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I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.
Upton Sinclair
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Art can have a profound impact, often in unexpected ways.

This quote by Upton Sinclair emphasizes the unpredictability of art's influence on society. He suggests that while he intended to reach the emotional core of the public with his work, it instead struck a visceral and perhaps uncomfortable response, highlighting the power of art to evoke strong reactions and its ability to challenge audiences in unforeseen manners.

Themes

ArtInfluenceEmotionSocietyUnexpected

In practice

Example use cases

A speaker at an art exhibit could use the quote to discuss the emotional depth of the pieces on display.

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The private control of credit is the modern form of slavery.
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Human beings suffer agonies, and their sad fates become legends; poets write verses about them and playwrights compose dramas, and the remembrance of past grief becomes a source of present pleasure - such is the strange alchemy of the spirit.
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And as for other men, who worked in tank-rooms full of steam, and in some of which there were open vats near the level of the floor, their peculiar trouble was that they fell into the vats; and when they were fished out, there was never enough of them left to be worth exhibiting,-sometimes they would be overlooked for days, till all but the bones of them had gone out into the world as Durham's Pure Leaf Lard! This contributed to the passing of the Pure Food Act of 1906.
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Fascism is capitalism plus murder.
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The old wanderlust had gotten into his blood, the joy of the unbound life, the joy of seeking, of hoping without limit.
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One of the necessary accompaniments of capitalism in a democracy is political corruption.
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I get good references from a wide range of music. Something who's been a good influence in the last few years is Qawwali music. If you listen to a Qawwali singer like Aziz Mian - he's like James Brown. Qawwali is like Pakistani gospel-jazz. It's emotional, but it's also improvised, and it's all about that sacred-and-profane tightrope.
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