--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There are always forces at work in a…" description: "\"There are always forces at work in a society, certainly in America, which are really forces of censorship -either religious bodies or zealots who are a..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a8d/john-boorman-22660_art_there-are-always-forces-at-work-in-a-soc_311268.jpg" --- # There are always forces at work in a society, certainly in… ![“There are always forces at work in a society, certainly in America, which are really forces of censorship -either religious bodies or zealots who are always putting pressure on things, whether it's books or art or film. And all art is fundamentally subversive, because it upsets people's…” quote by John Boorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a8d/john-boorman-22660_art_there-are-always-forces-at-work-in-a-soc_311268.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a8d/john-boorman-22660_art_there-are-always-forces-at-work-in-a-soc_311268.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a8d/john-boorman-22660_art_there-are-always-forces-at-work-in-a-soc_311268.jpg) > “There are always forces at work in a society, certainly in America, which are really forces of censorship -either religious bodies or zealots who are always putting pressure on things, whether it's books or art or film. And all art is fundamentally subversive, because it upsets people's perceptions, their notions about society. Therefore, art is dangerous, but good art is always making us reassess our thoughts and feelings about how we relate to other people. There are always people who fear that and want to suppress that.” [John Boorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boorman/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Art challenges norms and forces society to reconsider its values, making it both dangerous and essential. **In simple terms:** Art provokes thought and can be suppressed. Key Takeaway Use art to question and expand perspectives. Themes censorship art societal norms Mood critical provocative Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - education - media - political activism - community dialogue Key Concepts subversion perception freedom of expression Questions to Reflect On - How does art influence your worldview? - What responsibilities do artists have? A Different Perspective Art alone may not change entrenched beliefs without broader engagement. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Art Dangerous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-dangerous-641365/) [Art is](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-is/) [Art Is Dangerous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-is-dangerous-213965/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Censorship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/censorship/) [Censorship Religious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/censorship-religious-2953920/) [Dangerous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dangerous/) [Feelings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feelings/) [Film](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/film/) [Forces Censorship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forces-censorship-2953921/) [Good art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/good-art/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Perception](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perception/) [Religious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religious/) [Society Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/society-art-641367/) [Thoughts and feelings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thoughts-and-feelings/) [Upset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/upset/) [Zealot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/zealot/) ## Related quotes > [There are always forces at work in a society, which are really forces of censorship - either religious bodies or zealots who are always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-boorman/there-are-always-forces-at-work-in-a-society-which-are-really-forces/) [John Boorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boorman/) > [All art is fundamentally subversive, because it upsets people's perceptions, their notions about society. Therefore, art is dangerous, but good art is always making…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-boorman/all-art-is-fundamentally-subversive-because-it-upsets-people-s/) [John Boorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boorman/) > [“I want to remind us all that art is dangerous. I want to remind you of the history of artists who have been murdered,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/i-want-to-remind-us-all-that-art-is-dangerous-i-want-to-remind-you-of/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous, you don't want it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/duke-ellington/art-is-dangerous-it-is-one-of-the-attractions-when-it-ceases-to-be/) [Duke Ellington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/duke-ellington/) > [“Don't we all know that art is dangerous. You play it - then you live it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stefan-balint/don-t-we-all-know-that-art-is-dangerous-you-play-it-then-you-live-it/) [Stefan Balint](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stefan-balint/) > [Art is not chaste. Those ill prepared should be allowed no contact with art. Art is dangerous. If it is chaste, it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/art-is-not-chaste-those-ill-prepared-should-be-allowed-no-contact/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [Art is never chaste. It ought to be forbidden to ignorant innocents, never allowed into contact with those not sufficiently prepared. Yes, art is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/art-is-never-chaste-it-ought-to-be-forbidden-to-ignorant-innocents/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [“Making art can feel dangerous and revealing. Making art is dangerous and revealing. Making art precipitates self-doubt, stirring deep waters that lay between what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-bayles/making-art-can-feel-dangerous-and-revealing-making-art-is-dangerous/) [David Bayles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-bayles/) > [“The desire to make art begins early. Among the very young this is encouraged (or at least indulged as harmless) but the push toward…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-bayles/the-desire-to-make-art-begins-early-among-the-very-young-this-is/) [David Bayles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-bayles/) > [“Art was a union of the father and mother worlds, of mind and blood. It might start in utter sensuality and lead to total…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/art-was-a-union-of-the-father-and-mother-worlds-of-mind-and-blood-it/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [That's the joy of art - it should be dangerous and challenging but it's just art - it's safe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/val-kilmer/that-s-the-joy-of-art-it-should-be-dangerous-and-challenging-but-it-s/) [Val Kilmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/val-kilmer/) > [There are some very powerful contributions to knowledge in the scientific world or the legal world, but art is singular. That's why every dictator…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/there-are-some-very-powerful-contributions-to-knowledge-in-the/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [Art is a way you discover the past, and so it brings the past into the present and the future. That's why we have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-steir/art-is-a-way-you-discover-the-past-and-so-it-brings-the-past-into-the/) [Pat Steir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-steir/) > [“Nothing is new anymore. We're living in a post-everything society and "art" itself has become satire.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruadh-n-j-mcelroy/nothing-is-new-anymore-we-re-living-in-a-post-everything-society-and/) [Ruadhán J. McElroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruadh-n-j-mcelroy/) > [“Many 18th- and 19th-century artists rejected, criticized, or ignored the Industrial Revolution. Instead of uplifting man, industry seemed to demoralize and dehumanize him. Men,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-bryant-wilder/many-18th-and-19th-century-artists-rejected-criticized-or-ignored-the/) [Jesse Bryant Wilder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-bryant-wilder/) ## More by John Boorman > [What is passion? It is surely the becoming of a person. Are we not, for most of our lives, marking time? Most of our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-boorman/what-is-passion-it-is-surely-the-becoming-of-a-person-are-we-not-for/) [John Boorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boorman/) > [What we need is someone to abolish the House Of Lords, get rid of the Royal Family.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-boorman/what-we-need-is-someone-to-abolish-the-house-of-lords-get-rid-of-the/) [John Boorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boorman/) > [I was in Japan, and my assistant director had worked with Kurosawa. I used quite of number of Kurosawa's crew.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-boorman/i-was-in-japan-and-my-assistant-director-had-worked-with-kurosawa-i/) [John Boorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boorman/) > [And you poor creatures--who conjured you out of the clay? Is God in show business, too?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-boorman/and-you-poor-creatures-who-conjured-you-out-of-the-clay-is-god-in/) [John Boorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boorman/) > [Black-and-white gives you that sort of parallel world. Also, it's very close to the condition of dreaming, to the unconscious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-boorman/black-and-white-gives-you-that-sort-of-parallel-world-also-it-s-very/) [John Boorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boorman/) > [There's always been this strand of filmmaking in Britain which is like socialist neo-realism. That's always been there. I've never been part of that,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-boorman/there-s-always-been-this-strand-of-filmmaking-in-britain-which-is/) [John Boorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boorman/) > [The more extreme and the more expressed that passion is, the more unbearable does life seem without it. It reminds us that if passion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-boorman/the-more-extreme-and-the-more-expressed-that-passion-is-the-more/) [John Boorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boorman/) > [I'm trying to suggest a kind of Middle Earth, in Tolkien terms. It's a contiguous world; it's like ours but different.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-boorman/i-m-trying-to-suggest-a-kind-of-middle-earth-in-tolkien-terms-it-s-a/) [John Boorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boorman/) > [When actors are being defensive and defending their position, that is when you get less than good acting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-boorman/when-actors-are-being-defensive-and-defending-their-position-that-is/) [John Boorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boorman/) > [I look at the story, I look at the idea and just try to think of it in terms of that whole body of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-boorman/i-look-at-the-story-i-look-at-the-idea-and-just-try-to-think-of-it-in/) [John Boorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boorman/) > [All the interesting films are now being made by their subsidiaries for very low budgets. But the studios are not making money. They're making…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-boorman/all-the-interesting-films-are-now-being-made-by-their-subsidiaries/) [John Boorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boorman/) > [It's so easy to manipulate an audience, but it's nearly always clear that you are being manipulated. I think even people that are not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-boorman/it-s-so-easy-to-manipulate-an-audience-but-it-s-nearly-always-clear/) [John Boorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boorman/) > [In the '60s and '70s it was a great period for American films because studios were still run by individuals who worked off the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-boorman/in-the-60s-and-70s-it-was-a-great-period-for-american-films-because/) [John Boorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boorman/) > [What is passion? Passion is surely the becoming of a person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-boorman/what-is-passion-passion-is-surely-the-becoming-of-a-person/) [John Boorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boorman/) > [The resistance to black-and-white is huge, in the way that you have to sell the film. It's difficult to distribute around the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-boorman/the-resistance-to-black-and-white-is-huge-in-the-way-that-you-have-to/) [John Boorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boorman/) [Explore all 27 John Boorman quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boorman/) ## 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](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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": "There are always forces at work in a society, certainly in America, which are really forces of censorship -either religious bodies or zealots who are always putting pressure on things, whether it's books or art or film. 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