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When power leads man towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When… — John F. Kennedy

Speech · Political speech

When power leads man towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses. For art establishes the basic human truth which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment.

John F. Kennedy
1963
★ 1.9
Other tags relating to this quote
Topic
PoetryPower of art
Genre
Political speech
Medium
Speech
Time
1963
Person
John F. Kennedy
Provenance
Citation
Kennedy, John F. Address at Amherst College. 26 Oct. 1963, Amherst College, Amherst, MA, USA.

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Thanks to art, instead of seeing one world only, our own, we see that world multiply itself and we have at our disposal as many worlds as there are original artists, worlds more different one from the other than those which revolve in infinite space, worlds which, centuries after the extinction of the fire from which their light first emanated, whether it is called Rembrandt or Vermeer, send us still each one its special radiance.

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In Search of Lost Time · 1922
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