#abstract

Contrary to current cynicism about past golden ages, the abstraction known as 'the intelligent layperson' does exist - in the form of millions of folks with a passionate commitment to continuous learning. ↗

— Stephen Jay Gould

#abstraction #ages #commitment #continuous #contrary

I was a student at Harvard, and that's where I learned about so-called avant-garde music. Jackson Pollock, abstract expressionism and painting were well known at this time. ↗

— Henry Flynt

#abstract #avant-garde #expressionism #harvard #i

Praise or blame has but a momentary effect on the man whose love of beauty in the abstract makes him a severe critic on his own works. ↗

— John Keats

#beauty #blame #critic #effect #him

It was the point where things became much more abstract and less literal than in the bulk of the film, which was hardcore rockets and space and planets - all a fairly straightforward evolution from what I had been doing before. ↗

— Douglas Trumbull

#became #been #before #bulk #doing

What is important, then, is not that the critic should possess a correct abstract definition of beauty for the intellect, but a certain kind of temperament, the power of being deeply moved by the presence of beautiful objects. ↗

— Walter Pater

#beautiful #beauty #being #certain #correct

In contrast, traditional classical music starts from an abstract musical schema. This is then notated and only expressed in concrete sound as a last stage, when it is performed. ↗

— Pierre Schaeffer

#classical #classical music #concrete #contrast #expressed

Abstraction is everybody's zero but nobody's nought. ↗

— Robert Smithson

#everybody #nobody #nought #zero

History is representational, while time is abstract; both of these artifices may be found in museums, where they span everybody's own vacancy. ↗

— Robert Smithson

#artifices #both #everybody #found #history

Mankind is divided into rich and poor, into property owners and exploited; and to abstract oneself from this fundamental division; and from the antagonism between poor and rich means abstracting oneself from fundamental facts. ↗

— Joseph Stalin

#antagonism #between #divided #division #exploited

It is easier to take a position in the abstract than when it hits home. ↗

— Dennis Prager

#easier #hits #home #position #take