--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In a moment when criticism shows a…" description: "\"In a moment when criticism shows a singular dearth of direction every man has to be a law unto himself in matters of theatre, writing, and painting. Wh..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c35/john-dos-passos-3598_art_in-a-moment-when-criticism-shows-a-singu_143619.jpg" --- # In a moment when criticism shows a singular dearth of… ![“In a moment when criticism shows a singular dearth of direction every man has to be a law unto himself in matters of theatre, writing, and painting. While the American Mercury and the new Ford continue to spread a thin varnish of Ritz over the whole United States there is a certain virtue in being…” quote by John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c35/john-dos-passos-3598_art_in-a-moment-when-criticism-shows-a-singu_143619.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c35/john-dos-passos-3598_art_in-a-moment-when-criticism-shows-a-singu_143619.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c35/john-dos-passos-3598_art_in-a-moment-when-criticism-shows-a-singu_143619.jpg) > “In a moment when criticism shows a singular dearth of direction every man has to be a law unto himself in matters of theatre, writing, and painting. While the American Mercury and the new Ford continue to spread a thin varnish of Ritz over the whole United States there is a certain virtue in being unfashionable.” [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Unfashionable individuality in arts is virtuous despite mainstream trends. **In simple terms:** Being unique in art is valuable. Key Takeaway Embrace personal style over popular trends. Themes artistic integrity individuality culture Mood reflective defiant Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - theatre - writing - visual arts - career choices Key Concepts authenticity nonconformity Questions to Reflect On - What does being unfashionable mean to you? - How can you stay true to your vision? A Different Perspective Mainstream pressure can be persuasive. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Certain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/certain/) [Criticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criticism/) [Criticism Shows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criticism-shows-1616090/) [Every man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/every-man/) [Independence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/independence/) [Law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/law/) [Matter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/matter/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Mercury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mercury/) [Moment Criticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moment-criticism-1616092/) [Moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moments/) [Painting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painting/) [Ritz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ritz/) [Shows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shows/) [Spread](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spread/) [States](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/states/) [Theatre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theatre/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Unfashionable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unfashionable-1454975/) [United](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/united/) [United states](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/united-states/) [Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virtue/) [Virtue Unfashionable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virtue-unfashionable-1616091/) [Whole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whole/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [If a misplaced admiration shows imbecility, an affected criticism shows vice of character. Expose thyself rather to appear a beast than false.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-diderot/if-a-misplaced-admiration-shows-imbecility-an-affected-criticism/) [Denis Diderot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-diderot/) > [I decided years ago that I am just unfashionable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melvyn-bragg/i-decided-years-ago-that-i-am-just-unfashionable/) [Melvyn Bragg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melvyn-bragg/) > [Of course, I worry about being fashionable, although when you're fashionable you're already on the track to being unfashionable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grayson-perry/of-course-i-worry-about-being-fashionable-although-when-you-re/) [Grayson Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grayson-perry/) > [Fashion becomes unfashionable. Style never.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/coco-chanel/fashion-becomes-unfashionable-style-never/) [Coco Chanel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/coco-chanel/) > [It's not that I take pride in being unfashionable. It's just that I've gotten used to it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lemmy/it-s-not-that-i-take-pride-in-being-unfashionable-it-s-just-that-i-ve/) [Lemmy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lemmy/) > [I realise, of course, that my cluttered existence is deeply unfashionable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-garraway/i-realise-of-course-that-my-cluttered-existence-is-deeply/) [Kate Garraway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-garraway/) > [Be unfashionable. Take risks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-arden/be-unfashionable-take-risks/) [Paul Arden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-arden/) > [Fashion is made to become unfashionable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/coco-chanel/fashion-is-made-to-become-unfashionable/) [Coco Chanel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/coco-chanel/) > [Unmediated joy was nowadays unfashionable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-jones/unmediated-joy-was-nowadays-unfashionable/) [Gail Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-jones/) > [I was unfashionable before anyone knew who I was.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-desmond/i-was-unfashionable-before-anyone-knew-who-i-was/) [Paul Desmond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-desmond/) > [True modesty avoids everything that is criminal; false modesty everything that is unfashionable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/true-modesty-avoids-everything-that-is-criminal-false-modesty/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [“I was fashionably late in my unfashionable clothes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarod-kintz/i-was-fashionably-late-in-my-unfashionable-clothes/) [Jarod Kintz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarod-kintz/) > [Fashion is what one wears oneself. What is unfashionable is what other people wear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/fashion-is-what-one-wears-oneself-what-is-unfashionable-is-what-other/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [Diplomacy is unfashionable in the world of knee-jerk reaction and the dogmatic sound bite on television.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-hurd/diplomacy-is-unfashionable-in-the-world-of-knee-jerk-reaction-and-the/) [Douglas Hurd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-hurd/) > [Fashion is what one wears oneself. What is unfashionable is what other people wear. Just as vulgarity is simply the conduct of other people.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/fashion-is-what-one-wears-oneself-what-is-unfashionable-is-what-other-2/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) ## More by John Dos Passos > [In certain savage tribes in New Guinea, they put the old people up in the trees and shake them once a year in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/in-certain-savage-tribes-in-new-guinea-they-put-the-old-people-up-in/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [It's rather grisly, isnt it, how soon a living man becomes nothing more than a collection of stocks and bonds and debts and real…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/it-s-rather-grisly-isnt-it-how-soon-a-living-man-becomes-nothing-more/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [The people of this country are too tolerant. There's no other country in the world where they'd allow it... After all we built up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/the-people-of-this-country-are-too-tolerant-there-s-no-other-country/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [I never see the dawn that I don't say to myself perhaps.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/i-never-see-the-dawn-that-i-don-t-say-to-myself-perhaps/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [When the typewriter stops in a New York office everybody's embarrassed; men start to quarrel or to make love to the stenographer or drop…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/when-the-typewriter-stops-in-a-new-york-office-everybody-s/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [What's the use, there never was a woman living who could understand political ideas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/what-s-the-use-there-never-was-a-woman-living-who-could-understand/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [There is a part of me in every character, naturally. That's why novelists rarely write good autobiographies. You start one and it becomes another…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/there-is-a-part-of-me-in-every-character-naturally-that-s-why/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [The fascinating thing to a dispassionate observer about the structure of life in the Soviet Union is that in their efforts to produce an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/the-fascinating-thing-to-a-dispassionate-observer-about-the-structure/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [To fight oppression, and to work as best we can for a sane organization of society, we do not have to abandon the state…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/to-fight-oppression-and-to-work-as-best-we-can-for-a-sane/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [A satirist is a man whose flesh creeps so at the ugly and the savage and the incongruous aspects of society that he has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/a-satirist-is-a-man-whose-flesh-creeps-so-at-the-ugly-and-the-savage/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [Letters are largely written to get things out of your system.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/letters-are-largely-written-to-get-things-out-of-your-system/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [The Enormous Room seems to me to be the book that has nearest approached the mood of reckless adventure in which men will reach…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/the-enormous-room-seems-to-me-to-be-the-book-that-has-nearest/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [“ Luther Burbank was born in a brick farmhouse in Lancaster Mass, he walked through the woods one winter crunching through the shinycrusted snow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/luther-burbank-was-born-in-a-brick-farmhouse-in-lancaster-mass-he/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [It is a most curious experience for a man of seventy-two to be confronted with the greenhorn enthusiasms of his youth. Young people think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/it-is-a-most-curious-experience-for-a-man-of-seventy-two-to-be/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [It's not the possibility of Stalinism in the U.S. that's worrying me, it's the fact that the Stalinist C.P. seems doomed to fail and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/it-s-not-the-possibility-of-stalinism-in-the-u-s-that-s-worrying-me/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) [Explore all 125 John Dos Passos quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) ## 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": "In a moment when criticism shows a singular dearth of direction every man has to be a law unto himself in matters of theatre, writing, and painting. 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