--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Art is man's distinctly human way of…" description: "\"Art is man's distinctly human way of fighting death,\" — Leonard Baskin" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/463/leonard-baskin-31439_art_art-is-man-s-distinctly-human-way-of-fig_1236645.png" --- # Art is man's distinctly human way of fighting death, ![“Art is man's distinctly human way of fighting death,” quote by Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/463/leonard-baskin-31439_art_art-is-man-s-distinctly-human-way-of-fig_1236645.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/463/leonard-baskin-31439_art_art-is-man-s-distinctly-human-way-of-fig_1236645.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/463/leonard-baskin-31439_art_art-is-man-s-distinctly-human-way-of-fig_1236645.png) > “Art is man's distinctly human way of fighting death,” [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Art confronts mortality by creating lasting symbols of human experience, giving meaning beyond death. **In simple terms:** Art helps us face death. Key Takeaway Create lasting work. Themes mortality creativity legacy Mood reflective somber Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - museum curation - personal grief - cultural heritage - memorial design Key Concepts existentialism symbolism Questions to Reflect On - How does your art reflect your view on mortality? - What legacy do you wish to leave? A Different Perspective Art cannot prevent death, only give it context. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Art is](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-is/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Distinctly Human](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/distinctly-human-1529708/) [Fighting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fighting/) [Fighting Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fighting-death-2224162/) [Human Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-way-1032702/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Man Distinctly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/man-distinctly-3844799/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Nature of man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature-of-man/) [Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/) ## Related quotes > [If there is any characteristic that is distinctly human, it is the capability for reflective self-consciousness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-bandura/if-there-is-any-characteristic-that-is-distinctly-human-it-is-the/) [Albert Bandura](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-bandura/) > [The practicality of technology may distinguish it from art, but both spring from a similar, distinctly human yearning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-g-carr/the-practicality-of-technology-may-distinguish-it-from-art-but-both/) [Nicholas G. Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-g-carr/) > [“There in that pool stained with green blood, he had learned two things: one was that all the pain stopped when you stopped fighting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryu-murakami/there-in-that-pool-stained-with-green-blood-he-had-learned-two-things/) [Ryū Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryu-murakami/) > [Sit back and get some sleep. Oh great. So if we have an accident and I'm asleep my resistance toward fighting death will be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melina-marchetta/sit-back-and-get-some-sleep-oh-great-so-if-we-have-an-accident-and-i/) [Melina Marchetta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melina-marchetta/) > [“He had a kind of urgent drive to be forever producing something, to get involved in more and more projects, to leave traces. To…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beno-t-peeters/he-had-a-kind-of-urgent-drive-to-be-forever-producing-something-to/) [Benoît Peeters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beno-t-peeters/) > [“When we stop fighting against death, we are able to wake up to our lives.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-gottlieb/when-we-stop-fighting-against-death-we-are-able-to-wake-up-to-our/) [Daniel Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-gottlieb/) > [When you stop fighting, that's death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-wayne/when-you-stop-fighting-that-s-death/) [John Wayne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-wayne/) > [“We each needed to respect the religious practices of others, seeing as it was up to every human being to find his or her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeannette-walls/we-each-needed-to-respect-the-religious-practices-of-others-seeing-as/) [Jeannette Walls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeannette-walls/) > [I want to be the best. That's just the human way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/junior-seau/i-want-to-be-the-best-that-s-just-the-human-way/) [Junior Seau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junior-seau/) > [“Freedom is the great organizing principle of a life lived in a truly human way.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-weigel/freedom-is-the-great-organizing-principle-of-a-life-lived-in-a-truly/) [George Weigel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-weigel/) > [Our task is to educate the human being in such a way that he or she can bring to expression in the right way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudolf-steiner/our-task-is-to-educate-the-human-being-in-such-a-way-that-he-or-she/) [Rudolf Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudolf-steiner/) > [Sometimes, all it takes to become human again is someone who can see you that way, no matter how you present on the surface.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-picoult/sometimes-all-it-takes-to-become-human-again-is-someone-who-can-see/) [Jodi Picoult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-picoult/) > [“The world doesn't end, Claire. In the morning, the survivors start to build again. It's way of things. The human way.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-caine/the-world-doesn-t-end-claire-in-the-morning-the-survivors-start-to/) [Rachel Caine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-caine/) > [Constructiveness is the human way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dalai-lama/constructiveness-is-the-human-way/) [Dalai Lama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dalai-lama/) > [“There is a certain way of being human that is my way. I am called upon to live my life in this way, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-taylor/there-is-a-certain-way-of-being-human-that-is-my-way-i-am-called-upon/) [Charles Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-taylor/) ## More by Leonard Baskin > [It took me fifty years to deal with the Holocaust at all. And I did it in a literary way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/it-took-me-fifty-years-to-deal-with-the-holocaust-at-all-and-i-did-it/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [There is, however, a change going on in the world. There's far more interest in drawing now than there has been in a long,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/there-is-however-a-change-going-on-in-the-world-there-s-far-more/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [I think it has other roots, has to do, in part, with a general anxiety in contemporary life... nuclear bombs, inequality of possibility and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/i-think-it-has-other-roots-has-to-do-in-part-with-a-general-anxiety/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [I think there is an element of nihilism about, but I don't think most artists feel their work is meaningless.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/i-think-there-is-an-element-of-nihilism-about-but-i-don-t-think-most/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [I think the leaders inevitably express the people they are leading.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/i-think-the-leaders-inevitably-express-the-people-they-are-leading/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [But I think doctors have always been either honest or dishonest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/but-i-think-doctors-have-always-been-either-honest-or-dishonest/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [Of course, I did lots of what would be called graphic design now, what used to be called commercial art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/of-course-i-did-lots-of-what-would-be-called-graphic-design-now-what/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [I always felt I needed to teach to survive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/i-always-felt-i-needed-to-teach-to-survive/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [I always felt that I had anxiety of survival in terms of livelihood even when I was making plenty of money.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/i-always-felt-that-i-had-anxiety-of-survival-in-terms-of-livelihood/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [Works of art produced in the contemporary world are a further expression of that. But I don't think there is an active, ongoing nihilist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/works-of-art-produced-in-the-contemporary-world-are-a-further/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [“The art schools... you get young kids doing the most vile and meaningless crap. I think the believe every bit of it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/the-art-schools-you-get-young-kids-doing-the-most-vile-and/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [Architecture should be dedicated to keeping the outside out and the inside in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/architecture-should-be-dedicated-to-keeping-the-outside-out-and-the/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [I think if you touch ordinary people, they're simply ordinary people, the way they've always been. They work hard, they don't have really as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/i-think-if-you-touch-ordinary-people-they-re-simply-ordinary-people/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [People like me, who care about printing, constitute the tiniest lunatic fringe in the nation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/people-like-me-who-care-about-printing-constitute-the-tiniest-lunatic/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) > [Pop art is the inedible raised to the unspeakable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/pop-art-is-the-inedible-raised-to-the-unspeakable/) [Leonard Baskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) [Explore all 16 Leonard Baskin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/) ## 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": "Art is man's distinctly human way of fighting death,", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Leonard Baskin" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/art-is-man-s-distinctly-human-way-of-fighting-death/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/art-is-man-s-distinctly-human-way-of-fighting-death/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/463/leonard-baskin-31439_art_art-is-man-s-distinctly-human-way-of-fig_1236645.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/463/leonard-baskin-31439_art_art-is-man-s-distinctly-human-way-of-fig_1236645.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/463/leonard-baskin-31439_art_art-is-man-s-distinctly-human-way-of-fig_1236645.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Art is man's distinctly human way of fighting death,” — Leonard Baskin", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Leonard Baskin", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-baskin/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Art is man's distinctly human way...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/art-is-man-s-distinctly-human-way-of-fighting-death/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-baskin/art-is-man-s-distinctly-human-way-of-fighting-death/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```