“There exists an insanity that touches on a higher level, by knowledge or instinct. That insanity of life I try to put in my painting. It has nothing to do with any morals or laws. It is there and it is insane.”

— Karel Appel

in 'The eye of the beholder', Carlo McCormick
Karel Appel – the complete sculptures,' (1990) not-paged

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Aug. 23, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "There exists an insanity that touches on a higher level, by knowledge or instinct. That insanity of life I try to put i…" by Karel Appel?

Karel Appel 58

Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet 1921–2006

Related quotes

“Insane? To disobey a law of the universe was impossible, not insane.”

Brian W. Aldiss (1925–2017) British science fiction author

“Man in His Time” p. 201 (originally published in Science Fantasy, April 1965)
Short fiction, Who Can Replace a Man? (1965)

“While in the West, the insane are so many that they are put in an asylum, in China the insane are so unusual that we worship them, as anybody who has a knowledge of Chinese literature will testify.”

Lin Yutang book The Importance of Living

Source: The Importance of Living (1937), Ch. I : The Awakening, p. 3

“The problem is their insane rules are now being applied to the whole world. This insanity of control is expanding as everything you do touches copyrights.”

Lawrence Lessig (1961) American academic, political activist.

OSCON 2002
Context: Here's a story: There was a documentary filmmaker who was making a documentary film about education in America. And he's shooting across this classroom with lots of people, kids, who are completely distracted at the television in the back of the classroom. When they get back to the editing room, they realize that on the television, you can barely make out the show for two seconds; it's "The Simpsons," Homer Simpson on the screen. So they call up Matt Groening, who was a friend of the documentary filmmaker, and say, you know, Is this going to be a problem? It's only a couple seconds. Matt says, No, no, no, it's not going to be a problem, call so and so. So they called so and so, and so and so said call so and so.
Eventually, the so and so turns out to be the lawyers, so when they got to the lawyers, they said, Is this going to be a problem? It's a documentary film. It's about education. It's a couple seconds. The so and so said 25,000 bucks. 25,000 bucks?! It's a couple seconds! What do you mean 25,000 bucks? The so and so said, I don't give a goddamn what it is for. $25,000 bucks or change your movie. Now you look at this and you say this is insane. It's insane. And if it is only Hollywood that has to deal with this, OK, that's fine. Let them be insane. The problem is their insane rules are now being applied to the whole world. This insanity of control is expanding as everything you do touches copyrights.

“Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. … I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it.”

John Lennon (1940–1980) English singer and songwriter

"What Can I Tell You about Myself which You Have Not Already Found Out from Those Who Do Not Lie?" in The Beatles Anthology (2000)

“Life is absolutely insane. Yes, life is insane but the great wisdom lies in choosing your insanity wisely.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

“I think our society is run by insane people for insane objectives... I think we’re being run by maniacs for maniacal ends, you know... I’d be very pleased to know what they think they’re doing. I think they’re all insane. But I am liable to be put away as insane for expressing that, you know. That’s what is insane about it.”

John Lennon (1940–1980) English singer and songwriter

Source: Lennon “Our society is run by insane people”, Interview, June 6, 1968, Educate Inspire Change https://educateinspirechange.org/john-lennon-society-run-insane-people/John June 10, 2014

“The melancholy thing in our public life is the insane desire to get higher.”

Rutherford B. Hayes (1822–1893) American politician, 19th President of the United States (in office from 1877 to 1881)

Letter "to a leading editor" (10 April 1875), as quoted in The Life, Public Services and Select Speeches of Rutherford B. Hayes (1876) http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/22037 edited by James Quay Howard, ch. X, p. 144

“I was never really insane except upon occasions when my heart was touched.”

Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) American author, poet, editor and literary critic

“Do you see law and order? There is nothing but disorder, and instead of law there is the illusion of security. It is an illusion because it is built on a long history of injustices: racism, criminality, and the genocide of millions. Many people say it is insane to resist the system, but actually, it is insane not to.”

Mumia Abu-Jamal (1954) Prisoner, Journalist, Broadcaster, Author, Activist

Death Blossoms (2004, South End Press; Cambridge MA), p. 11

“Because I say what is empirically true: nothing exists except God, I am deemed to be insane.”

Dave Sim (1956) Canadian cartoonist, creator of Cerebus

ibid, p. 28
Following Cerebus (2004-)

“There exists an insanity that touches on a higher level, by knowledge or instinct. That insanity of life I try to put in my painting. It has nothing to do with any morals or laws. It is there and it is insane.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Karel Appel 58

Related quotes

Related topics