Howard Zinn Quotes

Paul Robeson once said that the artist has the responsibility to either help liberate the community or further oppress it. And I think that when Eldridge Cleaver wrote it down it was interpreted as his, but there's a history of people saying things of that nature and meaning it. And what I do is in that tradition, in that mode.

Iranian filmmakers are not passive. They fight whenever they can, as creative expression means a lot to them. The restrictions and censorship in Iran are a bit like the British weather: one day it's sunny, the next day it's raining. You just have to hope you walk out into the sunshine.

If you come across an American artist right now who has no political opinions or is afraid of talking politics, be very concerned.

Use your art to fight.

One of my biggest heroes in music has been David Bowie. He's said, 'I'm going to be a painter now, or I'm going to do some films,' and his audience is very forgiving, because they understand him as an artist. Whether you agree or like the result, you respect that he's expressing his artistic feelings.

By artist I mean of course everyone who has tried to create something which was not here before him, with no other tools and material than the uncommer-ciable ones of the human spirit.

It's very often the artist who gives a voice to the voiceless by speaking up when no one else will.

The rôle of the artist is that of a soldier of the revolution.

If sometimes our great artists have been the most critical of our society, it is because their sensitivity and their concern for justice, which must motivate any true artist, makes him aware that our nation falls short of its highest potential. I see little of more importance to the future of our country and our civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist.

In times of dread, artists must never choose to remain silent.

A writer or painter cannot change the world. But they can keep an essential margin of nonconformity alive.

Where does beauty begin? Where does it end? Where it ends is where the artist begins.

The artist as citizen is here to stay.

All artists are entrepreneurs. All entrepreneurs are artists.

It is my misfortune - and probably my delight - to use things as my passions tell me. What a miserable fate for a painter who adores blondes to have to stop himself putting them into a picture because they don't go with the basket of fruit! . . . I put all the things I like into my pictures. The things - so much the worse for them. They just have to put up with it.

When the writer (or the artist in general) says he has worked without giving any thought to the rules of the process, he simply means he was working without realizing he knew the rules.

The true artists is one who insists on producing a supply, whether or not there's any demand.

Nowadays, an artist is someone who makes art mean the things he does.

Sometimes being an artist means knowing when to let someone see something in you that is there that you can't hear or see.

The challenge for an artist is always to find your own way of doing something.

Anxious, inexperienced writers obey rules. Rebellious, unschooled writers break rules. Artists master the form.

One of the things I love about doing things that are creative is that I feel like it's my right as an artist not to be affected by the reactions of those people that are going to hear my songs.

Every artist, every scientist, every writer must decide now where he stands. The artist must take sides. He must elect to fight for freedom or for slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative.

I kind of think that artists throughout history, poets throughout history have been criticized for sharing what's on people's minds and I don't think it's any different now.