QuoteProject
It is a pity to make a mystery out of what should most easily be understood. There is nothing occult about the thought that all things maybe made well or made ill. A work of art is a well-made thing - that is all. It may be a well-made statue of a well-made chair or a well-made book. Art is not a special sauce applied to ordinary cooking; it is the cooking itself that is good. Most simply and generally, Art may be thought of as "The Well Doing of What Needs Doing."
Oscar Wilde
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Art should be seen as a process of doing things well rather than something mysterious or complex.

In this quote, Oscar Wilde emphasizes that the essence of art lies in the skillful execution of craft, whether it be a statue, chair, or book. He argues against the notion of art being an elusive concept, asserting that good art is simply the result of doing what is necessary to create something of value and quality.

Themes

ArtCreationQualityCraftSkill

In practice

Example use cases

During a gallery opening, quoting Wilde can help emphasize the importance of craftsmanship in art.

More from Oscar Wilde

Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
Oscar WildeRead
London is too full of fogs and serious people. Whether the fogs produce the serious people, or whether the serious people produce the fogs, I don't know.
Oscar WildeRead
When one has never heard a man's name in the course of one's life, it speaks volumes for him; he must be quite respectable.
Oscar WildeRead
Men always want to be a woman's first love - women like to be a man's last romance.
Oscar WildeRead
A truth ceases to be true when more than one person believes in it.
Oscar WildeRead
His morality is all sympathy, just what morality should be
Oscar WildeRead

Similar quotes

As an actor you become that lighting rod between the person who made the play and the audience.
Christopher WalkenRead
The artist and the photographer seek the mysteries and the adventure of experience in nature.
Ansel AdamsRead
Designing is a matter of concentration. You go deep into what you want to do. It's about intensive research, really. The concentration is warm and intimate and like the fire inside the earth - intense but not distorted. You can go to a place, really feel it in your heart. It's actually a beautiful feeling.
Peter ZumthorRead
Writing begins in the body, it is the music of the body, and even if the words have meaning, can sometimes have meaning, the music of the words is where the meanings begin....Writing as a lesser form of dance.
Paul AusterRead
Designers want me to dress like Spring, in billowing things. I don't feel like Spring. I feel like a warm red Autumn.
Marilyn MonroeRead
A novel is a great act of passion and intellect, carpentry and largess. From the very beginning, I wrote to explain my own life to myself, and I invited readers who chose to make the journey with me to join me on the high wire.
Pat ConroyRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.