It is the artist's function not to copy but to synthesise: to eliminate from that gross confusion of actuality which is his raw material whatever is accidental, idle, irrelevant, and select for perpetuation that only which is appropriate and immortal.

William Ernest Henley

William Ernest Henley

Accidental Appropriate Artist Confusion Copy Eliminate Function Gross His Idle Immortal Irrelevant Material Only Raw Raw Material Select Whatever Which

Related Quotes

Hope is the raw material of losers.

— Fernando Flores

HopeLosersMaterial

The world is not to be approached, blueprint in hand, as if it were so much raw material waiting to be fashioned to someone's design.

— Jonathan Schell

BlueprintDesignHand

Everything is raw material to me. Land is raw material... I take one form and transform it into other forms.

— Theaster Gates

EverythingFormForms

In a movie, you're raw material, just a hue of some color and the director makes the painting.

— Viggo Mortensen

ColorDirectorHue

In writing fiction, I can be free. I can use my life. The raw material is my experiences.

— Miriam Toews

ExperiencesFictionFree