You shall create beauty not to excite the senses but to give sustenance to the soul.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of creating beauty that nourishes the spirit rather than merely appealing to the senses.
Gabriela Mistral's quote suggests that true beauty serves a deeper purpose; it is not just about superficial pleasure but rather about enriching one's inner life and providing sustenance to the soul. This perspective encourages artists and creators to focus on the emotional and spiritual impact of their work, fostering a connection that transcends mere aesthetic enjoyment.
In practice
In a speech at an art gallery opening, one might say, 'As Gabriela Mistral once stated, we create beauty to nourish the soul, inspiring us all.'
I write poetry because I can’t disobey the impulse; it would be like blocking a spring that surges up in my throat. For a long time I’ve been the servant of the song that comes, that appears and can’t be buried away. How to seal myself up now?…It no longer matters to me who receives what I submit. What I carry out is, in that respect, greater and deeper than I, I am merely the channel.
Now my belly is as noble as my heart.
Many things can wait. Children cannot. Today their bones are being formed, their blood is being made, their senses are being developed. To them we cannot say "tomorrow." Their name is today.
Many things we need can wait. The child cannot. Now is the time his bones are formed, his mind developed. To him we cannot say tomorrow, his name is today.
I detest my past, and anyone else's. I detest resignation, patience, professional heroism and obligatory beautiful feelings. I also detest the decorative arts, folklore, advertising, voices making announcements, aerodynamism, boy scouts, the smell of moth balls, events of the moment, and drunken people.
Theatre has nothing to do with buildings or other physical constructions. Theatre - or theatricality - is the capacity, this human property which allows man to observe himself in action, in activity. Man can see himself in the act of seeing, in the act of acting, in the act of feeling, the act of thinking. Feel himself feeling, think himself thinking.
The only honest art form is laughter, comedy. You can't fake it... try to fake three laughs in an hour - ha ha ha ha ha - they'll take you away, man. You can't.
Espresso is to Italy, what champagne is to France.
[Comedies], in the ancient world, were regarded as of a higher rank than tragedy, of a deeper truth, of a more difficult realization, of a sounder structure, and of a revelation more complete. The happy ending of the fairy tale, the myth, and the divine comedy of the soul, is to be read, not as a contradiction, but as a transcendence of the universal tragedy of man. ...Tragedy is the shattering of the forms and of our attachment to the forms...
I think of making love and making art as being very parallel. Even the most amateur attempt can be thrilling.
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