Art Quote by H. L. Mencken
“The truth is . . . that the great artists of the world are never puritans, and seldom ever ordinarily respectable. No virtuous man - that is, virtuous in the YMCA sense - has ever painted a picture worth looking at, or written a symphony worth hearing, or a book worth reading, and it is highly improbable that the thing has ever been done by a virtuous woman.”
About This Quote
Great artists often defy conventional virtue, suggesting that creativity thrives outside strict moral conformity.
In simple terms: Artists are rarely virtuous.
Key Takeaway
Embrace creative freedom over conventional morality.
Themes
art
virtue
creativity
Mood
critical
wry
Type
philosophical
literary
When to use this quote
- painting
- music
- literature
- artistic expression
Key Concepts
aesthetic theory
cultural critique
Questions to Reflect On
- Is moral purity necessary for artistic merit?
- How does society judge “respectable” art?
A Different Perspective
Virtue may still coexist with art.
![“By profession a biologist, [Thomas Henry Huxley] covered in fact the whole field of the exact sciences, and then bulged through its four fences. Absolutely nothing was uninteresting to him. His curiosity ranged from music to theology and from philosophy to history. He didn't simply know something…” quote by H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f46/h-l-mencken-245_absolutely-nothing_by-profession-a-biologist-thomas-henry-h_5368.jpg)
