"The average man cannot cut clay into the shape of a man; but he can cut earth into the shape of a garden; and though he arranges it with red geraniums and blue potatoes in alternate straight lines, he is still an artist; because he has chosen. The average man cannot paint the sunset whose colors be admires; but he can paint his own house with what color he chooses, and though he paints it pea green with pink spots, he is still an artist; because that is his choice. Property is merely the art of the democracy. It means that every man should have something that he can shape in his own image, as he is shaped in the image of heaven. But because he is not God, but only a graven image of God, his self-expression must deal with limits; properly with limits that are strict and even small."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Ch. 6: The Enemies of Property
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/What's_Wrong_with_the_World
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
What's Wrong with the World
105 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by What's Wrong with the World →
Related Quotes
"This is the arresting and dominant fact about modern social discussion; that the quarrel is not merely about the diff…"
"The only way to discuss the social evil is to get at once to the social ideal. We can all see the national madness; b…"
"There has arisen in our time a most singular fancy: the fancy that when things go very wrong we need a practical man.…"
"Most of us have suffered from a certain sort of ladies who, by their perverse unselfishness, give more trouble than t…"
"Our political vagueness divides men, it does not fuse them. Men will walk along the edge of a chasm in clear weather,…"
"The only logical cure for all this is the assertion of a human ideal. In dealing with this, I will try to be as littl…"
"Evolution can produce a workman who wants no more space than a snail, and no more light than an owl. The employer nee…"
"The future is a blank wall on which every man can write his own name as large as he likes; the past I find already co…"
"Now in history there is no Revolution that is not a Restoration. Among the many things that leave me doubtful about t…"
"But exactly the whole difficulty in our public problems is that some men are aiming at cures which other men would re…"