“The concentration of a small child at play is analogous to the concentration of the artist of any discipline. In real play, which is real concentration, the child is not only outside time, he is outside himself.”
Section 1.3 <!-- p. 10 -->
The Crosswicks Journal, A Circle of Quiet (1972)
Context: The concentration of a small child at play is analogous to the concentration of the artist of any discipline. In real play, which is real concentration, the child is not only outside time, he is outside himself. He has thrown himself completely into whatever it is he is doing. A child playing a game, building a sand castle, painting a picture, is completely in what he is doing. His self-consciousness is gone; his consciousness is wholly focused outside himself.
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Madeleine L'Engle223
American writer 1918–2007Related quotes
Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) American writer
Section 1.3
The Crosswicks Journal, A Circle of Quiet (1972)
André Maurois (1885–1967) French writer
Un Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) (1939), The Art of Happiness
Marianne von Werefkin (1860–1938) expressionist painter
Quote from Werefkin's lecture in 1914; as quoted in M. K. ČIURLIONIS AND MARIANNE VON WEREFKIN: THEIR PATHS AND WATERSHEDS, by Laima Lauckaité; Institute of Culture, Philosophy and Art, Vilnius
Werefkin gave her lecture during a regular Art Society meeting, 22 March 1914
after 1911
Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian politician, led the October Revolution
As quoted in George Leggett, The Cheka: Lenin’s Political Police (1981), page 103.
Attributions
Yvor Winters (1900–1968) American poet and literary critic
"John Sutter"
The Collected Poems of Yvor Winters (1960)
Richard Hofstadter (1916–1970) American historian
Source: Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (1974), p. 30
Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica
Source: The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 4: 1944-1947