Sir Herbert Read Quotes

An entertainment is something which distracts us or diverts us from the routine of daily life. It makes us for the time being forget our cares and worries; it interrupts our conscious thoughts and habits, rests our nerves and minds, though it may incidentally exhaust our bodies. Art, on the other hand, though it may divert us from the normal routine of our existence, causes us in some way or other to become conscious of that existence. Sir Herbert Read

An enormous amount of art and literature is erotic in the sense that it stimulates vague sexual emotions, but it has no pornographic intention or effect because ‘it leaves everything to the imagination.’ The consumer has to invent his own images, and it is felt, I do not know with what justification, that there is no harm in this. Sir Herbert Read