--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I understand that art is a necessary…" description: "\"“I understand that art is a necessary component of a civilized society, but you cannot just go around shooting people. That's going to be a problem.”\" ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/add/kevin-wilson-12355_art_i-understand-that-art-is-a-necessary-com_472535.jpg" --- # I understand that art is a necessary component of a… ![“I understand that art is a necessary component of a civilized society, but you cannot just go around shooting people. That's going to be a problem.” quote by Kevin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/add/kevin-wilson-12355_art_i-understand-that-art-is-a-necessary-com_472535.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/add/kevin-wilson-12355_art_i-understand-that-art-is-a-necessary-com_472535.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/add/kevin-wilson-12355_art_i-understand-that-art-is-a-necessary-com_472535.jpg) > ““I understand that art is a necessary component of a civilized society, but you cannot just go around shooting people. That's going to be a problem.”” [Kevin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-wilson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Art is essential for civilization, yet violence undermines societal progress. **In simple terms:** Art matters, but violence is unacceptable. Key Takeaway Promote art, reject violence. Themes art civilization violence Mood critical concerned Type cultural political When to use this quote - public policy - community events - media coverage Key Concepts cultural criticism ethics of expression Questions to Reflect On - How can art inspire peace? - What responsibilities do artists have? A Different Perspective Art can be misused to justify harm. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Art Necessary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-necessary-416468/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Civilized society](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized-society/) [Shooting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shooting/) [Shooting People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shooting-people-1336539/) [Understand Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understand-art/) ## Related quotes > [“Gloria was still talking, something about how shooting people was in a sense safer than making art, in terms of avoiding serious lapses in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-kushner/gloria-was-still-talking-something-about-how-shooting-people-was-in-a/) [Rachel Kushner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-kushner/) > [ I grew up in the South with guns everywhere and we never shot anyone. This \[shooting\] is about people who aren't taught the value… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-l-jackson/i-grew-up-in-the-south-with-guns-everywhere-and-we-never-shot-anyone/) [Samuel L. Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-l-jackson/) > [Art is not necessary at all. All that is necessary to make this world a better place to live in is to love -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isadora-duncan/art-is-not-necessary-at-all-all-that-is-necessary-to-make-this-world/) [Isadora Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isadora-duncan/) > [In the practice of art... it is necessary to keep a watchful and jealous eye over ourselves; idleness, assuming the specious disguise of industry...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-reynolds/in-the-practice-of-art-it-is-necessary-to-keep-a-watchful-and-jealous/) [Joshua Reynolds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-reynolds/) > [A taste for liberal art is necessary to complete the character of a gentleman, Science alone is hard and mechanical. It exercises the understanding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hazlitt/a-taste-for-liberal-art-is-necessary-to-complete-the-character-of-a/) [William Hazlitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hazlitt/) > [Art makes better humans, art is necessary in understanding the world and art makes people happy. Undeniably, art is not optional.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathan-sawaya/art-makes-better-humans-art-is-necessary-in-understanding-the-world/) [Nathan Sawaya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathan-sawaya/) > [“Remember that even if you have made a truly rotten piece of art, it may be a necessary stepping-stone to your next work. Art…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julia-cameron/remember-that-even-if-you-have-made-a-truly-rotten-piece-of-art-it/) [Julia Cameron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julia-cameron/) > [“A prince should therefore have no other aim or thought, nor take up any other thing for his study, but war and its order…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-goldstone/a-prince-should-therefore-have-no-other-aim-or-thought-nor-take-up/) [Nancy Goldstone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nancy-goldstone/) > [In order to correctly define art, it is necessary, first of all, to cease to consider it as a means to pleasure and consider…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/in-order-to-correctly-define-art-it-is-necessary-first-of-all-to/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [Rationalism is the enemy of art, though necessary as a basis for architecture.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-erickson/rationalism-is-the-enemy-of-art-though-necessary-as-a-basis-for/) [Arthur Erickson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-erickson/) > [ You can't get around the image of people shooting at people toprotect their stores and it working. This is damaging to the \[guncontrol\] movement. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josh-sugarmann/you-can-t-get-around-the-image-of-people-shooting-at-people-toprotect/) [Josh Sugarmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josh-sugarmann/) > [Instead of going out and shooting people, why don't you go start a band.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-madden/instead-of-going-out-and-shooting-people-why-don-t-you-go-start-a-band/) [Joel Madden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-madden/) > [I don't run around shooting people. Much. I only shoot two people a year. Maybe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-l-jackson/i-don-t-run-around-shooting-people-much-i-only-shoot-two-people-a/) [Samuel L. Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-l-jackson/) > [The trouble with shooting people, Edie Banister now remembers, is that it's so hard to do just one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-harkaway/the-trouble-with-shooting-people-edie-banister-now-remembers-is-that/) [Nick Harkaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-harkaway/) > [Any idiot, especially one who is prepared to die, who has a gun, can start shooting up people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernie-sanders/any-idiot-especially-one-who-is-prepared-to-die-who-has-a-gun-can/) [Bernie Sanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernie-sanders/) ## More by Kevin Wilson > [“That does not surprise me,' Annie said and once again hung up the phone thinking that she had chosen to surround herself with people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-wilson/that-does-not-surprise-me-annie-said-and-once-again-hung-up-the-phone/) [Kevin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-wilson/) > [“I grew up in the valley of that mountain, just poor enough that I could imagine a way out.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-wilson/i-grew-up-in-the-valley-of-that-mountain-just-poor-enough-that-i/) [Kevin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-wilson/) > [“Wyoming, to Annie, was represented by a blank, bleak space in her imagination. 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It's yours, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-wilson/i-don-t-know-what-i-m-saying-really-but-i-guess-it-s-like-having-a/) [Kevin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-wilson/) > [“It was hard to see where he was going, and he was careful not to damage the camera, so expensive that his father made…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-wilson/it-was-hard-to-see-where-he-was-going-and-he-was-careful-not-to/) [Kevin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-wilson/) > [“But do you enjoy it?” Annie asked. Raven stared at Annie’s reflection in the mirror. “I don’t hate it,” Raven said. “You spend enough…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-wilson/but-do-you-enjoy-it-annie-asked-raven-stared-at-annie-s-reflection-in/) [Kevin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-wilson/) > [I grew up not reading fiction; I watched movies and read comic books, and one of the ways I taught myself to think about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-wilson/i-grew-up-not-reading-fiction-i-watched-movies-and-read-comic-books/) [Kevin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-wilson/) > [“They stood, a family, and walked out of the mall, into the sunlight, seeking to rearrange the shape of their surroundings, to blow something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-wilson/they-stood-a-family-and-walked-out-of-the-mall-into-the-sunlight/) [Kevin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-wilson/) > [“He would teach himself to dislike what he actually liked, to approve of what he did not totally understand, in the hopes that he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-wilson/he-would-teach-himself-to-dislike-what-he-actually-liked-to-approve/) [Kevin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-wilson/) > [“That's what emotions are, I think, complex and shifting, and yet we think that any deviation from what we're supposed to feel makes us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-wilson/that-s-what-emotions-are-i-think-complex-and-shifting-and-yet-we/) [Kevin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-wilson/) [Explore all 55 Kevin Wilson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-wilson/) ## 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. 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