Josh Malerman Quotes

The generous Critic fann'd the Poet's fire, And taught the world with reason to admire.

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.

We work so hard as young artists to further our careers or improve our technique, sometimes it gets so easy to not actually go and see things like a play or a film. I think the best way to get better is to see other actors do what they do well.

The arts, quite simply, nourish the soul. They sustain, comfort, inspire. There is nothing like that exquisite moment when you first discover the beauty of connecting with others in celebration of larger ideals and shared wisdom.

I confess that reading proofs is a pleasure. It stimulates and inspires me.

If I were not able to separate the art from the artists, I think I would limit myself a great deal, and life wouldn't be nearly as interesting.

Critics at their best are independent voices; people take seriously their responsibility to see as many things as they can see, put them in the widest possible perspective, educate their readers. I really do think of myself as a teacher.

I think the deeper you go into questions, the deeper or more interesting the questions get. And I think that's the job of art.

The arts are a major life nourishment.

I guess I'm not really fond of just chit-chatting. I want to learn something and have an experience.

I'm sure Church got some of his ideas from this trip to Europe.

The greater part of critics are parasites, who, if nothing had been written, would find nothing to write.

It is brilliant going to the theatre and being forced to sit and listen and think about life. It can be almost a near-religious experience.

I'm inspired by artists and musicians. There are so many wonderful and talented people in the world. I love discovering new music, new writers, or new art.

It is just as important to set apart time for the development of our aesthetic faculties as for cultivating the money-getting instinct. A man cannot live by bread alone. His higher life demands an impalpable food.

My horizon on humanity is enlarged by reading the writers of poems, seeing a painting, listening to some music, some opera, which has nothing at all to do with a volatile human condition or struggle or whatever. It enriches me as a human being.

My mother has always encouraged my creative side. She is a very eclectic, creative woman and looks incredibly glamorous, even when trudging about in wellies. Our family home is full of items from her travels and her amazing etchings and drawings.

Seek the lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at some moment every day.

If you're not educated to enjoy the arts, if you're not taken to a concert, or you don't hear something beautiful, you don't know what you're missing.

I miss being exposed to the leading thinkers of the world.

The imagination is an innate gift, but it needs refinement and cultivation; this is what the humanities provide.

I'll read a book. I'll watch a documentary or a film or whatever. I'll go to an art exhibit and just try and open myself to influence.

I'm inspired by many artists whose language I don't understand.

One thing has always been true: That book or that person who can give me an idea or a new slant on an old idea is my friend.

You know if I see a work that really I am very affected by and inspired by then it makes me want to try things with my work that maybe I hadn't considered trying before and I think that is the biggest complement that you can pay somebody.