Camille Paglia Quotes

I don't feel that as an artist my job is to offer PR propaganda, whether for the good or for the bad.

The only duty an artist has is in the quality of the art. There is no moral obligation to denounce. An artist confronted with a tremendous injustice sometimes feels inclined to say something. Denouncing the situation is the artist's choice.

I don't like the notion that artists have a responsibility to be political.

It is an artist's duty to be on the wrong end of the see-saw.

As intelligent and responsible filmmakers, working in a free society, we have a duty to ensure that our chosen medium is a force for good. Especially in this ever-more complex and difficult world.

A good writer cannot avoid having social consciousness. I don't mean this about small pieces of writing, but about a big book. If it's a big book, there has to be more than one undertow.

I think that to explore the uncomfortable and the politically incorrect is the job of the artist.

I believe the artist has an obligation to society.

I do struggle with how much and in which way, as an artist or celebrity, that you voice your political views.

We, as artists, we have the right to express ourselves. That is our first amendment, freedom of speech. But I also believe that we have an obligation to the youth to be somewhat responsible in what we say on records. But I think that comes with age. I think that comes with artists growing up and becoming assured of who they are as people.

I believe art has to take responsibility but it should not give up being art.

I think comics should test people, I think it's our job to go too far. That way we know as a society what too far is. Where else are you going to hear it?

As an artist, I used to think that my responsibility was to do good work. But I had to learn from the '70s on that being a public figure presents another aspect of responsibility.

I don't spend my hours worrying how to slip a social message into my act.

To call someone like me a writer-activist suggests that it's not the job of a writer to write about the society in which they live. But it used to be our job.

I think when you're in my position as an artist, I can say what I want and talk about the issues that matter.

I never understood why movies don't have to be as responsible, or the responsibility stops with Rated R. I feel like music, you gotta - you put the sticker on it, you make the clean version, then you're explaining yourself, and then you have to do charities to offset what you just said. No one else has to do this!

It's an artist's choice to speak up about social issues, but I think it's really important, and my favorite artists have spoken out.

As an actor, I think it is my responsibility to hold a mirror to the society.

The time-honored role of the artist [is] to speak truth to power.

Artists have to show us what is not going well within the person and within the society, not try to cover it up.

A playwright has a responsibility in his society not to aid it, or comfort it, but to comment and criticize it.

The times are squalid. They always were. It is a poet's duty to hold the line.

I support the idea that artists have to make a stand. I'm with that - you're putting the discussion on the table and you're letting people know. You're being brave as an artist and responsible to the community.

We as visual artists need to continue to be renegades and say, "Yes I am here to do a project, but what is the social service?"