“Art is the signature of civilizations.”

— Jean Sibelius

Beverly Sills, interviewed on NBC TV, May 4, 1985.
Misattributed

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Jean Sibelius 12

Finnish composer of the late Romantic period 1865–1957

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“Art is the signature of civilizations.”

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Variant:
A metaphor for seeing God's vision in the world.
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“It is only through science and art that civilization is of value.”

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Some have wondered at the formula: science for its own sake; an yet it is as good as life for its own sake, if life is only misery; and even as happiness for its own sake, if we do not believe that all pleasures are of the same quality...
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