Source: Sculpting in Time (1986), p. 38
Context: Art is born and takes hold wherever there is a timeless and insatiable longing for the spiritual, for the ideal: that longing which draws people to art. Modern art has taken the wrong turn in abandoning the search for the meaning of existence in order to affirm the value of the individual for his own sake. What purports to be art begins to looks like an eccentric occupation for suspect characters who maintain that any personalised action is of intrinsic value simply as a display of self-will. But in an artistic creation the personality does not assert itself it serves another, higher and communal idea. The artist is always the servant, and is perpetually trying to pay for the gift that has been given to him as if by a miracle. Modern man, however, does not want to make any sacrifice, even though true affirmation of the self can only be expressed in sacrifice. We are gradually forgetting about this, and at the same time, inevitably, losing all sense of human calling.
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 272.
Source: The Pirates of Zan (1959), Chapter 6
Source: Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage
Source: The Moon and Sixpence (1919), Ch. 41, p. 142
Source: Webs of Power: Notes from the Global Uprising
page 81
The Spirit of the Chinese People (1915), Chinese Woman
“The gift of self cannot be given to us. It is an incomparable gift that has already been given.”
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 9 : Empowering the Self, p. 118
Context: The gift of self cannot be given to us. It is an incomparable gift that has already been given. We have possessed it from the beginning.
