Kenneth Clark Quotes

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• I believe order is better than chaos, creation better than destruction. I prefer gentleness to violence, forgiveness to vendetta. On the whole I think that knowledge is preferable to ignorance, and I am sure that human sympathy is more valuable than ideology. I believe that in spite of the recent triumphs of science, men haven't changed much in the last two thousand years; and in consequence we must try to learn from history.

  Kenneth Clark

  Believe, Ignorance, Men

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• A racist system inevitably destroys and damages human beings; it brutalizes and dehumanizes them, blacks and whites alike.

  Kenneth Clark

  Racist, Damage, Humans

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• Children who are treated as if they are uneducable almost invariably become uneducable.

  Kenneth Clark

  Children, Treated, Ifs

  Kenneth B. Clark (1989). “Dark Ghetto: Dilemmas of Social Power”, p.128, Wesleyan University Press

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• We are part of a great whole. All living things are our brothers and sisters.

  Kenneth Clark

  Brother, Brothers And Sisters, Living Things

  Kenneth Clark (2015). “Civilisation”, p.220, Hachette UK

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• Racial prejudices are indication of a disturbed and potentially unstable society.

  Kenneth Clark

  Prejudice, Civil Rights, Unstable

  Kenneth B. Clark (1988). “Prejudice and Your Child”, p.6, Wesleyan University Press

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• We can destroy ourselves by cynicism and disillusion, just as effectively as by bombs.

  Kenneth Clark

  Motivational, Attitude, Inspiration

  Kenneth Clark (2015). “Civilisation”, p.220, Hachette UK

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• I believe that in spite of the recent triumphs of science, men haven't changed much in the last two thousand years; and in consequence we must still try to learn from history. History is ourselves.

  Kenneth Clark

  Believe, Men, Years

  Kenneth Clark, British Broadcasting Corporation (1970). “Civilization”, London : British Broadcasting Corporation

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• Few people can look at a painting longer than it takes to peel an orange and eat it.

  Kenneth Clark

  Orange, People, Looks

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• I believe in courtesy, the ritual by which we avoid hurting other people's feelings by satisfying our own egos.

  Kenneth Clark

  Hurt, Kindness, Believe

  Kenneth Clark, British Broadcasting Corporation (1970). “Civilization”, London : British Broadcasting Corporation

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• Art...must do something more than give pleasure: it should relate to our own life so as to increase our energy of spirit.

  Kenneth Clark

  Art, Giving, Energy

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• I believe in the God-given genius of certain individuals, and I value a society that makes their existence possible.

  Kenneth Clark

  Believe, Genius, Individual

  Kenneth Clark (2015). “Civilisation”, p.220, Hachette UK

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• Over and above the political, economic, sociological, and international implications of racial prejudices, their major significance is that they place unnecessary burdens upon human beings.

  Kenneth Clark

  Justice, Diversity, Political

  Kenneth B. Clark (1988). “Prejudice and Your Child”, p.37, Wesleyan University Press

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• A lot of people you think you know you don't know until you find out you don't know then it may be too late to know.

  Kenneth Clark

  Thinking, People, Too Late

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• The recognized achievements of some Negroes, despite rigid racial barriers, indicate that society by its prejudices may be depriving itself of valuable contributions from many others. It is now doubtful whether America can afford the luxury of such a waste of human resources.

  Kenneth Clark

  Luxury, America, Justice

  Kenneth B. Clark (1988). “Prejudice and Your Child”, p.61, Wesleyan University Press

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• Pride, like humility, is destroyed by one's insistence that he possesses it.

  Kenneth Clark

  Humility, Pride, Destroyed

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• The dark ghettos are social, political, educational and-above all-economic colonies. Their inhabitants are subject peoples, victims of the greed, cruelty, insensitivity, guilt, and fear of their masters.

  Kenneth Clark

  Educational, Ghetto, Dark

  Kenneth B. Clark (1989). “Dark Ghetto: Dilemmas of Social Power”, p.11, Wesleyan University Press

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• The nude gains its enduring value from the fact that it reconciles several contrary states. It takes the most sensual and immediately interesting object, the human body, and puts it out of reach of time and desire; it takes the most purely rational concept of which mankind is capable, mathematical order, and makes it a delight to the senses; and it takes the vague fears of the unknown and sweetens them by showing that the gods are like men and may be worshiped for their life-giving beauty rather than their death-dealing powers.

  Kenneth Clark

  Men, Order, Giving

  "The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form" by Kenneth Clark, (Ch. I), 1951.

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• The great artist takes what he needs.

  Kenneth Clark

  Artist, Needs, Great Art

  Kenneth Clark (2015). “Civilisation”, p.89, Hachette UK

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• All color is no color.

  Kenneth Clark

  Color, Colour

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• No nude, however abstract, should fail to arouse in the spectator some vestige of erotic feeling... The desire to grasp and be united with another human is so fundamental a part of our nature that our judgement of what is known as 'pure form' is inevitably influenced by it, and one of the difficulties of the nude as a subject for art is that these instincts cannot be hidden.

  Kenneth Clark

  Art, Judgement, Erotic

  Kenneth Clark (1956). “The nude: a study in ideal form”, M J F Books

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• In time of war all countries behave equally badly, because the power of action is handed over to stupid and obstinate men.

  Kenneth Clark

  Country, Stupid, War

  "The Other Half: A Self Portrait". Book by Kenneth Clark, 1977.

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• This became Delacroix 's theme: that the achievements of the spirit all that a great library contained were the result of a state of society so delicately balanced that at the least touch they would be crushed beneath an avalanche of pent-up animal forces.

  Kenneth Clark

  Animal, Achievement, Library

  Kenneth Clark (1973). “The romantic rebellion: romantic versus classic art”

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• The eye instinctively looks for analogies and amplifies them, so that a face imagined in the pattern of a wallpaper may become more vivid than a photograph.

  Kenneth Clark

  Eye, Looks, Analogies

  Kenneth Clark (1956). “The nude: a study in ideal form”, M J F Books

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• No nude, however abstract, should fail to arouse in the spectator some vestige of erotic feeling, even if it be only the faintest shadow - and if it does not do so it is bad art and false morals.

  Kenneth Clark

  Art, Erotic, Feelings

  Kenneth Clark (1956). “The nude: a study in ideal form”, M J F Books

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• One musn't overrate the culture of what used to be called "top people" before the wars. They had charming manners, but they were as ignorant as swans.

  Kenneth Clark

  War, Swans, People

  Kenneth Clark (1969). “Civilisation”

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