We must beware the revenge of the starved senses, the embittered animal in its prison.
J. B. PriestleyRead
To say that these men paid their shillings to watch twenty-two hirelings kick a ball is merely to say that a violin is wood and catgut, that Hamlet is so much paper and ink.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes that reducing art or sport to mere physical components overlooks the deeper value and experience they provide.
J. B. Priestley's quote draws a parallel between the seemingly simplistic views of watching a football game and the more profound experience of literature and art. Just as one might diminish the complexity of a violin or a Shakespearean play to their basic materials, it underscores the idea that the true value of such experiences lies beyond their tangible elements, speaking to the emotional and cultural significance they embody.
Themes
ArtExperienceFootballValueEmotionLiterature
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of arts education, one might use this quote to highlight how art transcends its physical form.
More from J. B. Priestley
All quotes →But some of us are beginning to pull well away, in our irritation, from...the exquisite tasters, the vintage snobs, the three-star Michelin gourmets. There is, we feel, a decent area somewhere between boiled carrots and Beluga caviare, sour plonk and Chateau Lafitte, where we can take care of our gullets and bellies without worshipping them.
J. B. PriestleyRead
A novelist who writes nothing for 10 years finds his reputation rising. Because I keep on producing books they say there must be something wrong with this fellow.
J. B. PriestleyRead
Much of writing might be described as mental pregnancy with successive difficult deliveries.
J. B. PriestleyRead
There is romance, the genuine glinting stuff, in typewriters, and not merely in their development from clumsy giants into agile dwarfs, but in the history of their manufacture, which is filled with raids, battles, lonely pioneers, great gambles, hope, fear, despair, triumph. If some of our novels could be written by the typewriters instead of on them, how much better they would be.
J. B. PriestleyRead
We plan, we toil, we suffer - in the hope of what? A camel-load of idol's eyes? The title deeds of Radio City? The empire of Asia? A trip to the moon? No, no, no, no. Simply to wake just in time to smell coffee and bacon and eggs.
J. B. PriestleyRead
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