Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
John SteinbeckRead
One must withdraw for a time from life in order to set down that picture.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Reflection and withdrawal are essential for creating art.
In this quote, John Steinbeck emphasizes the importance of stepping away from the chaos of life to focus on artistic creation. By withdrawing temporarily, an artist can gain clarity and perspective, allowing them to capture their vision more effectively on canvas or through other mediums.
Themes
ArtCreationWithdrawalReflectionLife
In practice
Example use cases
In an art class, the teacher might use this quote to encourage students to step back from their work.
More from John Steinbeck
All quotes βAt one point, as Samuel urges Adam to raise his boys well regardless of the blood that might be in them, Adam tells him, "You can't make a race horse of a pig." Samuel replies, "No, but you can make a very fast pig.
John SteinbeckRead
And when that crop grew, and was harvested, no man had crumbled a hot clod in his fingers and let the earth sift past his fingertips. No man had touched the seed, or lusted for the growth. Men ate what they had not raised, had no connection with the bread. The land bore under iron, and under iron gradually died; for it was not loved or hated, it had no prayers or curses.
John SteinbeckRead
The comfortable people in tight houses felt pity at first, and then distaste, and finally hatred for the migrant people.
John SteinbeckRead
People do not want advice - they want corroboration.
John SteinbeckRead
It is one of the triumphs of the human that he can know a thing and still not believe it.
John SteinbeckRead
Similar quotes
Theatre is a series of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.
Tom StoppardRead
My whole artistic life has always been about change, change, change, move on, move on. It's the only thing I find interesting.
Paul SimonRead
The artist is a collector of things imaginary or real. He accumulates things with the same enthusiasm that a little boy stuffs his pockets. The scrap heap and the museum are embraced with equal curiosity. He takes snapshots, makes notes and records impressions on tablecloths or newspapers, on backs of envelopes or matchbooks. Why one thing and not another is part of the mystery, but he is omnivorous.
Paul RandRead
To ask an author who hopes to be a serious writer if his work is autobiographical is like asking a spider where he buys his thread. The spider gets his thread right out of his own guts, and that is where the author gets his writing.
Robertson DaviesRead
A movie camera is like having someone you have a crush on watching you from afar - you pretend it's not there.
Tom StoppardRead
In truth, every creation of the mind is first of all 'poetic' in the proper sense of the word; and inasmuch as there exists an equivalence between the modes of sensibility and intellect, it is the same function that is exercised initially in the enterprises of the poet and the scientist.
Saint-John PerseRead