“In Art we know nothing for certain.”

—  Roger Fry

Article - Forming Formalism : The Post Impressionost Exhibition Burlington Magazine 1920
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Roger Fry photo
Roger Fry 9
English artist and art critic 1866–1934

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“One is to know that art is not national, that to be merely an American or a French artist is to be nothing; to fail to overcome one's initial environment is never to reach the human... Thus when we say one of the ideals of modern art has been internationalism, it is.... as a natural consequence of dealing with reality on a certain level.”

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“Instead of insight, maybe all a man gets is strength to wander for a while. Maybe the only gift is a chance to inquire, to know nothing for certain. An inheritance of wonder and nothing more.”

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“Nothing's for certain, It could always go wrong, Come in when it's raining, Go on out when it's gone, We could have us a high time, Living the good life, Well I know”

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Roger Fry photo

“A work of art is a work of art, and nothing else, personal considerations count for nothing.”

Roger Fry (1866–1934) English artist and art critic

E M Forster -0bituary of Roger Fry ,1940 ,'Biography of RogerFry'by Virginia Wolf , Harcourt, Brace and Co, New York 1940.
Art Quotes

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“Nothing is ever certain.”

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Source: The Lovely Bones

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“Death in itself is nothing; but we fear
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“The art of living is the art of knowing how to believe lies. The fearful thing about it is that, not knowing what truth may be, we can still recognize lies.”

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“All we can know is that we know nothing. And that's the height of human wisdom.”

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Variant: The only thing that we know is that we know nothing — and that is the highest flight of human wisdom.
Source: War and Peace (1865–1867; 1869), Ch. I

Pliny the Elder photo

“The only certainty is that nothing is certain.”

Pliny the Elder book Natural History

Fuller version: This series of instances entangles unforeseeing mortality, so that among these things but one thing is in the least certainthat nothing certain exists, and that nothing is more pitiable, or more presnmptuous, than man! In Latin: Quae singula inprovidam mortalitatem involvunt, solum ut inter ista vel certu sit nihil esse certi nec quicquam miserius homine aut superbius.
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