Ralph Ellison on art
Ralph Ellison78 quotes“We don’t all dig Shakespeare uniformly, or even ‘Little Red Riding Hood.’ The understanding of art depends finally upon one’s willingness to extend one’s humanity and one’s knowledge of human life.”
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More from Ralph Ellison
Words are your business, boy. Not just the word. Words are everything. The key to the rock, the answer to the question.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison Eclecticism is the word. Like a jazz musician who creates his own style out of the styles around him, I play by ear.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison I remember that I’m invisible and walk softly so as not awake the sleeping ones. Sometimes it is best not to awaken them; there are few things in the world as dangerous as sleepwalkers.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison Life is to be lived, not controlled, and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison It takes a deep commitment to change and an even deeper commitment to grow.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison All novels are about certain minorities: the individual is a minority. The universal in the novel-and isn’t that what we’re all clamoring for these days?-is reached only through the depiction of the specific man in a specific circumstance.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison Please, a definition: A hibernation is a covert preparation for a more overt action.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison Without the possibility of action, all knowledge comes to one labeled ‘file and forget.’
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison America is woven of many strands. I would recognise them and let it so remain. Our fate is to become one, and yet many. This is not prophecy, but description.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison Having tried to give pattern to the chaos which lives within the pattern of your certainties, I must come out, I must emerge.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison You start Saul, and end up Paul,’ my grandfather had often said. ‘When you’re a youngun, you Saul, but let life whup your head a bit and you starts to trying to be Paul – though you still Sauls around on the side.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison My hole is warm and full of light.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison I denounce because though implicated and partially responsible, I have been hurt to the point of abysmal pain, hurt to the point of invisibility. And I defend because in spite of it all, I find that I love.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison America is woven of many strands. I would recognize them and let it so remain.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison To hell with being ashamed of what you liked.
Ralph EllisonRalph Ellison
Original quotes
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You were fully clothed in lies, I was naked in truth. Still, when morning came It was I who survived the cold.
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David JonesDavid Jones We attract who our souls need to grow.
Mark AnthonyMark Anthony You’re my bad habit, on this dark planet, light up my world like stars, now they’re ashes.
Chris AllchinChris Allchin Permanence is a wonderful magician. Now you see him, next he goes on to perform the greatest disappearing act of all time.
Hamilton K. AmadiHamilton K. Amadi Live to be happy not to impress.
Hayley EvansHayley Evans You shined your light on all the things I’ve been trying so hard to hide.
CindyCindy You are the love I could never escape not that I would ever want to.
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More on art
You’re a work of art only just framed by my eager fingertips.
Emma LouiseEmma Louise Its painful to see when your own people doesn’t support your artistic calibre. The very quality strangers call you extraordinary for.
Kanika ChughKanika Chugh I mastered the art of not caring and wow it made me more daring.
Sophie AliaSophie Alia Thoughts on a tapestry. Colour or black and white. A brush, a pen, A flash of light. Ideas flowing soon, about to take flight.
Gerard GleesonGerard Gleeson The art of being a slave is to rule one’s master.
DiogenesDiogenes You thought you could take advantage of my heart. But I’ve mastered revenge and made it an art.
Laura Natoli-KearneyLaura Natoli-Kearney He took the pieces of my broken heart and turned them into a mosaic for his own viewing pleasure.
Z. ElliottZ. Elliott Dear hands, Don’t let them tell you art is a hopeless pursuit art my friends is pursuing light for the hopeless.
Quinn ZukowskiQuinn Zukowski
