. . . money . . . is really the difference between men and animals, most of the things men feel, animals feel, and vice versa, but animals do not know about money.
Gertrude SteinRead
The contemporary thing in art and literature is the thing which doesn't make enough difference to the people of that generation so that they can accept it or reject it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Contemporary art and literature often lack significant impact on society, leading to ambivalence among people.
Gertrude Stein's quote suggests that contemporary works of art and literature fail to resonate deeply with their audience, resulting in a disconnect where individuals are neither compelled to embrace nor dismiss the creations. This reflects a broader commentary on the nature of art's relevance, questioning what it means for art to be impactful and how it should challenge or engage its viewers and readers.
Themes
ArtLiteratureContemporaryImpactAudienceRelevance
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about modern art, one might reference this quote to highlight the challenges artists face in making their work impactful.
More from Gertrude Stein
All quotes βThe creator of the new composition in the arts is an outlaw until he is a classic.
Gertrude SteinRead
If the communication is perfect, the words have life, and that is all there is to good writing, putting down on the paper words which dance and weep and make love and fight and kiss and perform miracles.
Gertrude SteinRead
The United States is just now the oldest country in the world, there always is an oldest country and she is it, it is she who is the mother of the twentieth century civilization. She began to feel herself as it just after the Civil War. And so it is a country the right age to have been born in and the wrong age to live in.
Gertrude SteinRead
I simply contend that the middle-class ideal which demands that people be affectionate, respectable, honest and content, that they avoid excitements and cultivate serenity is the ideal that appeals to me, it is in short the ideal of affectionate family life, of honorable business methods.
Gertrude SteinRead
It is natural to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes to that siren until she allures us to our death.
Gertrude SteinRead
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I seated ugliness on my knee, and almost immediately grew tired of it.
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Successful fiction does not need to be validated by 'real life'; I cringe whenever a writer is asked how much of a novel is 'real'.
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