Sam: So then what is art? Hally: You want a definition? Sam… - Athol Fugard

" "
Sam: So then what is art?
Hally: You want a definition?
Sam: Ja.
Hally: [He realizes he has got to be careful. He gives the matter a lot of thought before answering.] Philosophers have been trying to do that for centuries. What is Art? What is Life? But basically I suppose it's... the giving of meaning to matter.
Sam: Nothing to do with beautiful?
Hally: It goes beyond that. It's the giving of form to the formless.

Athol Fugard

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About Athol Fugard

Athol Fugard OIS HonFRSL (11 June 1932 – 8 March 2025) was a South African playwright, novelist, actor and director widely regarded as South Africa's greatest playwright. He is best known for his political and penetrating plays opposing the system of apartheid. Some of these have also been adapted for film.

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Alternative Names: Harold Athol Lannigan Fugard • Athol Harold Lanigan Fugard

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He's a white man and that's good enough for you.

Hally: Anyway, that’s my man of magnitude. Charles Darwin! Who’s yours?
Sam: [without hesitation] Abraham Lincoln.
Hally: I might have guessed as much. Don’t get sentimental, Sam. You’ve never been a slave, you know. And anyway, we freed your ancestors here in South Africa long before the Americans.

She’s no match for him when it comes to a battle of words.

Sam: So then what is art? Hally: You want a definition? Sam: Ja. Hally: [He realizes he has got to be careful. He gives the matter a lot of thought b… - Athol Fugard

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