Art is one of the means of uniting people.
If fine arts are not inspired by moral ideas common to all of humankind, which alone are capable of uniting people, then such art serves only as entertainment, which people grow more addicted to the more they use it to suppress their dissatisfaction with themselves; but by doing this they only keep making themselves even more useless and dissatisfied.
— Kant
It is conceivable that art could perish, but it is unthinkable that art could possibly exist groveling before wealth and scoffing at poverty.
— Morris
Art is one of the most powerful means of influence. And since influence can be either moral or immoral (and the immoral is always easier to instill), we should be more careful with the influence of art than with any other means of influence.
The less influence of suggestion there is in religious teaching, the higher it is, and vice versa.
The value of art and the value of science consist in selfless service for the good of the people.
— John Ruskin
An artist can be one of two things: he is either a high priest, or a more or less skillful buffoon.
— Giuseppe Mazzini
Art is only in its proper place when it aims at moral perfection. The task of art is to teach lovingly. If art does not help people discover the truth but only offers them a pleasant way to spend the time, then it is an immoral and not an elevated activity.
— John Ruskin
Our art, whose chosen aim is to provide entertainment for the wealthy classes, not only resembles prostitution, it is nothing other than prostitution.
Discourses on art are the most immoral of discourses. The one who understands art knows that every art speaks its own language and that it is useless to talk about art using words. This is why it happens that those who understand and feel art the least are the ones who talk about it the most.
