If Art does not enlarge men’s sympathies, it does nothing morally.

George Eliot
About This Quote

If Art does not enlarge men’s sympathies, it does nothing morally. The idea is that art is the only way to teach the basic morals of human existence. It is not enough to know them by rote or to have them ingrained in you, but you have to experience them in art. At times, people will dismiss art as being trivial or frivolous. Art is important because it touches upon the darker aspects of life and brings out truths that cannot be found in everyday life.

Some Similar Quotes
  1. Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something. - Rainbow Rowell

  2. It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done. - Vincent Van Gogh

  3. Any fool can be happy. It takes a man with real heart to make beauty out of the stuff that makes us weep. - Clive Barker

  4. Art and love are the same thing: It’s the process of seeing yourself in things that are not you. - Chuck Klosterman

  5. There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people. - Vincent Van Gogh

More Quotes By George Eliot
  1. I like not only to be loved, but also to be told that I am loved. I am not sure that you are of the same mind. But the realm of silence is large enough beyond the grave. This is the world of light and...

  2. What greater thing is there for two human souls, than to feel that they are joined for life--to strengthen each other in all labor, to rest on each other in all sorrow, to minister to each other in all pain, to be one with each...

  3. Poor fellow! I think he is in love with you.' I am not aware of it. And to me it is one of the most odious things in a girl's life, that there must always be some supposition of falling in love coming between her...

  4. Only in the agony of parting do we look into the depths of love.

  5. Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another.

Related Topics