The Saunterer

Plotinus on what the arts are for

    The arts, noted Plotinus, do more than imitate; they create:

If one attempted to belittle the arts by saying that, in creating, they imitate nature, the answer should be that . . . the arts create many things by themselves. Where something is lacking, they supply it, because they own beauty. (Quoted from Painting and Reality, by Etienne Gilson, The A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts, 1955.)

    For a brief biography of Plotinus, click here.

William H. Drury on how to react when your views are challenged

    What William H. Drury said is this:

When your views on the world and your intellect are being challenged and you begin to feel uncomfortable because of a contradiction you've detected that is threatening your current model of the world or some aspect of it, pay attention. You are about to learn something. This discomfort and intellectual conflict is when learning is taking place. (Quoted in Chance and Change: A collection of essays on human ecology written by the faculty and staff of College of the Atlantic, 1991)

    For a brief biography of William H. Drury, click here and open the pdf.

Joseph Jefferson on the special challenges of achieving excellence in acting

    Nineteenth century actor Joseph Jefferson speaks to the point:

The author, painter, or musician, if he be dissatisfied with his work, may alter and perfect it before giving it publicity, but an actor cannot rub out; he ought, therefore, in justice to his audience, to be sure of what he is going to place before it. Should a picture in an art gallery be carelessly painted we can pass on to another, or if a book fails to please us we can put it down. An escape from this kind of dullness is easily made, but in a theater the auditor is imprisoned. . . . It is this helpless condition that renders careless acting so offensive. (Quoted from The Life of the Creative Spirit, p. 291.)

    These things that are true for actors are somewhat true for educators.   

    For a brief biography of Joseph Jefferson, click here.