“But what are our stories if not the mirrors we hold up to our fears?”
Source: I Know This Much Is True
“Suetonius, in holding up a mirror to those Caesars of diverting legend, reflects not only them but ourselves: half-tamed creatures, whose great moral task is to hold in balance the angel and the monster within – for we are both, and to ignore this duality is to invite disaster.”
—
Sueton
Gore Vidal, On Our Own Now (London, 1976), p. 72.
Criticism
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Sueton 28
Roman historian 70–126Related quotes
L. Frank Baum
(1856–1919) Children's writer, editor, journalist, screenwriter
Aunt Jane’s Nieces and Uncle John (1911)
Novels published under the pseudonym Edith van Dyne
Context: I think the world is like a great mirror, and reflects our lives just as we ourselves look upon it. Those who turn sad faces toward the world find only sadness reflected. But a smile is reflected in the same way, and cheers and brightens our hearts. You think there is no pleasure to be had in life. That is because you are heartsick and — and tired, as you say. With one sad story ended you are afraid to begin another — a sequel — feeling it would be equally sad. But why should it be? Isn't the joy or sorrow equally divided in life?
"An Orison of Sonmi~451", p. 168 (Nook Edition)
Cloud Atlas (2004)
“Art is not a mirror to hold up to society, but a hammer with which to shape it.”
Bertolt Brecht
(1898–1956) German poet, playwright, theatre director
Mistakenly attributed to Vladimir Mayakovsky in The Political Psyche (1993) by Andrew Samuels, p. 9; mistakenly attributed to Brecht in Paulo Freire: A Critical Encounter (1993) by Peter McLaren and Peter Leonard, p. 80; variant translation: "Art is not a mirror held up to society, but a hammer with which to shape it."
First recorded in Leon Trotsky, Literature and Revolution (1924; edited by William Keach (2005), Ch. 4: Futurism, p. 120): "Art, it is said, is not a mirror, but a hammer: it does not reflect, it shapes."
Disputed
“Art is not a mirror to hold up to society, but a hammer with which to shape it.”
Vladimir Mayakovsky
(1893–1930) Russian and Soviet poet, playwright, artist and stage and film actor
Attributed to Vladimir Mayakovsky in The Political Psyche (1993) by Andrew Samuels, p. 9; attributed to Bertolt Brecht in Paulo Freire : A Critical Encounter (1993) by Peter McLaren and Peter Leonard, p. 80
Variant translation: Art is not a mirror held up to society, but a hammer with which to shape it.
Disputed
Friedrich Kellner
(1885–1970) German Justice inspector
March 28, 1945; Vol. 2, p. 922.
Diary (1939 - 1945)
“That was what a best friend did: hold up a mirror and show you your heart.”
Kristin Hannah
(1960) American writer
Source: Firefly Lane
Mahatma Gandhi
(1869–1948) pre-eminent leader of Indian nationalism during British-ruled India
Earliest instance of this quote found on google books is the 1989 book Forest primeval: the natural history of an ancient forest by Chris Maser, but there it appears to be Maser's own thought (see p. 230 http://books.google.com/books?id=8EAHQM54E5gC&q=%a+mirror% followed by a different supposed Gandhi quote http://books.google.com/books?id=8EAHQM54E5gC&q=gandhi).
Disputed