“A work of art has no importance whatever to society. It is only important to the individual.”
Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) Russian-American novelist, lepidopterist, professor
Man and Socialism in Cuba (1965)
“A work of art has no importance whatever to society. It is only important to the individual.”
Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) Russian-American novelist, lepidopterist, professor
Alexis De Tocqueville book Democracy in America
Variant translation: Though it is very important for man as an individual that his religion should be true, that is not the case for society. Society has nothing to fear or hope from another life; what is most important for it is not that all citizens profess the true religion but that they should profess religion.
Source: Democracy in America, Volume I (1835), Chapter XV-IXX, Chapter XVII.
Alfredo Rocco (1875–1935) Italian politician and jurist
Source: The Political Doctrine of Fascism (1925), p. 111
Talal Abu-Ghazaleh (1938) Jordanian businesspeople
January 6, 2004, World Bank Video Series, Amman, Jordan.
Jacques Barzun (1907–2012) Historian
"Bernard Shaw," in A Jacques Barzun Reader : Selections from his works (2002), p. 231
“There comes a time when the nation is more important than an individual.”
George Saitoti (1945–2012) Kenyan politician
After he was ousted as the Vice president of Kenya by the 2nd president of Kenya, Daniel Toroitich arap Moi on 18 March 2002. Life and times of Professor George Saitoti http://www.kenyan-post.com/2012/06/life-and-times-of-prof-george-saitoti.html
Northrop Frye (1912–1991) Canadian literary critic and literary theorist
"Quotes", The Educated Imagination (1963), Talk 6: The Vocation of Eloquence
Rudolf Rocker book Nationalism and Culture
Source: Nationalism and Culture (1937), Ch. 1 "The Insufficiency of Economic Materialism"
Context: The will to power which always emanates from individuals or from small minorities in society is in fact a most important driving force in history. The extent of its influence has up to now been regarded far too little, although it has frequently been the determining factor in the shaping of the whole of economic and social life.
Charles Perrow (1925–2019) American sociologist
Perrow (1968), "Organizational goals," in: International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. New York: The Macmillan Co. p. 305
1960s