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Herbert Read Quotes


Progress is measured by the degree of differentiation within a society.

That is why I believe that art is so much more significant than either economics or philosophy. It is the direct measure of man's spiritual vision.

The assumption is that the right kind of society is an organic being not merely analogous to an organic being, but actually a living structure with appetites and digestions, instincts and passions, intelligence and reason.

The characteristic political attitude of today is not one of positive belief, but of despair.

The farther a society progresses, the more clearly the individual becomes the antithesis of the group.

The modern work of art, as I have said, is a symbol.

The most general law in nature is equity-the principle of balance and symmetry which guides the growth of forms along the lines of the greatest structural efficiency.

The only sin is ugliness, and if we believed this with all our being, all other activities of the human spirit could be left to take care of themselves.

The point I am making is that in the more primitive forms of society the individual is merely a unit; in more developed forms of society he is an independent personality.

The principle of equity first came into evidence in Roman jurisprudence and was derived by analogy from the physical meaning of the word.

The sense of historical continuity, and a feeling for philosophical rectitude cannot, however, be compromised.

The sensitive artist knows that a bitter wind is blowing.

The slave may be happy, but happiness is not enough.

The worth of a civilization or a culture is not valued in the terms of its material wealth or military power, but by the quality and achievements of its representative individuals - its philosophers, its poets and its artists.

There are a few people, but a diminishing number, who still believe that Marxism, as an economic system, off era a coherent alternative to capitalism, and socialism has, indeed, triumphed in one country.

These groups within a society can he distinguished according as to whether, like an army or an orchestra, they function as a single body; or whether they are united merely to defend their common interests and otherwise function as separate individuals.

To realize that new world we must prefer the values of freedom and equality above all other values - above personal wealth, technical power and nationalism.

We may be sure that out of the ruins of our capitalist civilization a new religion will emerge, just as Christianity emerged from the ruins of the Roman civilization.

What I do deny is that you can build any enduring society without some such mystical ethos.

You might think that it would he the natural desire of every man to develop as an independent personality, but this does not seem to be true.