The strange power of art is sometimes it can show that what people have in common is more urgent than what differentiates them. It seems to me it's something that theatre can do, but it's rare; it's very rare.
John BergerRead
It can happen that a book, unlike its authors, grows younger as the years pass.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Books can gain relevance and freshness over time, even if their authors age.
This quote by John Berger suggests that while authors may age, the ideas and messages contained in their books can become increasingly significant or resonate more deeply with readers as time progresses. It highlights the notion that literature can transcend its original context, adapting and finding new meanings with each passing generation.
Themes
BooksLiteratureYouthTimelessnessRelevance
In practice
Example use cases
During a book club discussion, one might quote this to emphasize how classics still touch modern readers.
More from John Berger
All quotes →Unlike any other visual image, a photograph is not a rendering, an imitation or an interpretation of its subject, but actually a trace of it. No painting or drawing, however naturalist, belongs to its subject in the way that a photograph does.
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We never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves.
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The camera relieves us of the burden of memory. It surveys us like God, and it surveys for us. Yet no other god has been so cynical, for the camera records in order to forget.
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Propaganda requires a permanent network of communication so that it can systematically stifle reflection with emotive or utopian slogans. Its pace is usually fast.
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Being a unique superpower undermines the military intelligence of strategy. To think strategically, one has to imagine oneself in the enemy's place. If one cannot do this, it is impossible to foresee, to take by surprise, to outflank. Misinterpreting an enemy can lead to defeat. This is how empires fall.
John BergerRead
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Constantin StanislavskiRead
The meaning of a theater event is that none of us could see something so clearly as with the new energy that is brought with the meeting of a theme, actors living it, and an audience gradually entering it to live it with them. At that moment, a certain light appears, revealing what we would never have thought of on our own.
Peter BrookRead
The more abstract is form, the more clear and direct its appeal.
Wassily KandinskyRead