You live in a deranged age, more deranged that usual, because in spite of great scientific and technological advances, man has not the faintest idea of who he is or what he is doing.
Walker PercyRead
It is possible, however, that the artist is both thin-skinned and prophetic and, like the canary lowered into the mine shaft to test the air, has caught a whiff of something lethal.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Artists often perceive deeper truths and emotions that may go unrecognized by others, and this sensitivity can be both a gift and a burden.
Walker Percy suggests that artists possess a unique sensitivity that allows them to sense truths about their environment and society that might be overlooked by others. This heightened awareness can be prophetic, akin to a canary in a coal mine that signals danger, but it can also leave the artist vulnerable to the emotional weight of these insights, which can feel overwhelming and potentially damaging.
Themes
ArtistSensitivityPropheticTruthEmotion
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of art in society, one might quote Percy to highlight the artist's role in expressing uncomfortable truths.
More from Walker Percy
All quotes →They all think any minute I'm going to commit suicide. What a joke. The truth of course is the exact opposite: suicide is the only thing that keeps me alive. Whenever everything else fails, all I have to do is consider suicide and in two seconds I'm as cheerful as a nitwit. But if I could not kill myself -- ah then, I would. I can do without nembutal or murder mysteries but not without suicide.
Walker PercyRead
Why is it that one can look at a lion or a planet or an owl or at someone's finger as long as one pleases, but looking into the eyes of another person is, if prolonged past a second, a perilous affair?
Walker PercyRead
We love those who know the worst of us and don't turn their faces away.
Walker PercyRead
Before, I wandered as a diversion. Now I wander seriously and sit and read as a diversion.
Walker PercyRead
Since grief only aggravates your loss, grieve not for what is past.
Walker PercyRead
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I would wish my portraits to be of the people, not like them. Not having a look of the sitter, being them.
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