--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Perhaps this is the purpose of all art…" description: "\"Perhaps this is the purpose of all art, all writing, on the murders, fiction and non-fiction: Simply to participate.\" — Alan Moore" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/051/alan-moore-583_art_perhaps-this-is-the-purpose-of-all-art-a_2878242.jpg" --- # Perhaps this is the purpose of all art, all writing, on… ![“Perhaps this is the purpose of all art, all writing, on the murders, fiction and non-fiction: Simply to participate.” quote by Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/051/alan-moore-583_art_perhaps-this-is-the-purpose-of-all-art-a_2878242.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/051/alan-moore-583_art_perhaps-this-is-the-purpose-of-all-art-a_2878242.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/051/alan-moore-583_art_perhaps-this-is-the-purpose-of-all-art-a_2878242.jpg) > “Perhaps this is the purpose of all art, all writing, on the murders, fiction and non-fiction: Simply to participate.” [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Art, whether fiction or non‑fiction, exists to engage participation in human experience. **In simple terms:** Art’s purpose is participation. Key Takeaway Engage actively with creative works. Themes art participation purpose Mood reflective inspirational Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - museum curation - writing workshops - community projects Key Concepts creative engagement human experience Questions to Reflect On - How does art involve you? - What does participation look like? A Different Perspective Participation can be passive. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Murder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/murder/) [Purpose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/purpose/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [Historical fiction is simply fiction set in the past, and should be judged as such.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-sebag-montefiore/historical-fiction-is-simply-fiction-set-in-the-past-and-should-be/) [Simon Sebag Montefiore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-sebag-montefiore/) > [There is an argument for believing that the entire process of writing a piece of fiction is simply a thinly-controlled and highly-internalised nervous breakdown…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hewson/there-is-an-argument-for-believing-that-the-entire-process-of-writing/) [David Hewson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hewson/) > [The beauty of prose fiction that I see is simply that in order to create something you need only pay attention to personal exigency.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-kelman/the-beauty-of-prose-fiction-that-i-see-is-simply-that-in-order-to/) [James Kelman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-kelman/) > [And really the purpose of art - for me, fiction - is to alert, to indicate to stop, to say: Make certain that when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerzy-kosi-ski/and-really-the-purpose-of-art-for-me-fiction-is-to-alert-to-indicate/) [Jerzy Kosinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerzy-kosi-ski/) > [In the evolution of knowledge-mistaken and unnecessary beliefs are forced out and supplanted by truer and more necessary knowledge. So too in the evolution…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/in-the-evolution-of-knowledge-mistaken-and-unnecessary-beliefs-are/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [The purpose of art is to stop time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/the-purpose-of-art-is-to-stop-time/) [Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) > [The purpose of art is the lifelong construction of a state of wonder.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glenn-gould/the-purpose-of-art-is-the-lifelong-construction-of-a-state-of-wonder/) [Glenn Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glenn-gould/) > [I have a very, very good relationship with 10 percent of the audience. The only purpose of art is intimacy. That's the only point.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hare/i-have-a-very-very-good-relationship-with-10-percent-of-the-audience/) [David Hare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hare/) > [When you're an artist, you're working, literally, for the sole purpose of art, and when people discredit you, it's probably the most disrespectful thing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kali-uchis/when-you-re-an-artist-you-re-working-literally-for-the-sole-purpose/) [Kali Uchis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kali-uchis/) > [“My theory is that the purpose of art is to transmit universal truths of a sort, but of a particular sort, that in art,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walker-percy/my-theory-is-that-the-purpose-of-art-is-to-transmit-universal-truths/) [Walker Percy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walker-percy/) > [Art in relation to life is nothing more than a glove turned inside out. It seems to have the same shapes and contours, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/morton-feldman/art-in-relation-to-life-is-nothing-more-than-a-glove-turned-inside/) [Morton Feldman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/morton-feldman/) > [The purpose of art is to re-present nature, not represent it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-albers/the-purpose-of-art-is-to-re-present-nature-not-represent-it/) [Josef Albers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-albers/) > [I don't really believe in political art. I feel in my heart the purpose of art transcends cultural and class and politics. I think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sean-lennon/i-don-t-really-believe-in-political-art-i-feel-in-my-heart-the/) [Sean Lennon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sean-lennon/) > [To me the purpose of art is to produce something alive...but with a separate, and of course one hopes, with an everlasting life of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-green/to-me-the-purpose-of-art-is-to-produce-something-alive-but-with-a/) [Henry Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-green/) > [The purpose of art actually is, in many cases, to make you feel quite uncomfortable. Or at least to go to that place that's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-moore/the-purpose-of-art-actually-is-in-many-cases-to-make-you-feel-quite/) [Michael Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-moore/) ## More by Alan Moore > [I think that storytelling and creation are very close to what the center of what magic is about. I think not just for me,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/i-think-that-storytelling-and-creation-are-very-close-to-what-the/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [To some degree Satanism is purely a kind of disease of Christianity. You've got to really be Christian to believe in Satan.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/to-some-degree-satanism-is-purely-a-kind-of-disease-of-christianity/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [There has been a rather unpleasant sensibility apparent in Frank Miller's work for quite a long time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/there-has-been-a-rather-unpleasant-sensibility-apparent-in-frank/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [I felt, if I'm going to react I might as well over react.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/i-felt-if-i-m-going-to-react-i-might-as-well-over-react/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [“Come, dry your eyes, for you are LIFE, rarer than a quark and unpredictable beyond the dreams of Heisenberg; the clay in which the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/come-dry-your-eyes-for-you-are-life-rarer-than-a-quark-and/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [Now everything is wonderful and hazardous and nothing's hypothetical.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/now-everything-is-wonderful-and-hazardous-and-nothing-s-hypothetical/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [If you look at that incredible burst of fantastic characters that emerged in the late 19th century/early 20th century, you can see so many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/if-you-look-at-that-incredible-burst-of-fantastic-characters-that/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [In many ways, my entire graphic novel career was a long diversion. Originally, all I wanted to do was to be an underground cartoonist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/in-many-ways-my-entire-graphic-novel-career-was-a-long-diversion/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [I was kind of a selfish child, who always wanted things his way, and I've kind of taken that over into my relationship with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/i-was-kind-of-a-selfish-child-who-always-wanted-things-his-way-and-i/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [Magic is a state of mind. It is often portrayed as very black and gothic, and that is because certain practitioners played that up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/magic-is-a-state-of-mind-it-is-often-portrayed-as-very-black-and/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [“Above, great constellations wheeled to which our bonfire sparks ascended in their tiny mimicry”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/above-great-constellations-wheeled-to-which-our-bonfire-sparks/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [“You're my only remaining link to the world”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/you-re-my-only-remaining-link-to-the-world/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/nothing-ends-adrian-nothing-ever-ends/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [On the one occasion where I did try writing a screenplay, I found the rewriting just unendurable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/on-the-one-occasion-where-i-did-try-writing-a-screenplay-i-found-the/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [“The clothes you're wearing, the room, the house, the city that you're in. Everything in it started out in the human imagination. Your lives,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/the-clothes-you-re-wearing-the-room-the-house-the-city-that-you-re-in/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) [Explore all 460 Alan Moore quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) ## More Art quotes > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. Accordingly...they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/before-noah-men-having-only-water-to-drink-could-not-find-the-truth/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [“Hear the sum of the whole matter in the compass of one brief word — every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/hear-the-sum-of-the-whole-matter-in-the-compass-of-one-brief-word/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [I think most artists feel like they're outside society - no matter how many accolades they receive, or how much money is in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-rose/i-think-most-artists-feel-like-they-re-outside-society-no-matter-how/) [Aaron Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-rose/) > [The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/the-capacity-to-be-puzzled-is-the-premise-of-all-creation-be-it-in/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) Taf Teh > [The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/) [Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/) > [During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/during-human-progress-every-science-is-evolved-out-of-its/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. They walk different paths. Artists create the best outputs when they're having fun. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-dragon/i-think-a-business-guy-is-different-from-an-artist-they-walk/) [G-Dragon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-dragon/) > [“The only thing--I tell you this straight from the heart--that disgusts me in Salzburg is that one can't have any proper social intercourse with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/the-only-thing-i-tell-you-this-straight-from-the-heart-that-disgusts/) [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/) > [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [Art isn't done to decorate apartments, but to wage war against the enemy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/art-isn-t-done-to-decorate-apartments-but-to-wage-war-against-the/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) [Browse all 48,643 Art quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Perhaps this is the purpose of all art, all writing, on the murders, fiction and non-fiction: Simply to participate.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Alan Moore" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/perhaps-this-is-the-purpose-of-all-art-all-writing-on-the-murders/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/perhaps-this-is-the-purpose-of-all-art-all-writing-on-the-murders/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/051/alan-moore-583_art_perhaps-this-is-the-purpose-of-all-art-a_2878242.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/051/alan-moore-583_art_perhaps-this-is-the-purpose-of-all-art-a_2878242.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/051/alan-moore-583_art_perhaps-this-is-the-purpose-of-all-art-a_2878242.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Perhaps this is the purpose of all art, all writing, on the murders, fiction and non-fiction: Simply to…” — Alan Moore", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Alan Moore", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Perhaps this is the purpose of...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/perhaps-this-is-the-purpose-of-all-art-all-writing-on-the-murders/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/perhaps-this-is-the-purpose-of-all-art-all-writing-on-the-murders/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```