Norman Granz Quotes

I think you can leave the arts, superior or inferior, to the conscience of mankind.

Wit has as few true judges as painting.

We'd rather see a picture that we liked then dump on one we didn't.

I am of the opinion that the appreciation and the desire for what is good takes more study and insight than does the understanding and test for the best music and art.

There are a lot of movies that are badly made that I love, and there are a lot of movies that are just beautifully made but I don't like them. And critics have a tendency - that's all they focus on, which is, "I like it. I don't like it. It's good. It's bad."

Artistic qualities that once seemed undeniable don't seem so now. Sometimes these fluctuations are only fickleness of taste, momentary glitches in an artist's work, or an artist getting ahead of his audience (it took me ten years to catch up to Albert Oehlen). Other times, however, these problems mean there's something wrong with the art.

Critics? Don't talk to me of critics! You think some jackanapes journalist, his soul eaten away by the maggots of jealousy and failure, has anything worthwhile to say of art? I don't.

Everyone carries his own inch rule of taste, and amuses himself by applying it, triumphantly, wherever he travels.

Art is always good. It just depends if you like or not.

If your choice enters into it, then taste is involved - bad taste, good taste, uninteresting taste. Taste is the enemy of art, A-R-T.

I see myself as an arbiter of taste.

How do you rate works of genius? Partly by personal inclination, partly by accepted wisdom, partly by popularity.

When I see a new artist I give myself a lot of time to reflect and decide whether it's art or not.

The number of contemporary artists who appeal to me is infinitesimal.

As the artist picks his way along, rejecting and accepting as he goes, certain patterns of enquiry emerge.

Ultimately, taste is so niche and so personal.

A poem generated by its own laws may be unrealized and bad in terms of so-called objective principles of taste, judgement, deduction.

I think in any work of art, there always will be randomness about what is good, what is bad.

One thing I don't do anymore as I've gotten older is that I don't make big blanket statements about whether or not an artist is good or bad.

There are three distinct kind of judges upon all new authors or productions; the first are those who know no rules, but pronounce entirely from their natural taste and feelings; the second are those who know and judge by rules; and the third are those who know, but are above the rules. These last are those you should wish to satisfy. Next to them rate the natural judges; but ever despise those opinions that are formed by the rules.

She was one of those people who said I don't know anything about music, but I know what I like.

We are not being true to the artist as a man if we consider his art work junk simply because we differ with his outlook on life. Christian schools, Christian parents, and Christian pastors often have turned off young people at just this point. Because the schools, the pastors, and the parents did not make a distinction between technical excellence and content, the whole of much great art has been rejected with scorn and ridicule. Instead, if the artist's technical excellence is high, he is to be praised for this, even if we differ with his world view. Man must be treated fairly as man.

I do not know what evil is when it comes to art. I only know what is good art and what is bad art.

You may dislike the intention enormously but your judgment of the artistic merit of the work must not be based on your view of what it's about. The work of art must be judged by how well it succeeds in its intention.

I divide all literary works into two categories: Those I like and those I don't like. No other criterion exists for me.