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Only out of stir and change is born new salvation. To deny that is to deny belief in man, to turn our backs on courage! It is well, indeed, that some should live in closed studies with the paintings and the books of yesterday - such devoted students serve Art in their own way. But the fresh-air world will ever want new forms. We shall not get them without faith enough to risk the old! The good will live, the bad will die; and tomorrow only can tell us which is which!

John Galsworthy#29

ArtChangeCourageRiskProgress

About this quote

What does it mean?
Progress requires change and risk; clinging to old forms prevents new art.
In plain terms
New art needs change and risk, not just studying old works.
What can you take from it?
Embrace change to create new art; old forms may die.

Where it applies

  • creating new work
  • stuck in tradition
  • seeking renewal

Putting it to work

  • risk new forms
  • support innovation

Questions to consider

  • Why is change necessary?
  • What risks does art take?

Another view

Some valuable traditions might be lost in the rush for change.

More from John Galsworthy

  1. Is not the training of an artist a training in the due relation of one thing with another, and in the faculty of expressing that relation clearly; and, even mo…

    Permalink to quote #28
  2. The seeing of things as they really are - the seeing of a proportion veiled from other eyes (together with the power of expression), is what makes a man an art…

    Permalink to quote #30
  3. Perfection, cosmically, was nothing but perfect Equanimity and Harmony; and in human relations, nothing but perfect Love and Justice. And Perfection began to g…

    Permalink to quote #27

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