. . . 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
A masterpiece... may be unwelcome but it is never dull.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Great art may not always be appreciated, but it always provokes thought and emotion.
Gertrude Stein's quote emphasizes that true masterpieces, while they may not always be embraced or understood by everyone, possess an inherent quality that captivates attention. Unlike ordinary works that might fade into the background, a masterpiece has the ability to engage and challenge the observer, sparking discussion and reflection.
Themes
ArtMasterpieceCreativityExpression
In practice
Example use cases
During a gallery opening, when discussing a provocative piece, one might say, 'A masterpiece may be unwelcome but it is never dull.'
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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The camera relieves us of the burden of memory. It surveys us like God, and it surveys for us. Yet no other god has been so cynical, for the camera records in order to forget.
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