You must know that I am, of all men who were ever born, the most inclined to love persons. Whenever I behold someone who possesses any talent or displays any dexterity of mind, who can do or say something more appropriately than the rest of the world, I am compelled to fall in love with him; and then I give myself up to him so entirely that I am no longer my own property, but wholly his.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a deep admiration for individuals with talent and intellect, suggesting that love emerges from appreciation of their abilities.
Michelangelo conveys that his greatest inclination is toward love, particularly for those who possess exceptional talents or intelligence. This admiration leads him to surrender himself entirely to these individuals, indicating that profound appreciation and love can create deep personal connections, often resulting in a sense of losing oneself in the admiration of another's uniqueness and capabilities.
In practice
This quote could be shared during a speech at an art exhibition, appreciating the talent of the featured artists.
The art of creation lies in the gift of perceiving the particular and generalizing it, thus creating the particular again. It is therefore a powerful transforming force and a generator of creative solutions in relation to a given problem.
The best artist has that thought alone Which is contained within the marble shell; The sculptor's hand can only break the spell To free the figures slumbering in the stone.
Art lives on constraint and dies of freedom.
If it be true that any beautiful thing raises the pure and just desire of man from earth to God, the eternal fount of all, such I believe my love.
Every beauty which is seen here by persons of perception resembles more than anything else that celestial source from which we all are come.
There is an angel imprisoned in it and I must set it free.
Love can consign us to hell or to paradise, but it always takes us somewhere.
You know, the man of my dreams might walk round the corner tomorrow. I'm older and wiser and I think I'd make a great girlfriend. I live in the realm of romantic possibility.
To love is to be transformed into what we love. To love God is therefore to be transformed into God.
What a torment it is to see so much loveliness passing and repassing before us, and yet not dare to lay hold of it!
When we were together, I loved you deeply and you gave me so much happiness I can never repay you.
Never forget that the most powerful force on earth is love.
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