Artist Quote by Claude Levi-Strauss
“The work of the painter, the poet or the musician, like the myths and symbols of the savage, ought to be seen by us, if not as a superior form of knowledge, at least as the most fundamental and the only one really common to us all; scientific thought is merely the sharp point more penetrating because it has been whetted on the stone of fact, but at the cost of some loss of substance and its effectiveness is to be explained by its power to pierce sufficiently deeply for the main body of the tool to follow the head.”
About This Quote
Source Book: The Savage Mind, 1962
Art and myth convey universal knowledge, while scientific thought, though precise, may lose depth and substance.
In simple terms: Art reveals deep truths; science is precise but may miss essence.
Key Takeaway
Value both intuition and analysis.
Themes
art
myth
knowledge
science
human experience
Mood
thoughtful
inquisitive
Type
philosophical
inspirational
When to use this quote
- education
- creative work
- research methodology
Key Concepts
Lévi‑Strauss theory
epistemology
symbolism
Questions to Reflect On
- What truths do myths reveal that science overlooks?
- How can we integrate artistic insight into scientific practice?
A Different Perspective
Science can become detached from lived experience.
![“Remember that [scientific thought] is the guide of action; that the truth which it arrives at is not that which we can ideally contemplate without error, but that which we may act upon without fear; and you cannot fail to see that scientific thought is not an accompaniment or condition of human…” quote by William Kingdon Clifford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/5a3/william-kingdon-clifford-17148_action_remember-that-scientific-thought-is-the_2230855.jpg)
