Quotes from Rudolf Arnheim

In a land of immigrants, one was not an alien but simply the latest arrival.

The foreign accent was a promise, and indeed, all over the country, European imports added spice to the sciences, the arts, and other areas. What one had to give was not considered inferior to what one received.

Today we no longer regard the universe as the cause of our own undeserved troubles but perhaps, on the contrary, as the last refuge from the mismanagement of our earthly affairs.

The rehabilitation of order as a universal principle, however, suggested at the same time that orderliness by itself is not sufficient to account for the nature of organized systems in general or for those created by man in particular.

Man's striving for order, of which art is but one manifestation, derives from a similar universal tendency throughout the organic world; it is also paralleled by, and perhaps derived from, the striving towards the state of simplest structure in physical systems.

The least touchable object in the world is the eye.

Order is a necessary condition for making a structure function. A physical mechanism, be it a team of laborers, the body of an animal, or a machine, can work only if it is in physical order.

Furthermore, order is a necessary condition for making a structure function. A physical mechanism, be it a team of laborers, the body of an animal, or a machine, can work only if it is in physical order.

Now equilibrium is the very opposite of disorder.

The arts, as a reflection of human existence at its highest, have always and spontaneously lived up to this demand of plenitude. No mature style of art in any culture has ever been simple.

The arts are neglected because they are based on perception, and perception is disdained because it is not assumed to involve thought.

Art is continually working to take the crust of familiarity off everyday objects.

Variety is more than a means of avoiding boredom, since art is more than an entertainment of the senses.

Once it is recognized that productive thinking in any area of cognition is perceptual thinking, the central function of art in general education will become evident.