The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity.
Umberto EcoRead
When the writer (or the artist in general) says he has worked without giving any thought to the rules of the process, he simply means he was working without realizing he knew the rules.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that true creativity sometimes occurs unconsciously, even when the creator is familiar with the rules of their craft.
Umberto Eco highlights the idea that artists and writers often create without actively considering the established rules of their discipline. This implies that deep, intuitive knowledge can guide their work, leading to authentic expressions of creativity. When they claim to ignore the rules, it may be because their familiarity with them allows for a natural flow of creativity that transcends formal constraints.
Themes
CreativityArtIntuitionRulesExpression
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about artistic freedom, one might say, 'As Umberto Eco pointed out, true creativity can come from instinct rather than strict adherence to rules.'
More from Umberto Eco
All quotes →I think that at a certain age, say fifteen or sixteen, poetry is like masturbation. But later in life good poets burn their early poetry, and bad poets publish it. Thankfully I gave up rather quickly.
Umberto EcoRead
But why do some people support [the heretics]?" "Because it serves their purposes, which concern the faith rarely, and more often the conquest of power." "Is that why the church of Rome accuses all its adversaries of heresy?" "That is why, and that is also why it recognizes as orthodoxy any heresy it can bring back under its own control or must accept because the heresy has become too strong.
Umberto EcoRead
You die, but most of what you have accumulated will not be lost; you are leaving a message in a bottle.
Umberto EcoRead
"Then we are living in a place abandoned by God," I said, disheartened. "Have you found any places where God would have felt at home?" William asked me, looking down from his great height.
Umberto EcoRead
The lunatic is all idée fixe, and whatever he comes across confirms his lunacy. You can tell him by the liberties he takes with common sense, by his flashes of inspiration, and by the fact that sooner or later he brings up the Templars.
Umberto EcoRead
Similar quotes
If you wanted to show a mirror to people that says, 'You've been drunk on money,' they're not going to want to see it. But if you reflected that mirror on another time they'd be willing to. People will need an explanation of where we are and where we've been, and 'The Great Gatsby' can provide that explanation.
Baz LuhrmannRead
Original thought, original artistic expression is by its very nature questioning, irreverent, iconoclastic.
Salman RushdieRead
I gave my life to the Group Theatre, because in it I'm building something for myself. What I build, I am.
Elia KazanRead
As a writer, I tend to be drawn to marginal people - writers, poet-prophets, seers, eccentrics - who embody the deeper ambivalences of their societies and bear deeper witness to their world than the famous figures we are used to celebrating, or demonizing, in our histories.
Pankaj MishraRead
Art is violent. To be decisive is violent. ... To place a chair at a partial angle on the stage destroys every other possible choice, every other option.
Anne BogartRead
When you see the films of certain young directors, you get the impression that film history begins for them around 1980.
Jacques RivetteRead