“… art is made by the alone for the alone… The reward of art is not fame or success but intoxication…”

— Cyril Connolly

Source: The Unquiet Grave: A Word Cycle by Palinurus

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "… art is made by the alone for the alone… The reward of art is not fame or success but intoxication…" by Cyril Connolly?

Cyril Connolly 49

British author 1903–1974

Related quotes

“The reward of art is not fame or success but intoxication: that is why so many bad artists are unable to give it up.”

Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager and filmmaker

Cyril Connolly in The Unquiet Grave (1944; 1951), Part 2
Misattributed

“The reward of art is not fame or success but intoxication: that is why so many bad artists are unable to give it up.”

Cyril Connolly book The Unquiet Grave

Part II: Te Palinure Petens
The Unquiet Grave (1944)

“To create art means
to be crazy alone
forever.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

“Thou art not alone, and thou dost not belong to thyself. Thou art one of My voices, thou art one of My arms. Speak and strike for Me.”

Romain Rolland (1866–1944) French author

Jean-Christophe (1904 - 1912), Journey's End: The Burning Bush (1911)
Context: "Thou art not alone, and thou dost not belong to thyself. Thou art one of My voices, thou art one of My arms. Speak and strike for Me. But if the arm be broken, or the voice be weary, then still I hold My ground: I fight with other voices, other arms than thine. Though thou art conquered, yet art thou of the army which is never vanquished. Remember that and thou wilt fight even unto death."
"Lord, I have suffered much!"
"Thinkest thou that I do not suffer also? For ages death has hunted Me and nothingness has lain in wait for Me. It is only by victory in the fight that I can make My way. The river of life is red with My blood."
"Fighting, always fighting?"
"We must always fight. God is a fighter, even He Himself. God is a conqueror. He is a devouring lion. Nothingness hems Him in and He hurls it down. And the rhythm of the fight is the supreme harmony. Such harmony is not for thy mortal ears. It is enough for thee to know that it exists. Do thy duty in peace and leave the rest to the Gods."

“No art or learning is to be pursued halfheartedly," His Highness replied, "…and any art worth learning will certainly reward more or less generously the effort made to study it.”

Murasaki Shikibu book The Tale of Genji

Source: Tale of Genji, Ch. 17: Eawase (trans. Royall Tyler)
Source: The Tale of Genji

“This truth—to prove, and make thine own:
‘Thou hast been, shalt be, art, alone.”

Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools

"Isolation" (1857)

“my art cannot be understood primarily by thinking. My art touches people who are in tune with my mode of thinking. But it is clear that people cannot understand my art by intellectual processes alone, because no art can be experienced in that way.”

Joseph Beuys (1921–1986) German visual artist

Quote in interview with Willoughby Sharp, 1969; as quoted in Joseph Beuys and the Celtic Wor(l)d: A Language of Healing, Victoria Walters, LIT Verlag Münster, 2012, p. 212, note vii
1960's

“Art alone makes life possible – this is how radically I should like to formulate it. I would say that without art man is inconceivable in physiological terms.”

Joseph Beuys (1921–1986) German visual artist

1960's

“Look out! Be on your guard, because alone of all the arts, music moves all around you.”

Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager and filmmaker

Le Coq et l’Arlequin (1918)

“Pillars are fallen at thy feet,
Fanes quiver in the air,
A prostrate city is thy seat,
And thou alone art there.”

Lydia Maria Child (1802–1880) American abolitionist, author and women's rights activist

Marius amid the Ruins of Carthage

“… art is made by the alone for the alone… The reward of art is not fame or success but intoxication…”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Cyril Connolly 49

Related quotes

Related topics