But what is Hope? Nothing but the paint on the face of Existence; the least touch of truth rubs it off, and then we see what a hollow-cheeked harlot we have got hold of.
Lord ByronRead
A man of eighty has outlived probably three new schools of painting, two of architecture and poetry and a hundred in dress.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on how a person's lifetime encompasses numerous changes in artistic and cultural expression.
Lord Byron's quote emphasizes the vast spectrum of creative evolution that occurs over a lifetime. An individual, having lived for eighty years, witnesses significant shifts in art, architecture, literature, and fashion, highlighting the transient nature of cultural trends and the enduring influence of those experiences.
In practice
During a lecture on the evolution of modern art, I quoted Byron to illustrate how each generation shapes artistic expression.
But what is Hope? Nothing but the paint on the face of Existence; the least touch of truth rubs it off, and then we see what a hollow-cheeked harlot we have got hold of.
It is the lava of the imagination whose eruption prevents an earthquake.
For what were all these country patriots born? To hunt, and vote, and raise the price of corn?
Absence - that common cure of love.
Her great merit is finding out mine; there is nothing so amiable as discernment.
But words are things, and a small drop of ink, Falling like dew, upon a thought, produces That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.
A writer's job is to give the reader a larger vision of the world.
All forms of beauty, like all possible phenomena, contain an element of the eternal and an element of the transitory - of the absolute and of the particular. Absolute and eternal beauty does not exist, or rather it is only an abstraction creamed from the general surface of different beauties. The particular element in each manifestation comes from the emotions: and just as we have our own particular emotions, so we have our own beauty.
I write on big yellow legal pads - ideas in outline form when I'm doing stand-up and stuff. It's vivid that way. I can't type it into an iPad - I think that would put a filter into the process.
I hate that aesthetic game of the eye and the mind, played by these connoisseurs, these mandarins who "appreciate" beauty. What is beauty, anyway? There's no such thing. I never "appreciate," any more than I "like." I love it or I hate.
Actors can have a fair amount of hate for each other, so when another actor says, 'You did your thing,' or 'That was inspiring,' you can't really ask for more than that.
The house has to please everyone, contrary to the work of art which does not. The work is a private matter for the artist. The house is not.
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