The universe is made of stories, not of atoms.
Muriel RukeyserRead
A work of art is one through which the consciousness of the artist is able to give its emotions to anyone who is prepared to receive them. There is no such thing as bad art.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Art is a medium for emotional expression and connection between the artist and the audience.
In this quote, Muriel Rukeyser suggests that the essence of art lies in its ability to convey the artist's emotions and thoughts to an audience willing to engage with it. She emphasizes that subjective interpretations make all forms of art valid, asserting that there are no absolute standards for what constitutes 'bad' art, as every piece can resonate differently with each viewer based on their own experiences and openness.
Themes
ArtEmotionExpressionArtistAudience
In practice
Example use cases
During a gallery talk, you could share this quote to underscore the emotional connection between artists and viewers.
More from Muriel Rukeyser
All quotes →A work of art is one through which the consciousness of the artist is able to give its emotions to anyone who is prepared to receive them.
Muriel RukeyserRead
In our period, they say there is free speech. They say there is no penalty for poets, There is no penalty for writing poems. They say this. This is the penalty.
Muriel RukeyserRead
Nourish beginnings, let us nourish beginnings. Not all things are blest, but the seeds of all things are blest. The blessing is in the seed.
Muriel RukeyserRead
The town of Gauley Bridge stands as a pattern for all those places where people are linked even in the middle of their suffering, where people fight against an evil condition so that other people need not go through the same fight.
Muriel RukeyserRead
Always our wars have been our confessions of weakness
Muriel RukeyserRead
Similar quotes
While I admire writers who are able to write with a vitality based on order and action, I work in a different vein. I often feel that if I can get the language just right, the language hypnotizes the reader.
Jesmyn WardRead
If I go to the museum and see white bodies, black bodies, Asian bodies, Latino bodies, then I will expect to see those things every time I go. That matters a lot.
Kerry James MarshallRead
The poet never asks for admiration; he wants to be believed.
Jean CocteauRead
When I first heard the minstrel banjo - I played a gourd first - I almost lost my mind. I was like, Oh, my god. And then I went to Africa, to the Gambia, and studied the akonting, which is an ancestor of the banjo, and just that connection to me was just immense.
Rhiannon GiddensRead
Pure drawing is an abstraction. Drawing and colour are not distinct, everything in nature is coloured.
Paul CezanneRead
Fantasy is not antirational, but pararational; not realistic but surrealistic, a heightening of reality. In Freud's terminology, it employs primary not secondary process thinking. It employs archetypes which, as Jung warned us, are dangerous things. Fantasy is nearer to poetry, to mysticism, and to insanity than naturalistic fiction is. It is a wilderness, and those who go there should not feel too safe.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead