“The truth is that art does not teach; it makes you feel, and any teaching that may arise from the feeling is an extra, and must not be stressed too much.”

Introduction to Fortune, My Foe and Eros at Breakfast (c. 1993).
Context: The truth is that art does not teach; it makes you feel, and any teaching that may arise from the feeling is an extra, and must not be stressed too much. In the modern world, and in Canada as much as anywhere, we are obsessed with the notion that to think is the highest achievement of mankind, but we neglect the fact that thought untouched by feeling is thin, delusive, treacherous stuff.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The truth is that art does not teach; it makes you feel, and any teaching that may arise from the feeling is an extra, …" by Robertson Davies?
Robertson Davies photo
Robertson Davies 282
Canadian journalist, playwright, professor, critic, and nov… 1913–1995

Related quotes

Arthur Wesley Dow photo

“.. art lies in the fine choice. The artist does not teach us to see facts: he teaches us to feel harmonies.”

Arthur Wesley Dow (1857–1922) painter from the United States

"Talks on the Appreciation of Art", The Delinator (Jan 1915)
Other

Barend Cornelis Koekkoek photo

“The pursuit of perfection in art must always be a noble duty to the artist, but... Here [at the Drachenfels ] he feels, more than in any other place, too vividly his inability... Stop it, painter! Just please yourself with the impression it makes on your soul; try, if you can, to keep this impression pure, it will teach you how to create …”

Barend Cornelis Koekkoek (1803–1862) painter from the Northern Netherlands

(original Dutch, citaat van B.C. Koekkoek:) Het streven naar volmaaktheid in den kunst moet den kunstenaar steeds een edelen pligt zijn, maar hier.. .Hier [bij de Drachenfels] gevoelt hij, meer dan op eenige andere plek, te levendig zijn onvermogen.. .Laat af, schilder! Vergenoeg u met den indruk dien het op uwe ziel maak; tracht, zo ge kunt, dezen rein te bewaren, het zal u leren scheppen..
Source: Herinneringen aan en Mededeelingen van…' (1841), p. 121

David Allen photo
Tertullian photo

“Truth persuades by teaching, but does not teach by persuading.”
Veritas autem docendo persuadet non suadendo docet.

Tertullian (155–220) Christian theologian

Adversus Valentinianos (Against the Valentinians), 1.4

George Croly photo

“Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh;
Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear;
To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh;
Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.”

George Croly (1780–1860) Irish poet, novelist, historian, and divine

Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 444.

Jessamyn Stanley photo
Sherrilyn Kenyon photo
Laurie Halse Anderson photo

Related topics