“Man's need for art is absolutely primordial, as strong as, and perhaps stronger than, our need for bread. Without bread, we die of hunger, but without art we die of boredom.”

“He thought it happier to be dead,
To die for Beauty, than live for bread.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

“Art is as useful as bread.”

Azar Nafisi book Reading Lolita in Tehran

“"I die, I die!" the Mother said,
"My children die for lack of Bread."”

William Blake (1757–1827) English Romantic poet and artist

“We have our Arts so we won't die of Truth”

Ray Bradbury book Zen in the Art of Writing

“The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.”

Matka Tereza (1910–1997) Roman Catholic saint of Albanian origin

“The human soul needs beauty more than bread.”

D.H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter

“Politeness is the art of bearing boredom without being bored.”

Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French moralist and essayist

“We have art in order not to die of the truth.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

“Lord, give bread to the hungry, and hunger for you to those who have bread.”

Catherine Doherty (1896–1985) Religious order founder; Servant of God