“Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.”

—  Banksy

Last update Jan. 13, 2025. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable." by Banksy?
Banksy photo
Banksy 82
pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activ…

Related quotes

David Foster Wallace photo

“Good fiction’s job is to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.”

David Foster Wallace (1962–2008) American fiction writer and essayist

An Interview by Larry McCaffery
Essays
Variant: I had a teacher I liked who used to say good fiction’s job was to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.

Joyce Carol Oates photo

“My belief is that art should not be comforting; for comfort, we have mass entertainment and one another. Art should provoke, disturb, arouse our emotions, expand our sympathies in directions we may not anticipate and may not even wish.”

Joyce Carol Oates (1938) American author
Emma Goldman photo

“He who refuses to submit is at once labelled "queer," "different," and decried as a disturbing element in the comfortable stagnancy of modern life.”

Emma Goldman (1868–1940) anarchist known for her political activism, writing, and speeches

"The Individual, Society and the State" (1940) http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/goldman/works/1940/individual.htm
Context: The strongest bulwark of authority is uniformity; the least divergence from it is the greatest crime. The wholesale mechanisation of modern life has increased uniformity a thousandfold. It is everywhere present, in habits, tastes, dress, thoughts and ideas. Its most concentrated dullness is "public opinion." Few have the courage to stand out against it. He who refuses to submit is at once labelled "queer," "different," and decried as a disturbing element in the comfortable stagnancy of modern life.

John Kenneth Galbraith photo

“In all life one should comfort the afflicted, but verily, also, one should afflict the comfortable, and especially when they are comfortably, contentedly, even happily wrong.”

John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) American economist and diplomat

The Guardian [UK] (28 July 1989)

Oscar Wilde photo

“Art is Individualism, and Individualism is a disturbing and disintegrating force. Therein lies its immense value. For what it seeks to disturb is monotony of type, slavery of custom, tyranny of habit, and the reduction of man to the level of a machine.”

Oscar Wilde book The Soul of Man under Socialism

The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)

“Giovanni hadn't lied. Sagra was a Baroque wonder, an unlikely and disturbing collision between Nature and Arts.”

Julien Gracq (1910–2007) French writer
Mary Robinette Kowal photo

““These accomplishments are what make a home comfortable.”
Melody said, “I thought that a home was made comfortable by those who live in it and their regard for one another.”
“This is true, Miss Melody, but if one presumes the affection which should be in all homes, then those homes which are most comfortable are also those which possess an understanding and appreciation for the arts.””

Mary Robinette Kowal (1969) American writer and puppeteer

Source: Shades of Milk and Honey (2010), Chapter 4 (p. 54)

Oscar Wilde photo

“What art seeks to disturb is monotony of type, slavery of custom, tyranny of habit, and the reduction of man to the level of a machine.”

Oscar Wilde book The Soul of Man under Socialism

The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)
Context: Art is Individualism, and Individualism is a disturbing and disintegrating force. Therein lies its immense value. For what it seeks to disturb is monotony of type, slavery of custom, tyranny of habit, and the reduction of man to the level of a machine.

Rohit Sharma photo

“You should not remain in your comfort zone; if you want to make it big, you must challenge yourself, get out of your comfort zone, and succeed in doing well outside of your comfort areas.”

Rohit Sharma (1987) Indian cricketer

I am strong enough to bounce back, says Rohit Sharma, NDTV Sports, 4 December 2012 https://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/i-am-strong-enough-to-bounce-back-says-rohit-sharma-1544263,

Related topics