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A created thing is never invented and it is never true: it is always and ever itself.
Federico Fellini
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote emphasizes that creativity is a unique expression rather than a mere reproduction of reality.

Fellini's quote suggests that every act of creation is inherently original and self-referential. It implies that while creators draw from experiences and realities, what they produce transcends mere imitation to become its own entity, embodying the essence of its creation. Rather than aiming to be 'true' to life or to a concept, art and created things should be appreciated for their individuality and the distinct perspective they offer.

Themes

CreativityArtOriginalityExpressionSelf-Reference

In practice

Example use cases

During a lecture on the nature of art, one might use this quote to illustrate the concept of originality.

More from Federico Fellini

I’m just a storyteller, and the cinema happens to be my medium. I like it because it recreates life in movement, enlarges it, enhances it, distills it. For me, it’s far closer to the miraculous creation of life than, say, a painting or music or even literature. It’s not just an art form; it’s actually a new form of life, with its own rhythms, cadences, perspectives and transparencies. It’s my way of telling a story.
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Talking about dreams is like talking about movies, since the cinema uses the language of dreams; years can pass in a second, and you can hop from one place to another. It's a language made of image. And in the real cinema, every object and every light means something, as in a dream.
Federico FelliniRead
No critic writing about a film could say more than the film itself, although they do their best to make us think the oppposite.
Federico FelliniRead
What's important is the way we say it. Art is all about craftsmanship. Others can interpret craftsmanship as style if they wish. Style is what unites memory or recollection, ideology, sentiment, nostalgia, presentiment, to the way we express all that. It's not what we say but how we say it that matters.
Federico FelliniRead
We can all pretend to be cynical and scheming, but when we’re faced with purity and innocence, the cynical mask drops off.
Federico FelliniRead
What is an artist? A provincial who finds himself somewhere between a physical reality and a metaphysical one... It’s this in-between that I’m calling a province, this frontier country between the tangible world and the intangible one - which is really the realm of the artist.
Federico FelliniRead

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