Nature is commonplace. Imitation is more interesting.
quote by Gertrude Stein

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Related quotes

The characteristic of the hour is that the commonplace mind, knowing itself to be commonplace, has the assurance to proclaim the rights of the commonplace and to impose them wherever it will.
quote by Jose Ortega y Gasset

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Mimesis: Minimal
mimesis minimal a mere
artistic imitation of life
an artist’s imitation of life?
or nature in techniques
subject matter art literatures
as a reference specified?
mimicry nothing more?
usually emphasizing?
smallness humbleness?
unimportance of specific
person subject designated?
Really?
poem by Terence George Craddock

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Were I called on to define, very briefly, the term Art, I should call it 'the reproduction of what the Senses perceive in Nature through the veil of the soul.' The mere imitation, however accurate, of what is in Nature, entitles no man to the sacred name of 'Artist.'
quote by Edgar Allan Poe

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As a rule, said Holmes, the more bizarre a thing is the less mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the most difficult to identify.
quote by Arthur Conan Doyle

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Art is not merely an imitation of the reality of nature, but in truth a metaphysical supplement to the reality of nature, placed alongside thereof for its conquest.
quote by Friedrich Nietzsche

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Between imitation and envy, imitation is better.

Photography is a witness against the wrong opinion that art is an imitation of nature.
quote by Heinrich Heine

Submitted by Dan Costinaş
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Mimesis: Mimicry Imitation
mimesis
artist’s
imitation
Really?
not a critical
a philosophical
term that carries
a wide range of meanings
in context situations?
consider imitatio
representation
mimicry imitation
already deadly
serious applications
are prime on line
poem by Terence George Craddock

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You Little Fool
Daddys best girl in the world is not supposed to have a boyfriend
But shes never wanted at home
Other girls are allowed to wear their makeup
She sneaks out her lipstick powder and comb
She surrounds his name with hearts and flowers
Talks on the telephone for hours and hours
But with the bird in his hand
And two on a string
The words of love have an imitation ring
You little fool, you little fool
I suppose that your going to stay all night
You little fool
Dont look at me that way you know it isnt right
You little fool
They say no news is good news
The little girl wants information
Mother just gives her some pills to choose
And says go and use your imagination
Daddys best girl in the world says just look what I have got
As she sits beside him on the high stool
With his arm around her neck snowball in one hand
And the other full of imitation jewels
She fingers a string of pearls
An imitation but hell never know it
Imitation lashes flutter above
Looking for an imitation of love
You little fool
I suppose that your going to stay all night
You little fool
So dont look at me that way you know it isnt right
You little fool
song performed by by Elvis Costello

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Mimesis: Life Enlightenment Fermentation
mimesis minimal a mere
artistic imitation of life
an artist’s imitation of life?
or nature in techniques
subject matter art literatures
as a reference specified
mimicry nothing more?
usually emphasizing?
smallness humbleness?
unimportance of specific
person subject designated?
Really?
not a critical
a philosophical
term that carries
a wide range of meanings
in context situations?
consider imitatio
representation
mimicry imitation
already deadly
serious applications
are prime on line
receptivity
nonsensuous
similarity
perception
in this connection
wider than
sense-perception
act of resembling
act of expression
presentation of self
simply
a system
of categorized
sensations
to gratuitously
assume
nonsensuous
uncategorized
things-in-themselves
as existing somewhere when
contrary
pure concept
the content
of a surface
as an absolutely
nonsensuous concept
content limitation
may be sensuous
or nonsensuous
help or hinder
conscious
aspiration individual
to attain
enlightenment
fermentation
poem by Terence George Craddock

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To do the opposite of something is also a form of imitation, namely an imitation of its opposite.
quote by Georg C. Lichtenberg

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Everyone assumes that novelists are smarter and more interesting. They're generally smarter and more interesting, but they're often very short. So it kind of cancels all the smart and interesting stuff out.
quote by Liev Schreiber

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Paul Riser tells it in an interesting way; he dissects it and tells the structure, you know, 'you don't mention that part here.' But that's what's interesting about it and the people who are absent are interesting too.
Underneath The Neon Sign
Our hero leaves the pub his head still
Swimming with alcohol, his head
Buzzing with facts, figures and
Computers. night is descending as he
Wearily makes his way home through
The traffic jams and neon lights of the
Great metropolis.
Underneath the neon sign
All I see is imitation
And theres no earth beneath my feet.
There are no trees or fields in front of me
Only slabs of concrete.
Skyscrapers reaching up to the clouds,
Dont give the moon a chance to shine,
And Ive got imitation moonlight
Standing underneath the neon sign.
Is it real or just illusion?
Can there be a time when its night?
Is it merely my delusion
Or my senses telling me lies.
Is it just hallucination?
Have I been drinking too much wine?
I dont know if its day or night,
When Im underneath the neon sign.
Underneath the neon sign.
Electronic nature made by man with robots in mind.
Big city lights guide my way into the night, darkness shines
When Im standing underneath the neon sign.
If there isnt any sunshine
Well some-day buy the neon sign
And if we cant see any stars at night
Well sit and watch the traffic lights.
If there isnt any day-time
Ive got an imitation dawn,
Ive got a simulated sunshine
Standing underneath the neon sign.
Is it an illusion?
Have I been drinking too much wine?
Can there be day-time when its night
Underneath the neon sign.
Underneath the neon sign.
Is it mother nature
Playing tricks with my eyes
For darkness shines
When Im standing underneath the neon sign.
song performed by by Kinks

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Thirteen Lines
A brain peered through stoic eyes;
Yet all it saw was rendered into
Flawed interpretation –
No honoured contemplation of a
Gluon, muon, quark of any flavour;
Nor a vision or conception of its world
Within a universe anthropic in its physical laws,
Inside a boundless multiverse.
All it gleaned and modelled
Bore parochialism well beyond belief! –
Delusional perhaps.
Survival only matters here on planet Earth –
Evolution saw to that.
Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2010
na ture nature nature nature
nature nature nature nature
nature nature nature nature
nature nature nature nature
nature nature nature nature
nature nature nature nature
poem by Mark R Slaughter

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Plot, rules, nor even poetry, are not half so great beauties in tragedy or comedy as a just imitation of nature, of character, of the passions and their operations in diversified situations.
quote by Horace Walpole

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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In this business, my business, I get to meet all kinds of incredible people, fascinating people, glamorous people and sexy people and highly intellectual people. And you meet them and you go 'interesting, interesting, interesting'. They're interesting, but not very many people stop you in your tracks.
quote by Madonna Ciccone

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For those who intend to discover and to understand, not to indulge in conjectures and soothsaying, and rather than contrive imitation and fabulous worlds plan to look deep into the nature of the real world and to dissect it -- for them everything must be sought in things themselves.
quote by Francis Bacon

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