--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Those who say they give the public what…" description: "\"Those who say they give the public what it wants begin by underestimating public taste and end by debauching it.\" — T. S. Eliot" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d9f/t-s-eliot-633_ends_those-who-say-they-give-the-public-what_663334.png" --- # Those who say they give the public what it wants begin by… ![“Those who say they give the public what it wants begin by underestimating public taste and end by debauching it.” quote by T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d9f/t-s-eliot-633_ends_those-who-say-they-give-the-public-what_663334.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d9f/t-s-eliot-633_ends_those-who-say-they-give-the-public-what_663334.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d9f/t-s-eliot-633_ends_those-who-say-they-give-the-public-what_663334.png) > “Those who say they give the public what it wants begin by underestimating public taste and end by debauching it.” [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Assuming public demand dictates art leads to underestimating taste and corrupting culture. **In simple terms:** Predicting public taste can ruin art. Key Takeaway Question audience assumptions before creating. Themes art public taste culture prediction ethics Mood critical thoughtful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - advertising campaigns - media programming - public policy - artistic commissions Key Concepts aesthetic judgment mass media influence creative responsibility Questions to Reflect On - What drives true cultural value? - How can creators balance demand and integrity? A Different Perspective Public taste can be diverse and unpredictable. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Debauching](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/debauching-4520214/) [End Debauching](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/end-debauching-4520213/) [Ends](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ends/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Political](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/political/) [Public Taste](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/public-taste-406296/) [Public Wants](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/public-wants/) [Taste](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/taste/) [Underestimate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/underestimate/) [Underestimating Public](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/underestimating-public-4520212/) [Want](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/want/) ## Related quotes > [Those who say they (television) give the public what it wants begin by underestimating public taste, and end by debauching it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/those-who-say-they-television-give-the-public-what-it-wants-begin-by/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [People always make this totally artificial distinction between what is commercial and what is good. They quote that maxim "Nobody ever lost money underestimating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-adams/people-always-make-this-totally-artificial-distinction-between-what/) [Douglas Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-adams/) > [I've never believed in cheapening music by going according to what some people think is public taste.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/les-baxter/i-ve-never-believed-in-cheapening-music-by-going-according-to-what/) [Les Baxter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/les-baxter/) > [Stories now, to suit a public taste, must be half epigram, half pleasant vice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-russell-lowell/stories-now-to-suit-a-public-taste-must-be-half-epigram-half-pleasant/) [James Russell Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-russell-lowell/) > [The things that have been most popular with people have always been a total surprise, and so I've never felt like I could really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-ervin-beam/the-things-that-have-been-most-popular-with-people-have-always-been-a/) [Samuel Ervin Beam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-ervin-beam/) > [I am pleased with the exhibition... everything on display was sold for a good price to decent people. It has been a long time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-monet/i-am-pleased-with-the-exhibition-everything-on-display-was-sold-for-a/) [Claude Monet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-monet/) > [“Charging commercial institutions with failure to educate public taste is an indulgence from which intellectuals will only be deterred when they grasp that a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-watson/charging-commercial-institutions-with-failure-to-educate-public-taste/) [Colin Watson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-watson/) > [Discussions of Western civilization are too often confined to works of high art that reflect a relatively narrow element of public taste and experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibn-warraq/discussions-of-western-civilization-are-too-often-confined-to-works/) [Ibn Warraq](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibn-warraq/) > [If the work is poor, the public taste will soon do it justice. And the author, reaping neither glory nor fortune, will learn by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-louis-david/if-the-work-is-poor-the-public-taste-will-soon-do-it-justice-and-the/) [Jacques-Louis David](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-louis-david/) > [You've got to change with the public's taste.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nat-king-cole/you-ve-got-to-change-with-the-public-s-taste/) [Nat King Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nat-king-cole/) > [An actor should refine public taste.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristophanes/an-actor-should-refine-public-taste/) [Aristophanes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristophanes/) > [The syllogism art for art's sake refers to that kind of painting which disregards, or is contrary to, public taste.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-j-phillips/the-syllogism-art-for-art-s-sake-refers-to-that-kind-of-painting/) [Walter J. Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-j-phillips/) > [The adult public's taste is not necessarily ready to accept the logical solutions to their requirements if the solution implies too vast a departure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-loewy/the-adult-public-s-taste-is-not-necessarily-ready-to-accept-the/) [Raymond Loewy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-loewy/) > [It is precisely those artists and writers who are most inclined to think of their art as the manifestation of their personality who are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/it-is-precisely-those-artists-and-writers-who-are-most-inclined-to/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) > [I think the pop chart today is entirely market-driven. And it has nothing to do with public taste. And it has nothing to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-think-the-pop-chart-today-is-entirely-market-driven-and-it-has/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by T. S. Eliot > [The Nobel is a ticket to one's own funeral. No one has ever done anything after he got it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-nobel-is-a-ticket-to-one-s-own-funeral-no-one-has-ever-done/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Dear Mother, I am getting on nicely in my work at the bank, and like it ... I want to find out something about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/dear-mother-i-am-getting-on-nicely-in-my-work-at-the-bank-and-like-it/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith, But the faith and the love and the hope are all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/for-love-would-be-love-of-the-wrong-thing-there-is-yet-faith-but-the/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [We must always take risks. That is our destiny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/we-must-always-take-risks-that-is-our-destiny/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [All significant truths are private truths. As they become public they cease to become truths; they become facts, or at best, part of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/all-significant-truths-are-private-truths-as-they-become-public-they/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [When forced to work within a strict framework, the imagination is taxed to its utmost and will produce its richest ideas. Given total freedom,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/when-forced-to-work-within-a-strict-framework-the-imagination-is/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation are directed not upon the poet but upon the poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/honest-criticism-and-sensitive-appreciation-are-directed-not-upon-the/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Desire itself is movement Not in itself desirable; Love is itself unmoving, Only the cause and end of movement, Timeless, and undesiring Except in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/desire-itself-is-movement-not-in-itself-desirable-love-is-itself/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [ the ordinary man's experience is chaotic, irregular, fragmentary. \[He\] falls in love or reads Spinoza, and these two experiences have nothing to do with… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-ordinary-man-s-experience-is-chaotic-irregular-fragmentary-he/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [We had the experience, but we missed the meaning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/we-had-the-experience-but-we-missed-the-meaning/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [The end is in the beginning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-end-is-in-the-beginning/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [You have learned enough to see that cats are much like you and me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/you-have-learned-enough-to-see-that-cats-are-much-like-you-and-me/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different than that from which it is torn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-good-poet-welds-his-theft-into-a-whole-of-feeling-which-is-unique/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [It's strange that words are so inadequate. Yet, like the asthmatic struggling for breath, so the lover must struggle for words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/it-s-strange-that-words-are-so-inadequate-yet-like-the-asthmatic/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Every end is a beginning...And every beginning is an end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/every-end-is-a-beginning-and-every-beginning-is-an-end/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) [Explore all 433 T. S. Eliot quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) ## More Ends quotes > [I understand that it's the music that keeps me alive... That's my lifeblood. 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He said today he believes life begins at conception and ends…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-leno/bush-reiterated-his-stand-to-conservatives-opposing-his-decision-on/) [Jay Leno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-leno/) > [Dating someone on the opposite end of the happy spectrum teaches you an incredible amount of patience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-pine/dating-someone-on-the-opposite-end-of-the-happy-spectrum-teaches-you/) [Chris Pine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-pine/) > [What is history after all? History is facts which become lies in the end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/what-is-history-after-all-history-is-facts-which-become-lies-in-the/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Sometimes it's just enough for me to have the idea. I don't need to see it through to the end. When it actually happens,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-sedaris/sometimes-it-s-just-enough-for-me-to-have-the-idea-i-don-t-need-to/) [Amy Sedaris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-sedaris/) > [In the fight between biology and morality, biology has commonly won in the end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/semir-zeki/in-the-fight-between-biology-and-morality-biology-has-commonly-won-in/) [Semir Zeki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/semir-zeki/) > [At the end of night, before you close your eyes, be content with what you've done and be proud of who you are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-almond/at-the-end-of-night-before-you-close-your-eyes-be-content-with-what/) [Steve Almond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-almond/) > [it is the brevity of life which makes it tolerable; its experiences have value because they have an end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winifred-holtby/it-is-the-brevity-of-life-which-makes-it-tolerable-its-experiences/) [Winifred Holtby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winifred-holtby/) > [I hope that the Palestinians don't make the mistake of unleashing a new intifada. 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