An extravagance is something that your spirit thinks is a necessity.
Bernard WilliamsRead
If there's one theme in all my work, it's about authenticity and self-expression. It's the idea that some things are, in some real sense, really you - or express what you and others aren't.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of being true to oneself and expressing one's genuine identity.
In this quote, Bernard Williams highlights the significance of authenticity and self-expression in one's work. He suggests that true art or expression reflects a person's real self, conveying elements that resonate deeply with the individual while potentially revealing aspects that may be hidden in others. This pursuit of authenticity is essential not only in art but in any form of personal expression.
Themes
AuthenticitySelf-ExpressionIdentityArtGenuineness
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on creativity at a conference, you might use this quote to emphasize the importance of originality.
More from Bernard Williams
All quotes →There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope.
Bernard WilliamsRead
Contemporary moral philosophy has found an original way of being boring, which is by not discussing moral issues at all.
Bernard WilliamsRead
The majority of philosophers are totally humorless. That's part of their trouble.
Bernard WilliamsRead
People have been predicting the death of philosophy since the 17th century. When I was a student, people were saying, 'We're in the last days of philosophy.' Then we were told in the '60s it would be replaced by sociology, then by literary criticism.
Bernard WilliamsRead
Virtually the only subject in which one could ever get a scholarship to Oxford or Cambridge was classics. So I went to Oxford to study classics and, unlike Cambridge, it had a philosophy component, and I became completely transported by it.
Bernard WilliamsRead
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An autobiography can distort; facts can be realigned. But fiction never lies: it reveals the writer totally.
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I really - I don't take my work that seriously, and I think that's what keeps me loose. If I try to write, if I catch myself trying to write, I'll fall right on my face. I'll see it. If I see in the prose that I'm - 'Boy, look at me writing,' I rewrite it. I rewrite it because I don't, because I think it's distracting.
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And that's what people want to see when they go to the theater. I believe at the end of the day, they want to see themselves - parts of their lives they can recognize. And I feel if I can achieve that, it's pretty spectacular.
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