Prejudices are what fools use for reason.
VoltaireRead
The little may contrast with the great, in painting, but cannot be said to be contrary to it. Oppositions of colors contrast; but there are also colors contrary to each other, that is, which produce an ill effect because they shock the eye when brought very near it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the relationship between contrasting elements in art and their coexistence without contradiction.
Voltaire reflects on the idea that while small and large elements in a painting may contrast, they do not necessarily oppose one another. He distinguishes between mere color contrasts, which can enhance a piece of art, and colors that are truly contrary, which disrupt the visual harmony. This notion can be metaphorically extended to various aspects of life, where differences can coexist and even enrich experiences.
Themes
ContrastColorsArtHarmonyOpposition
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote to illustrate the importance of contrasts in a school art presentation.
More from Voltaire
All quotes →He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead.
VoltaireRead
It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.
VoltaireRead
It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.
VoltaireRead
We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature.
VoltaireRead
It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.
VoltaireRead
Similar quotes
If the urge to write should ever leave me, I want that day to be my last.
Naguib MahfouzRead
Too much of what passes for design now is theater. It's one thing to be eccentric- and by the way, most eccentrics tend to be rather well-educated people - and quite another to be a faddist, by which I mean someone who tries to conjure a totally foreign aesthetic in a misplaced environment.
Albert HadleyRead
The first thing I did with my very first camera was climb Mt. Fuji. Climbing Mt. Fuji is a lesson in determination and moderation. It would be fair to ask if I took the moderation part to heart. But it certainly was a lesson in respecting your camera. If I was going to live with this thing, I was going to have to think about what that meant. There were not going to be any pictures without it.
Annie LeibovitzRead
The material of literary talent is words; the material of story talent is life itself.
Robert MckeeRead
Failure and its accompanying misery is for the artist his most vital source of creative energy.
Montgomery CliftRead
The ultimate goal of the architect...is to create a paradise. Every house, every product of architecture... should be a fruit of our endeavour to build an earthly paradise for people.
Alvar AaltoRead