The artist's role isn't to tell people how to feel, but reflect.
Interpretation
Artists mirror society and emotions rather than dictate feelings.
In this quote, John Lennon emphasizes that the primary function of an artist is to serve as a reflective medium for human experiences and emotions. Instead of imposing specific feelings on others, artists capture and present the essence of the world around them, allowing audiences to engage with their own emotions and interpretations.
In practice
In a discussion about the role of art in society, this quote could illustrate the purpose of artists during a gallery opening.
When I get older losing my hair many years from now. Will you still be sending me a Valentine. Birthday greetings, bottle of wine? If I'd been out till quarter to three would you lock the door? Will you still need me, will you still feed me, When I'm sixty-four?
The writing of the Beatles, or John and Paul's contribution to the Beatles in the late sixties - had a kind of depth to it, a more mature, more intellectual approach. We were different people, we were older. We knew each other in all kinds of different ways than when we wrote together as teenagers and in our older twenties.
I put things down on sheets of paper and stuff them in my pockets. When I have enough, I have a book.
Guilt for being rich, and guilt thinking that perhaps love and peace isn't enough and you have to go and get shot or something.
I regret profoundly that I was not an American and not born in Greenwich Village. It might be dying, and there might be a lot of dirt in the air you breathe, but this is where it's happening.
I've been baking bread and looking after the baby...Everyone else who has asked me that question over the last few years says. 'But what else have you been doing?' To which I say, 'Are you kidding?' Because bread and babies, as every housewife knows, is a full-time job. After I made the loaves [of bread,] I felt like I had conquered something. But as I watched the bread being eaten, I thought, Well, Jesus, don't I get a gold record or knighted or nothing?
Every good writer or filmmaker has something eating at them, right? That they can't quite get off their back . And so your job is to make your audience care about your obsessions.
Then came a moment of renaissance,_x000D_ _x000D_ I looked up - you again are there,_x000D_ _x000D_ A fleeting vision, the quintessence_x000D_ _x000D_ Of all that`s beautiful and rare.
Natural beauty is essentially temporary and sad, hence the impression of obscene mockery which artificial flowers give us.
My whole artistic life has always been about change, change, change, move on, move on. It's the only thing I find interesting.
I certainly consider a great appreciation of painting to be the best indication of a most perfect mind.
The creative musician ... is ... the radio receiver, not the broadcasting station. His personal discipline is to improve the quality of the components, the transistors, the speakers, the alloys in the receiver itself, but never to concern himself overmuch with putting out the program. The program is there; all he has to do is receive it as far as possible.
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