Albert Maltz Quotes

As a political artist, I think you have to learn how to create art, no matter what your ideology is.

If you want to know about my politics, the only way to do that is to look at my work.

I personally think artists should criticize the government as much as possible since, unlike politicians, they do not have to obtain votes.

Art is art. Politics is politics. It's very hard to get them together.

Everyone should have the right to go off and do their music or do their books. The people who are in the position to censor they're really not down to reality where that certain artists are coming from.

Art can be very political but that can't be the purpose of art, it can't be the driving force. It isn't with any of the books that I love, anyway.

All literatures can have political uses and misuses. Sometimes politics can enhance, sometimes it can get in the way of imaginative literature...

If a poet would influence politics he must join a party, and then he is lost as a poet: goodbye to his free spirit and his open mind.

Much of left-wing artistic activity … has been restricted, narrowed … sometimes made sterile … [This flows] from a central source … That source is the vulgarization of the theory of art which lies behind left-wing thinking: namely, “art is a weapon.” I have come to believe that the accepted understanding of art as a weapon is not a useful guide, but a straightjacket.

Under the banner of Romanticism, which broke down old laws in the arts, in philosophy, which called out for unlimited freedom of thought, we called for a political revolution.

I am a Communist. My painting is Communist painting.

All art is propaganda. It is universally and inescapably propaganda; sometimes unconsciously, but often deliberately, propaganda.

I do not believe that any work of art can help but be diminished by its adherence at any cost to a political program ... and not for any other reason than that there is no political program -- any more than there is a theory of tragedy -- which can encompass the complexities of real life.

I do believe every artwork has its own charisma. Sometimes it's different from what I expect. When a work is finished, it exudes its own charisma and lives its life independently.

I ask people who they vote for sometimes. I think it is just trying to get to know somebody.

I think people should just make art and let the art speak for itself.

I love this freedom that has been given to me as an artist to express myself.

We make movies to endorse our own personal feelings. I am not, in fact, a documentary filmmaker. I've got my personal beliefs, and I'm ready to put them out on the table.

My lyrics are quite train of thought, and they are all over the place, but they evoke something.

I wanted a label that reflects the times... a center for artists who want to express themselves. That's what makes Interscope unique. It's about freedom.

My take, after spending some time with him, is that Kanye West is not a conservative. He's not a Republican, but he is a free thinker, and he's an independent thinker.

The artist’s aim is not to instruct the viewer, but to give information, whether the viewer understands the information is incidental to the artist.

My work is a matter of fundamental sounds (no joke intended) made as fully as possible, and I accept responsibility for nothing else. If people want to have headaches among the overtones, let them. And provide their own aspirin.

I suppose it never occurs to these people that a man might just want to write a piece of music.

As an artist, what you do is you put out material constantly. Whether it's films, or TV shows, music... and you know, you hope people respond to it. You always have to know, as well, that not everybody's gonna like it. And that's okay. It's not for everyone. It's just for the crusty nugs.