The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain, egotistic and self-complacent is erroneous; on the contrary it makes them, for the most part, humble, tolerant and kind.
W. Somerset MaughamRead
Beauty is something wonderful and strange that the artist fashions out of the chaos of the world in the torment of his soul.
Interpretation
Beauty is created by artists from the chaotic experiences of life and their inner struggles.
This quote by W. Somerset Maugham suggests that beauty transcends mere aesthetics; it is a profound creation that arises from the tumultuous chaos of life and the emotional turmoil experienced by the artist. Maugham implies that artists channel their personal challenges and the disorder present in the world into their work, crafting something extraordinary and meaningful from it.
In practice
In a speech about creativity, one might use this quote to illustrate the depth of emotional experiences that inform great art.
The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain, egotistic and self-complacent is erroneous; on the contrary it makes them, for the most part, humble, tolerant and kind.
Cronshaw stopped for a moment to drink. He had pondered for twenty years the problem whether he loved liquor because it made him talk or whether he loved conversation because it made him thirsty.
Are you sure you can prevent yourself from falling in love one of these days? Such things do happen, you know, even to the most prudent men.' Simon gave him a strange, one might even have thought a hostile, look. I should tear it out of my heart as I'd wrench out of my mouth a rotten tooth.
I don't think of the past. The only thing that matters is the everlasting present.
The world is quickly bored by the recital of misfortune, and willing avoids the sight of distress.
There in the mist, enormous, majestic, silent and terrible, stood the Great Wall of China. Solitarily, with the indifference of nature herself, it crept up the mountain side and slipped down to the depth of the valley.
When poetry separates from song, then the words have to carry all the rhythm themselves; they have to do all the work. They can't rely on the singing voice.
When a man understands the art of seeing, he can trace the spirit of an age and the features of a king even in the knocker on a door.
I never wanted to be a painter; I wanted to be a tap dancer.
There can be nothing more humiliating for a writer of fiction to have to do than restate a case that has already been made.
For a long time, I thought when you do a box set, you're giving up; you're saying, 'OK, I don't have anything left.' But now I've listened to some of the old stuff I haven't heard in 20 to 40 years with fresh ears. It's like, 'Oh yeah, I can see where people might want to to hear some of this stuff that didn't make it onto the records.'
The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act.
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