Jose Ortega y Gasset Quotes

I feel that there is nothing that can happen to a person that is banal. Everything that happens to us is interesting.

The value of art is in the observer.

A value is valuable when the value of value is valuable to oneself.

Beauty, whether moral or natural, is felt, more properly than perceived.

Some moments it feels longer, other moments it feels like it's flown by; you can't believe you've done it all that time... Overall, you have a strong sense for the full spectrum that you've sort of traveled.

Beauty is a combination of qualities. I don't think one can deny that certain people or things feel aesthetically pleasing. But without an equally pleasing being behind that form, there is no beauty there.

Reality really isn't as dull as it's cracked up to be.

Beauty is whatever gives joy.

Ten flashing lights are a nuisance but 500 are fantastic.

The real change that paintings undergo is in the perceptions of the viewer.

Reality, in general, in my opinion, has gotten blurred.

I know that you, ladies and gentlemen, have a philosophy, each and all of you, and that the most interesting and important thing about you is the way in which it determines the perspective in your several worlds.

Is a dream reality till you wake up?

The art of music is good, for the reason, among others, that it produces pleasure; but what proof is it possible to give that pleasure is good? If, then, it is asserted that there is a comprehensive formula, including all things which are in themselves good, and that whatever else is good, is not so as an end, but as a mean, the formula may be accepted or rejected, but is not a subject of what is commonly understood by proof.

Art is not about objects of high monetary exchange. It's about reasserting our firsthand experience in present time.

When the woman is attractive, is it an interesting picture, or is it the woman? I had a lot of headaches with that, which was why it was interesting. I don't think I always got it straight.

Without consciousness the mind-body problem would be much less interesting. With consciousness it seems hopeless.

What’s most important is what you can’t see but can feel in your heart. To be able to grasp something of value, sometimes you have to perform seemingly inefficient acts. But even activities that appear fruitless don’t necessarily end up so. That’s the feeling I have, as someone who’s felt this, who’s experienced it.

Once I began to consider everything as being of potential interest, objects released latent layers of value.

Whenever someone asks me about fantasy versus realism, I'm like, "I don't know, guys. Did we not all just descend into some underworld, watch strangers from our past kaleidoscope through us according to some pattern that is both illogical and has its own strange melting truth, and then wake up and have a Pop-Tart?" Why are we talking about fantasy and reality like they're opposed?

Beauty is a form of genius -- is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation.

Do what you think is interesting, do something that you think is fun and worthwhile, because otherwise you won't do it well anyway.

My area of research is something that in all fairness has no practical usability whatsoever and the thing is I'm often asked to apologize for that. It is interesting to me that people ask 'what's the point of doing that if it's not useful?' But they never ask that, or do they very rarely ask that about art or literature or music. Those things are not gonna produce a better toaster.

This clarity made me able to behave normally, which posed some interesting questions. Was everybody seeing this stuff and acting as though they weren't? Was insanity just a matter of dropping the act? If some people didn't see these things, what was the matter with them? Were they blind or something? These questions had me unsettled.

You do not need to know anything about a plant to know that it is beautiful.