QuoteProject
If contemporary artists sincerely seek to be original, unique, and new, they should begin by disregarding the notions of originality, individuality, and innovation: they are the cliches of our time.
Octavio Paz
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Artists striving for originality should let go of conventional ideas of what that means.

In this quote, Octavio Paz argues that in the quest for true originality and uniqueness, contemporary artists must overlook the traditional concepts of originality and innovation as these ideas have become clichés. By discarding these outdated notions, artists can free themselves to create genuinely new work that reflects their authentic voice rather than conforming to established expectations.

Themes

OriginalityArtCreativityInnovationCliches

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be used during an art seminar to inspire students to create without the fear of following trends.

More from Octavio Paz

Solitude lies at the lowest depth of the human condition. Man is the only being who feels himself to be alone and the only one who is searching for the Other.
Octavio PazRead
By suppressing differences and peculiarities, by eliminating different civilizations and cultures, progress weakens life and favors death
Octavio PazRead
The North American system only wants to consider the positive aspects of reality. Men and women are subjected from childhood to an inexorable process of adaptation certain principles, contained in brief formulas are endlessly repeated by the Press, the radio, the churches, and the schools, and by those kindly, sinister beings, the North American mothers and wives. A person imprisoned by these schemes is like a plant in a flowerpot too small for it he cannot grow or mature.
Octavio PazRead
Poetry is not a genre in harmony with the modern world; its innermost nature is hostile or indifferent to the dogmas of modern times, progress and the cult of the future.
Octavio PazRead
If we are a metaphor of the universe, the human couple is the metaphor par excellence, the point of intersection of all forces and the seed of all forms. The couple is time recaptured, the return to the time before time.
Octavio PazRead
Man, even man debased by the neocapitalism and pseudosocialism of our time, is a marvelous being because he sometimes speaks. Language is the mark, the sign, not of his fall but of his original innocence. Through the Word we may regain the lost kingdom and recover powers we possessed in the far-distant past.
Octavio PazRead

Similar quotes

Good improvisers seem telepathic; everything looks pre-arranged, This is because they accept all offers made—which is something no ‘normal’ person would do.
Keith JohnstoneRead
Theatre is fake... The knife is not real, the blood is not real, and the emotions are not real. Performance is just the opposite: the knife is real, the blood is real, and the emotions are real.
Marina AbramovicRead
To labor in the arts for any reason other than love is prostitution.
Steven PressfieldRead
I try to let go of the intellect and just tell the story. I only read the page I have in front of me on the screen. Then when the whole story is told, I print it, wait a week and read it.
Isabel AllendeRead
When he moves, a streetlight stabs him, and the words flow out like blood.
Markus ZusakRead
Comic-book pages are vertical, and movie screens are relentlessly horizontal. But it's all the same form. We use different tools, but we get the job done. I'm completely in love with CGI. It's great for conveying a cartoonist's sense of reality.
Frank MillerRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.