Life never presents us with anything which may not be looked upon as a fresh starting point, no less than as a termination.
Andre GideRead
The sole art that suits me is that which, rising from unrest, tends toward serenity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the transformative power of art, suggesting that it emerges from inner turmoil and leads to a state of peace.
In this quote, Andre Gide reflects on the nature of art as a process that evolves from a place of discomfort or unrest, ultimately guiding both the artist and the viewer toward a sense of tranquility and harmony. It speaks to the cathartic aspect of artistic expression, where the struggles of the human experience are transformed into something beautiful and serene, revealing how creativity can be a pathway to personal and collective calm.
Themes
ArtSerenityUnrestCreativityTransformation
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the role of art in mental health, you could say, 'As Andre Gide once noted, the sole art that suits me is that which rises from unrest and leads to serenity.'
More from Andre Gide
All quotes βDo not do what someone else could do as well as you. Do not say, do not write what someone else could say, could write as well as you. Care for nothing in yourself but what you feel exists nowhere else. And, out of yourself create, impatiently or patiently, the most irreplaceable of beings.
Andre GideRead
Old hands soil, it seems, whatever they caress, but they too have their beauty when they are joined in prayer. Young hands were made for caresses and the sheathing of love. It is a pity to make them join too soon.
Andre GideRead
Through fear of resembling one another, through horror of having to submit, through uncertainty as well, through skepticism and complexity, there is a multitude of individual little beliefs for the triumph of strange little individuals.
Andre GideRead
It is the special quality of love not to be able to remain stationary, to be obliged to increase under pain of diminishing.
Andre GideRead
It is with noble sentiments that bad literature gets written.
Andre GideRead
Similar quotes
The goal of an artist is to create the definitive work that cannot be surpassed.
George Bernard ShawRead
Writing, for me, was a feat of self-preservation. If I did not do it, I would die. So I did it. Obstinacy, not talent, saved my life.
Philip RothRead
Now sexual obsessions are the basis of artistic creation. Accumulated frustration leads to what Freud calls the process of sublimation. Anything that does not take place erotically sublimates itself in the work of art
Salvador DaliRead
I wanted to translate from one flat surface to another. In fact, my learning disabilities controlled a lot of things. I don't recognize faces, so I'm sure it's what drove me to portraits in the first place.
Chuck CloseRead
I have an idea that the only thing which makes it possible to regard this world we live in without disgust is the beauty which now and then men create out of the chaos. The pictures they paint, the music they compose, the books they write, and the lives they lead. Of all these the richest in beauty is the beautiful life. That is the perfect work of art.
W. Somerset MaughamRead
Why would somebody just read a novel when they can see it on TV or in the cinema? I really have to think of the things fiction can do that film can't and play to the strengths of the novel. With a novel, you can get right inside somebody's head.
Kazuo IshiguroRead