If a man approaches a work of art with any desire to exercise authority over it and the artist, he approaches it in such a spirit that he cannot rece… - Oscar Wilde

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If a man approaches a work of art with any desire to exercise authority over it and the artist, he approaches it in such a spirit that he cannot receive any artistic impression from it at all. The work of art is to dominate the spectator: the spectator is not to dominate the work of art. The spectator is to be receptive. He is to be the violin on which the master is to play. And the more completely he can suppress his own silly views, his own foolish prejudices, his own absurd ideas of what Art should be, or should not be, the more likely he is to understand and appreciate the work of art in question.

English
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About Oscar Wilde

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish dramatist, essayist, novelist and poet.

Biography information from Wikiquote

Also Known As

Birth Name: Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde
Alternative Names: Oscar O'Flahertie Wills Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde Oscar O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde
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Additional quotes by Oscar Wilde

Life has been your art. You have set yourself to music. Your days are your sonnets.

Actors are so fortunate. They can choose whether they will appear in tragedy or in comedy, whether they will suffer or make merry, laugh or shed tears. But in real life it is different. Most men and women are forced to perform parts for which they have no qualifications. Our Guildensterns play Hamlet for us, and our Hamlets have to jest like Prince Hal. The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.

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