
If I have any lasting worth, it will be because I have tried to make people remember what the Earth is meant to look like.
Mary OliverRead
Every day I see or hear something that more or less kills me with delight, that leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light.
Mary OliverRead

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