Michelle Dean Quotes

People think that the arts are optional and they aren't. They teach a level of emotional depth that's equally important to mathematic skill. You can replace some math skills with a calculator if you know how to operate the thing, but there's no calculator for human interaction.

Art teaches nothing, except the significance of life.

I always think that art is one of the most wonderful exciting curious ways to learn. I have no worries or apologies about art being used as a teaching medium.

I think art teaches us how to feel, what our parameters can be, what sensations can be like; it makes you more engaged with life.

The arts are valuable because they increase our sense of what it means to be human, not because of any specific skill or ability they confer.

People that are able to think in terms of concepts and offer us valuable forms of art are very exciting to me.

An artist is he for whom the goal and center of life is to form his mind.

Thought is more important than art. To revere art and have no understanding of the process that forces it into existence, is finally not even to understand what art is.

Art in the classroom not only spurs creativity, it also inspires learning.

I wouldn't want everybody to be an art or literature major, but the world would be poorer - figuratively, anyway - if we were all coding software or running companies. We also want musicians to awaken our souls, writers to lead us into fictional lands, and philosophers to help us exercise our minds and engage the world.

Art is a mind-game that we do to make our lives easier. If it isn't for that, it becomes superfluous.

I think of art as the highest level of creativity. To me, it is one of the greatest sources of enjoyment.

Students read for tests and because their parents ask them to, but I think it's very important to tell children that you can read for fun, too, and to understand human spirit. It builds empathy.

Art is not only about angst.

I think we want our kids to grow up to be people who can think outside of the box, be creative and innovators, sort of the forward-thinkers of our future. I think a way to inspire that is through art and music.

A picture book is a small door to the enormous world of the visual arts, and they're often the first art a young person sees.

Art includes everything that stimulates the desire to live.

Art and music is part of what it means to be a human being. And if you're neglecting that, you're basically ignoring a huge side of the brain and a huge side of what it means to be human.

Shouldn't a great museum foster serious seeing before all else?

I think the arts are very important for children growing up.

Art matters.

Art is not an end in itself, but a means of addressing humanity.

Do people absolutely need the arts to get by day-to-day? You can make that claim, but they also really need a lot of things before that.

Art is everywhere, and everywhere is art.

Art is much less important than life, but what a poor life without it.