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Quotes about art

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The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.
Will Durant1885–1981Often credited to Aristotle
The Western is our genre in the United States of America. The English have Shakespeare, the French have Molière, the Russians have Chekhov, but we have the Western.
Robert Duvall1931–2026“Robert Duvall reflects on The Godfather in final USA TODAY interview” by Patrick Ryan, in USA Today (16 February 2026)
- America
- Movies
I think a poet is anybody who wouldn’t call himself a poet.
Bob Dylanborn 1941
- Poetry
People today are still living off the table scraps of the sixties. They are still being passed around — the music and the ideas.
Bob Dylanborn 1941The Guardian (13 February 1992)
- Ideas
- Music
I believe we are born with our minds open to wonderful experiences, and only slowly learn to limit ourselves to narrow tastes. We are taught to lose our curiosity by the bludgeon-blows of mass marketing, which brainwash us to see ‘hits,’ and discourage exploration.
Roger Ebert1942–2013In: Jonathan Silverman, ‎Dean Rader (2005), The world is a text, p. 315
- Movies
I arrive at the end of this review having done my duty as a critic. I have described the movie accurately and you have a good idea what you are in for if you go to see it. Most of you will not. I cannot argue with you. Some of you will⁠—the brave and the curious. You embody the spirit of the man who first wondered what it would taste like to eat an oyster.
Roger Ebert1942–2013Review of Gerry (28 February 2003)
- Movies
‘It will obliterate your senses!’ reports David Gillin, who obviously writes autobiographically.
Roger Ebert1942–2013
- Movies
No matter what they’re charging to get in, it’s worth more to get out.
Roger Ebert1942–2013Review of Armageddon (1 July 1998)
- Movies
No good film is too long and no bad film is short enough.
Roger Ebert1942–2013
- Movies
The MPAA rates this PG-13. It is too vulgar for anyone under 13, and too dumb for anyone over 13.
Roger Ebert1942–2013
- Movies
All good art is about something deeper than it admits.
Roger Ebert1942–2013
Art is the closest we can come to understanding how a stranger really feels.
Roger Ebert1942–2013“Living Testament” speech at 11th Hour, Colorado Public Television (1994)
It’s said that Chaplin wanted you to like him, but Keaton didn’t care. I think he cared, but was too proud to ask.
Roger Ebert1942–2013The Great Movies Essay Collections, Vol. II (2005), p. 94
- Movies
- Pride
I have been described as a snob on this issue. But snobs exclude; they do not include. To exclude b&w from your choices is an admission that you have a closed mind, a limited imagination, or are lacking in taste.
Roger Ebert1942–2013First published in the “Movie Answer Man” column (25 July 2004)
- Movies
Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.
T. S. Eliot1888–1965“Philip Massinger”, a biographical essay, in The Sacred Wood (1920)
- Poetry