“Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life.”
Oscar Wilde book The Decay of Lying
The Decay of Lying (1889)
“Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life.”
Oscar Wilde book The Decay of Lying
The Decay of Lying (1889)
“Imitation is the sincerest form of television.”
Fred Allen (1894–1956) comedian
Attributed in Newsweek, 14 January 1980.
“I don’t want life to imitate art. I want life to be art.”
Carrie Fisher book Postcards from the Edge
Postcards from the Edge (1987)
“Art is not imitation but illusion.”
Charles Reade book Christie Johnstone
Source: Christie Johnstone (1853), CHAPTER XII.
“All art is but imitation of nature.”
Omnis ars naturae imitatio est.
Seneca the Younger (-4–65 BC) Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist
Source: Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter LXV: On the first cause, Line 3.
“Art does not imitate, but interpret.”
Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–1872) Italian patriot, politician and philosopher
The Life and Writings of Joseph Mazzini (1864), p. vii
Context: Art does not imitate, but interpret. It searches out the idea lying dormant in the symbol, in order to present the symbol to men in such form as to enable them to penetrate through it to the idea. Were it otherwise, what would be the use or value of art?
“There is no nature which is inferior to art, the arts imitate the nature of things.”
Marcus Aurelius book Meditations
XI, 10
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book XI
“Art imitates Nature, and Necessity is the Mother of Invention.”
Richard Franck (1858–1938) German composer
Northern Memoirs, written in 1658 and published in 1694 along with another work by Franck, The Contemplative and Practical Angler