It is a socialist idea that making profits is a vice; I consider the real vice is making losses.
Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Tradition and innovation are both essential for art to thrive; one provides guidance while the other brings vitality.
Winston Churchill's quote emphasizes the importance of both tradition and innovation in the realm of art. Without the guidance and foundational knowledge provided by tradition, art becomes directionless and aimless, akin to a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Conversely, without innovation, art becomes stagnant and lifeless, much like a corpse, as it fails to evolve and reflect the dynamic nature of humanity and society. Together, tradition and innovation create a balance that enables art to flourish and inspire.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of the arts in education, one might quote Churchill to highlight the balance needed between honoring the past and encouraging new ideas.
More from Winston Churchill
All quotes βThe United States is like a gigantic boiler. Once the fire is lit under it, there's no limit to the power it can generate.
Politics is almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times.
I will not pretend that if I had to choose between communism and Nazism I would choose communism.
Mountaintops inspire leaders but valleys mature them.
True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information.
Similar quotes
Writers have to have a knack for listening. I need to be able to hear what is being said to me by the voices I create.
There is nothing so necessary for men as dancing.
The Poet is a kinsman in the clouds Who scoffs at archers, loves a stormy day; But on the ground, among the hooting crowds, He cannot walk, his wings are in the way.
I understand that people want to just listen to a track and put it on their iPod, and that's fine, there's nothing wrong with that, but why can't that exist hand in hand with an album? They're such different experiences.
The pain passes, but the beauty remains.
I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for.