Quotes and anectdotes from the wise to the foolish, and the courageous to the drunk

Herbert Read Art critic

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: England
  • Born: Dec 4, 1893
  • Died: Jun 12, 1968

Sir Herbert Edward Read, DSO, MC was an English anarchist, poet and literary critic, best known for numerous books on art, which included influential volumes on the role of art in education. Read was co-founder of the Institute of Contemporary Arts. He was one of the earliest English writers to take notice of existentialism.

The slave may be happy, but happiness is not enough. happiness

I call religion a natural authority, but it has usually been conceived as a supernatural authority. religion

The characteristic political attitude of today is not one of positive belief, but of despair. attitude & positive

I can imagine no society which does not embody some method of arbitration. society

What I do deny is that you can build any enduring society without some such mystical ethos. society

The farther a society progresses, the more clearly the individual becomes the antithesis of the group. society

Progress is measured by the degree of differentiation within a society. society