“The weakness of art is that great poems do not ennoble politics, as they certainly should, and the trouble with politics is that they inspire poets only to mockery and scorn.”

Something About a Soldier (1940)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The weakness of art is that great poems do not ennoble politics, as they certainly should, and the trouble with politic…" by William Saroyan?
William Saroyan photo
William Saroyan 190
American writer 1908–1981

Related quotes

George Orwell photo

“The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.”

George Orwell (1903–1950) English author and journalist

"Why I Write," Gangrel (Summer 1946)

Orson Scott Card photo

“Do you speak Scorn and Mockery to everyone? Or just to your betters?”

Orson Scott Card (1951) American science fiction novelist

Source: The Tales of Alvin Maker, Alvin Journeyman (1995), Chapter 2.

Ataol Behramoğlu photo

“The poet should be responsible to the poem.”

Ataol Behramoğlu (1942) Turkish writer

The Poet's Poetic Responsibility (2012)

Groucho Marx photo

“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.”

Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American comedian

Apparently attributed to Marx in Bennett Cerf's Try and Stop Me, first published in 1944. A citation of this can been seen in the Kentucky New Era on November 9, 1964 http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=X-orAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZWcFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4581,3323702&dq=art-of-looking-for-trouble&hl=en. Also attributed to Marx by Rand Paul in "The Long Stand," ch. 1 of Taking a Stand: Moving Beyond Partisan Politics to Unite America (New York, N. Y.: Center Street, 26 May 2015), p. 5.
The original quotation belongs to Sir Ernest Benn (Henry Powell Spring, What is Truth?, Orange Press, 1944, p. 31 https://books.google.com/books?id=snxbAAAAMAAJ&q=Ernest+benn+%22Politics+is+the+art+of%22&dq=Ernest+benn+%22Politics+is+the+art+of%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAjgUahUKEwiK3Zm-qojIAhWGVZIKHdFYBqY); a first known citation reportedly appears in the Springfield (MA) Republican on July 27, 1930.
Misattributed
Variant: Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.
Source: Gyles Brandreth, Word Play: A cornucopia of puns, anagrams and other contortions and curiosities of the English language, Coronet, 2015.

Sunil Dutt photo
Prayut Chan-o-cha photo

“Politics should not be used to create hatred because the country is in trouble now. Don't take this opportunity to cause any further trouble.”

Prayut Chan-o-cha (1954) Thai military officer, junta chief, and politician

Source: "Prayut vows not to resign" in Bangkok Post https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/politics/2157447/prayut-vows-not-to-resign (31 July 2021)

G. K. Chesterton photo

“He was, if ever there was one, an inspired poet. I do not think it the highest sort of poet. And you never discover who is an inspired poet until the inspiration goes.”

G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English mystery novelist and Christian apologist

Source: The Victorian Age in Literature (1913), On Algernon Charles Swinburne Ch. III: The Great Victorian Poets (p. 95)

Herbert Read photo

“From the poet's viewpoint a lyric is a poem which embodies a single or simple emotional attitude that expresses directly an uninterrupted mood or inspiration.”

Herbert Read (1893–1968) English anarchist, poet, and critic of literature and art

Form in Modern Poetry(1932)

Related topics