What we need in literature today are vast philosophic horizons; we need the most ultimate, the most fearsome, the most fearless 'Why?' and 'What next?'(" Literature, Revolution, and Entropy")

Yevgeny Zamyatin
About This Quote

Art, as a way to express a particular kind of emotion or a particular kind of experience, is not a matter of choice. Art is not a matter of taste. It is what it is. It does what it does.

The poets, painters, and writers of the twentieth century have been far more interested in questions than answers. In the absence of answers they have been asking big questions, big questions that might be called "philosophic." In contemporary literature, there are no heroes and no villains. There are only people who have failed at the things they wanted to do and people who have succeeded at them.

The "why" and "what next" are the questions that dominate the literature of our time ...

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More Quotes By Yevgeny Zamyatin
  1. You are afraid of it because it is stronger than you you hate it because you are afraid of it you love it because you cannot subdue it to your will. Only the unsubduable can be loved.
  2. A man is like a novel: until the very last page you don't know how it will end. Otherwise it wouldn't even be worth reading.
  3. Don't forget that we lawyers, we're a higher breed of intellect, and so it's our privilege to lie. It's as clear as day. Animals can't even imagine lying: if you were to find yourself among some wild islanders, they too would only speak the truth...
  4. Cruel', O'Kelly laughed, 'it's cruel to tell children the truth. If anything convinces me of God's mercy, then it's his gift of making us unable to lie.
  5. Happiness without freedom, or freedom without happiness. There was no third alternative.
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