“It is art that makes life, makes interest, makes importance, for our consideration and application of these things, and I know of no substitute whatever for the force and beauty of its process.”
Letter to H.G. Wells (10 July 1915).
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Henry James 154
American novelist, short story author, and literary critic 1843–1916Related quotes
“Out of ugly, I think the most important thing to do in life is to make something beautiful.”
Source: Behind The Spangles, Weir Is A Man In Full, Trey Graham, National Public Radio, 2010-02-26 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124121023&ft=1&f=1008, ; In response to gibes from Quebec sports announcers
Referencing Oscar Wilde from the preface of "The Picture of Dorian Gray"; "All art is quite useless".
1990s, Moab is My Washpot (autobiography, 1997)
Source: Moab Is My Washpot
Context: … but love, like all art, as Oscar said, it's quite useless. It is the useless things that make life worth living and that make life dangerous too: wine, love, art, beauty. Without them life is safe but not worth bothering with.
“I am interested in art as a means of living a life; not as a means of making a living.”
On making beautiful artwork in “Gronk by Marisela Norte” https://bombmagazine.org/articles/gronk/ in BOMB Magazine (2007 Jan 1)
“I don't know why people expect art to make sense. Life doesn't make sense.”
A Theory of Roughness (2004)
Context: For many years I had been hearing the comment that fractals make beautiful pictures, but are pretty useless. I was irritated because important applications always take some time to be revealed. For fractals, it turned out that we didn't have to wait very long. In pure science, fads come and go. To influence basic big-budget industry takes longer, but hopefully also lasts longer.
He's got the whole world in his hands, The Telegraph (24 March 2007)
The New York Times Magazine (9 October 1960)